Radio Broadcast (May 1923-Oct 1923)

212 Radio Broadcast of Washington Irving. Skipping east again they stopped to listen to WBZ, Springfield, and then a big jump south landed them with the navy at NOF in the District of Columbia. A step backward and they heard that noble organ at WOO in the store of one of the great merchants, in Philadelphia. Then one Sunday evening, faintly came the words, "WDAP, Chicago!" If getting KDKA had made Dad feel queer, think of his feelings now. He almost slipped off his chair, he was so excited. With his hands off the dials, there was silence, with his hands touching the dials came music from WDAP. " Hello boy, wake up ! " "What's matter," muttered the boy. "Got Chicago! Put the phones on and listen!" At this a sleepy boy rolled out of bed, slipped on the phones and heard Chicago while Dad held the dials. What bliss; and the boy had wanted to change the hook-up because for a long time we couldn't hear WJZ! Skipping back to rugged New England they heard the voice of the Green Mountain State from WLAK; and then the Courier-Journal, WHAS, called then to Kentucky, the old hunting ground of Daniel Boone. What boy doesn't like to read about him? While they are thinking about hunting and Indians, Pontiac comes to their minds as they hearWWJ talking from Detroit. Back down in Philadelphia, another merchant announced WIP, further south they listened to WBT, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Returning a bit they heard " Hello Uncle Johnny, Hello Everybody" at Station WQAA. WRP in Camden, N. J. reminded then of the schooldays history of the Revolutionary War, and then in a few minutes they were on the banks of the Father of the Waters listening to the call of WOC, "Where the West Begins, and the Land Where the Tall Corn Grows," and the name of a school having a queer name which they didn't understand. They paused to breathe again, for they had broken their distance record. The next night from KYW in Chicago came the strains of that splendid grand march from the opera "Aida," played in the Chicago Opera House. The following evening they stopped in the midst of the machine tool industry and heard WLW, Cincinnati, Ohio. Skipping up to Buffalo they heard WGR. WGM, "The Voice of the South" calling from Atlanta, Georgia, reminded them of Sherman's March to the Sex. Moving the condenser one degree carried them to a foreign shore, where a voice said, " Habana, Cuba." Shades of the buccaneers! Dad and his better half nudged each other and held fast. An announcement in English and one in Spanish, then a fine piece of orchestral music followed by the call PWX, assured them that it was indeed a foreign ' land. Fifteen hundred miles away, and they could hear the talking and music. Doesn't the wonder of it almost take your breath? Oh yes, they have a clock down at PWX and you can hear it tick. The next evening the boy made his farthest West by hearing WHB, Kansas City, Missouri, in the heart of America. Returning east once more the boy and his Dad heard WHN on Long Island. Next they were out by the Mississippi listening to KSD in St. Louis and were reminded of Churchill's story "The Crisis." Then the "Wave from Lake Erie," WJAX, broke on their ears and they remembered about the battle of Lake Erie which took place at Put-in-Bay, fifty or sixty miles west of Cleveland. Ever been to Put-in-Bay? There are some mighty interesting caves there and one of them is said to have been a hiding place of Perry's. So they go, skipping here and there, making the acquaintance of places far from home, studying maps and listening to people whom they had never expected to hear but are usually glad to have heard. They hear the turn, turn, turn of the fox-trot, the melody of Grand Opera, a talk about the Everglades, politics, books, medicine, or clothing. All Dad knows about a boxing match came from a bout at Madison Square Garden. One night there was the story of the Creation told in an ancient Indian language so old that only one man in the world could now speak it. Subjects innumerable, and a whole education for those who have the time to listen.