I loved all the radio stations in my youth. For music, that would be the two AM stations in my hometown. Since I'm a few years older than you, all of the music stations then were AM; When FM started out (in my area at least) its emphasis was on "beautiful music" (i.e. easy listening). When I was younger (before the Beatles / Beach Boys etc. made rock and roll respectable), there was no rockabilly, rhythm-and-blues, etc. Morning broadcasts were particularly inoffensive. We'd listen to our transistor radio at breakfast, with songs like "Sugar in the Morning," "How Much Is that Doggie in the Window," and "What Did Delaware, Boys?" It was crap, but pleasant. When I started listening to rock-and-roll, it would be by myself on the family console in the living room. I might hear "Walking My Cat Named Dog," followed "Shapes of Things" by the Yardbirds (my favorite at the time).

For non-music, I'd listen to distant AM stations at night in my bedroom (because these stations would be allowed to boost their signal then)--New Orleans, Fort Wayne, Chicago (I even enjoyed the Chicago traffic reports (at night!--"There's an accident on the Ryan...."). My favorite but rarest experience was catching a Cuban station on occasion; once I heard a program teaching listeners how to speak Russian.

My only other interesting radio experience was serving as a DJ on a college station. I'll save that one for later, maybe as a separate installment on Riff.

Always a pleasure to read your reminiscences.