Do you remember these? Panasonic Toot-a-Loop radios, circa 1972 or so? This is the one I had, the shiny red one. I loved that radio. My sister had the blue one. That really has nothing to do with what I want to say, but I left it there for those of you who wondered.
ANYWAY - they only got the AM band. Most radios back then did, because there was nothing on FM. If you had a radio with FM, all you got was static from one end of the dial to the other. FM was either an undiscovered, pristine wilderness or a distant planet. What you heard was either transmissions sent from too far away to really pick them up or perhaps electronic voice phenomena, in this case the voices of dead native americans angry that we stole their land.
What made me think of this is an AM radio show my husband and I listen to late at night on a little flashlight/radio. Something about the flat sound of AM radio from those tinny little speakers is comforting to me. Don't know why.
I was in the tub tonight, trying to read George Carlin's latest book, and this diabolical little commercial jingle kept running through my brain:
"I'm-a gonna wrap myself in paper, I'm-a gonna tie myself in string... I'm-a gonna mail myself to youuuuu"
I wish he'd-a run himself through the shredder.
