Extra-Cheap Entertainment For The Excessively Bored Young Person
by Chuck Ring
Yes, gas is cheaper than it was a month ago, but no one can say for how long. Even so, it is still an expensive proposition to drive to Albuquerque for movies or other entertainment. Then, when you get there, you’ll likely bust a twenty dollar bill for admittance and popcorn for two people and you haven’t taken into account the cost for gasoline and the wear and tear on the family buggy. What to do?
Don’t fall back on the couch and watch that big screen that has somehow managed to deliver everything that has become important to you and most of your family. Instead do what your grandparents did before television and computer games inserted themselves into every corner of their lives and brain containers. To further clarify, for those of you lost in space or just spaced-out, I’ve lifted a little content from “Radio Lovers.Com” to better explain where we’re going.
“We offer hundreds of vintage radio shows for you to listen to online in mp3 format, all for free. Before the days of video games, shopping malls, MTV, and the Internet, families used to sit in their living room each night to listen to radio shows such as Superman, Groucho Marx, The Avenger, Gunsmoke, Sherlock Homes, and many others. When TV become popular in the 1950’s, most of these shows went off the air, but they now live on at websites such as this one and on weekly nostalgia radio broadcasts worldwide.”
Find yourself one or more URLs that will direct you to “old time radio shows” which can be downloaded to an IPOD© or an MP3 player for a listening time of your choice. If you wish you can listen from your computer, but knowing that you would want to get outside for fresh air, exercise and Starbucks, I listed the players first.
To help you get started, here’s one of the most extensive and free download sites to be found http://www.radiolovers.com/There are many other sites for this kind of content, both free and fee. Just grab a Google and find them using old time radio show for the search term.
One last hint for the older crowd. This was really subterfuge meant for your eyes. Armed with in-depth information after listening to countless hours of old time radio, you should be able to answer the following question. Who ended his show with, “Good night, Mrs. Calabash … wherever you are.” And, why did he use the phrase? Using the preceding information will allow you to enjoy life a little more and actually force you to be secure in your oldness. Maybe we can look at it as the first step in the “12 Step Program To Growing Old And Almost Liking It.” Nah!
In any event, check it out, young or old. Nostalgia does not have to mean “a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition” as Webster would say.�