Channel Surfing

About 70 years ago I was able to pick up a local radio station on a

simple crystal radio that I built from a kit that my folks bought for me,

and a little later Jim built his own radio from a Heath Kit. We also had

a had a large floor model Philco radio in our living room just like the

ones you see in the old photos of families gathering around the radio

to hear President Roosevelt’s fireside chats. Thinking back, that radio

was pretty high tech for the time. Not only could we get local radio

stations, make our own recordings on blank records, but it had short

wave capability allowing us to pick-up distant broadcasts. I could sit

for hours slowly turning the dial on this magical device and visualize

the far off locations that I would find, or be captivated by my favorite

shows. The earliest radio show that I can remember as a 5 years old

was Jolly Bill and Jane, a nightly 15 minute broadcast at 5:00pm on

San Francisco’s KPO. Former vaudevillian, radio performer and

cartoonist, William “Jolly Bill” Steinke and his wife Peggy revived his

character from the mid 1930’s taking their young fans fans on a

magical cable car ride to a new imaginary location every night. Jolly

Bill would read the names of kids celebrating Birthdays that day and

earning the virtual privilege of sitting on the cable car’s “birthday

bench” for that days adventure story. I can still remember listening to

each show and the anticipation of waiting to hear my name on the

radio, and I couldn’t wait for my Jolly Bill’s Safety Club membership

card and button to arrive in the mail.

Some of my other favorite radio shows included Big John and Sparky,

Superman, Bobby Benson of the B-Bar-B Riders, The Whistler, Red

Ryder, Sargent Preston of the Yukon and Captain Midnight, and of

course Hopalong Cassidy!

When I got a little older, late at night I would also seek out mysterious

distant stations between the hum’s, squeaks and chatter on my own

bedside radio with the hope of finding Red Blanchard who was really

Zorch! Jim has memories of listening to rock-and-roll on KOBY and

winning newly released 45’s. Dad’s “40” Buick had a radio and we

enjoyed listening to Jack Benny and Charlie McCarthy on evenings

returning from Sunday drives. Even later as an adult while commuting

the San Mateo bridge between Hayward and Belmont I would try to

find distant stations on cloudless evenings when interference was

minimal. I could pull in small stations from the Central Valley and

larger ones in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and Salt Lake City.

Occasionally I could even get a station far enough east that the call

letters began with a “W”!

Frank Leber was a shy and humble man. He and his wife Rosemarie

were members of our church in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Frank

had an unforgettable resounding deep baritone voice that I can still

hear in my mind although he has been gone for nearly 20 years.

Frank Leber (AKA Frank Knight) was one of the original news

anchors at KCBS radio and was the “Night Man” in the later years of

his 29 year career. Frank reported the news and served as his own

engineer in the solitary hours from midnight until dawn. Surprisingly

Frank didn’t like public speaking because “large crowds made him

nervous” however speaking to hundreds of thousands of people over

the airways every night was OK since “I’m just talking to a

microphone”. I have vivid memories of returning from trips to Lake

Tahoe, Yosemite or Southern California late at night and eagerly

getting in range of KCBS and hearing my friend Frank’s familiar voice

on our car radio.

The changes during the past seven decades are amazing, beginning

with our handmade radio kits to today’s endless accessibility to

broadcasting and cable programming options. I can’t resist channel

surfing!

Bill Ralph - 6/13/20