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I was aquainted with walkie-talkies, citizen's band (CB), and HAM radio, as well as the more mundane AM/FM form, pretty much beginning the moment I left the hospital in which I was born. It is entirely possible that my father may have brought a walkie-talkie into the hospital to broadcast any sounds I may have made to the outside world, so my direct exposure to and interaction with radio waves may have begun even within the confines of the hospital!
My father had a big interest in electronics, and as soon as I could pick up a transistor and recognize the color bands--that is, when I was about two years of age--I was enlisted in assisting his projects, which typically involved messing around with sound transmission/receiving equipment of one sort or another, especially things that involved radio waves.
I had my first personal radio before I was 3, and when I was 6, I was given a portable radio with short wave and long wave bands, as well as the traditional AM/FM. Granpa's portable radio was still superior, though, so I ended up using his most of the time if I was playing in the SW or LW stuff.
By the time I was 10, I had quite a bit of experience scouring the airwaves searching for reception of distant transmissions.
No doubt, my immediate motivation to engage in such activity was related to listening to baseball games with my grandfather: Living in Lexington County, SC, the closest Major League team was in Atlanta, and the only real way to truly keep up with baseball, outside the stats in the newspaper, was by picking up AM broadcasts from across the country after the sun went down.
My radio interest did not end with baseball, as music has always been extremely important in my life, so after the games, I would search for "good" music. My favourite radio stations, while I was age 7 through age 10, living all the while in Lexington, SC, were WOWO radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and WNOX, the Big NOX, in Knoxville Tennesee. As implied, these were AM stations, and I could only receive them after the sun had long since set...
What I really wanted was a radio station that I could pick up anytime, day or night, that played the music I wanted to hear. So my search continued.
It was sometime after 3pm on a sunny day in the early spring of 1978 that I finally found what I was seeking. It was after school, and I had started playing with the FM dial in the car that day on the way home from school. I was getting some new stations, but nothing great--at least not to begin with. After we got home, I stayed in the car messing around with the dial, and ended up on the far left.... It was maybe about ten minutes after everyone had gone inside that I found the radio station that would change my life forever. It was a little hazy--that is, there was static, but not too, too much (bounds better than reception of WABC-AM (NYC) on a good night in Lexington County, SC for example!). The station was broadcasting Neil Young's "Heart of Gold," off the Harvest album.
My new find would most likely be a rock station, I concluded. I had no idea what I was listening to, station-wise, because I was too far to the left for anything I'd ever seen listed in the paper. Since it was FM and a clear, sunny day, it had to be somewhere relatively local--I considered it might be a brand new radio station. And I continued to listen.
What I heard after Heart of Gold was actually the next tune on Neil Young's Harvest album... I can't remember what that was right now, I just remember realizing it was the next tune. This was ABSOLUTELY unheard of for any station I'd ever encountered, at least regarding daytime afternoon play. I had to keep listening. And then, the dj just let the next tune play... and the next. Whoever it was on the air that afternoon played the entire album side! After the side was finished, I finally got the station ID, WUSC Columbia, 91.9 FM. I pulled out the button on the car radio and set it, and then I went inside to tune it in on the radio in my room.
Hah. No such luck. Well, it was kinda coming in--but just barely. Reception was now much *worse* than WABC-AM. What to do, what to do? Then I remembered... there was a place for the FM antennae hook-up on the back of my stereo receiver! Now, I did not have an antennae proper laying around, but I certainly knew how to rig one. Fortunately, there was a good bit of electrical wire and such handy. I immediately used it to create a makeshift antennae, and now, the reception was equivalent to what was coming in on the car radio. Yes!
Soon, a telephone number was given: the dj was actually calling for requests! I knew, all-to-well, what calls for requests were like on commercial stations--Good Luck! ...but I had to call this new number and "get the low down" on the "hoe-down" !
I found out it was the radio station of the University of South Carolina, and that they would play pretty much anything I wanted to hear, so long as it was NOT current top 40--and absolutely no disco!!! WOW. This was definitely my kind of station! Even as a child, I despised disco (...and yes, I still do). I don't remember if I made a request on that first call or not--if anything, I would have requested a Who tune from Quadrophenia, since I had been using that album to lull me to sleep for the last three years or so. Quadrophenia was regarded by my peers as somewhat "weird," and certainly no local commercial radio station that I knew would play "I Am One" by request. So, I may have tested the WUSC waters with that, but I honestly think I was too stunned to request anything.
In 1978, WUSC-FM was located at 91.9 MHz, broadcasting with 10 watts of power. Yes, you read that right: 10 watts of power. Slightly more wattage than your average night light. Because I lived on a hill, the frequency modulation was able to make a straight, uninterrupted line to my radio antennae almost ten miles away.
I quickly learned that djs at WUSC were utterly shocked that some kid in South Congaree, ten miles away, was picking up the station--they were under the impression the maximum extent of their range was about 2 miles.
Around 1979, the FCC decided to more or less outlaw 10 watt stations, which proved good for WUSC, for they found it within their capabilities to raise funds to become a 3000 watt station. A little research at the time revealed that there was very little difference, cost-wise, between moving up to 100 watts, or 1000 watts, or 3000 watts, when all the factors of the necessary upgrade were considered. The result: Sometime in 1982, 3000 watts they became. They could no longer broadcast at 91.9 FM with their power boost, and their new home became, as it still is, 90.5 FM, WUSC, Columbia.
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*(Note: About five years ago, I discovered there are actually clubs of people who scan the AM/FM radio dials, and that such clubs have been in existence pretty much since the inception of radio. As a child, however, this was something I did totally on my own, save the encouragement of my father and most especially, my grandfather.) Return above ^