Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

What About Operating as a Career? Not Much Money But Opportunity Aplenty. A Chapter from the Diary of a Commercial Radio Man By A. HENRY ROM time immemorial there have ways been those youths, who upon aching eighteen years of age and a nowledge greater than that of all nieir forebears combined, find the section of the world they occupy small and stuffy. They feel the call of the wild, so to speak, and occasionally prevail upon parents, whom they consider a trifle behind the times, to permit them to leave school and get a "job". I was one of them, and although I knew absolutely nothing about the sort of life I was heading for, an overwhelming desire to travel — to see the world — filled me. At school, my record had not been bad, in fact my parents used to take some pride in it, but from the time the wanderlust siezed me 1 was a slave to it. In justice to myself, I must tell you that 1 did try to carry on for a while, but it was a forlorn hope. As I spent more and more of my spare time devouring books of travel, my marks ran lower and lower. I knew it was an effort for my parents to keep me in school and that was a trump I held up my sleeve awaiting an opportunity to play it when it would be most effective. But it wasn't necessary. One Friday afternoon, school was let out early for the week-end in celebration of a victory for the debating team. I caught a train and entered the house without making any noise. My mother was in tears. I had never seen her cry before and it would be hard to describe my feelings. It seemed that Perhaps You, Too, Would Like to Travel It may be that you are a father of a restless son, or an ambitious son of a "father of the old school." Be that as it may, you may want to choose a career for yourself or help some young man to choose one. Radio operating offers a great reward for the youth who can use his wits. The pay is not great, but there are many ways of increasing one's earnings. This is the second of a series of true stories about the life of a radio man written by men who have been through the mill. The first was "Choosing a Radio School," by Howard S. Pyle, published in the October number. In this article, and those which are to follow, Mr. Henry pictures life at sea as it really is — without the dolling-up usually found in the radio school advertisements. — THE EDITOR. the trouble was a poor investment — some houses built, well but not too wisely That was the last straw, and 1 cannot help remembering with mingled wonder and amusement at the eloquence with which I told the ruler of the roost that the morrow would find me employed — making money, not spending it. It is a rather strange truth that at six, a boy thinks there's no one in the world so great as his father; that at eighteen, he believes his father a "back-number," a "has-been"; and that at thirty, he begins to realize that the "Governor" was not such a dull star, at that. The next day found me in the job all right. It was not too far from the holidays for the department stores to require additional help and I had no trouble in locating as an "inspector" in one of the largest and best stores in our city. When I learned I was to attend the store's school for a few days before entering upon my inspecting duties, I felt that I had the world by the forelock and actually wondered how I had managed to talk the grandiose gentleman, who allowed me a few minutes of his time, into making an inspector of me at the very outset. Nor was my joy entirely toppled over when I learned that my salary was to be five dollars a week. I had asked for ten, but a fellow shouldn't be too grasping, especially when he has never been employed before. To cover this period briefly I may tell you that I was an inspector in the book department. The duties of an inspector were to inspect the