Radio Goo Goo Gone

February 2026 (reissue)

I took a short road-trip the other day to visit a friend. As I slid into the comfortable seat of my truck, one of the first things I did was to scan through the radio stations to find a tune that caught my fancy. I am pretty much conditioned for this activity. Whether I am driving across the country, or to the grocery store. Quickly, I landed on XM radio’s 70’s on 7. Which is my go-to. I settled in to listen to Casey Kasem recant and play the Top 40 songs from this week in 1972.

The programmed stations in my truck are all XM radio now. Yes, satellite radio has taken over from FM, which had taken over from AM decades before that. Just as 8-tracks gave way to cassettes, which in turn gave way to CD’s. Now everything is digital.  Automotive musical formats have certainly evolved.  So, as Brandy, you’re a Fine Girl by Looking Glass played, I became nostalgic.  I began to ponder the evolution of radio, not just in my car, but in my life.

This is highly meaningful to me because I grew up with it!  To be more specific, I came of age with AM radio.  Amplitude Modulation.  I remember looking that up in the encyclopedia when I was about 10 years old. Of course, this was a time way before Google!  Regardless, I was fascinated by the definition. “The encoding of audio transmissions into a carrier wave”.  That was so exotic to my youthful mind! 

When I was a kid, say between 8-13, I fell asleep every night listening to a tiny transistor radio that was nestled beside my pillow. My mother would indulgently come in each night and turn it off when she went to bed. Literally every night.  That little radio was always tuned to a local AM station.  Usually, it was WTRU, which was at 1600 on the radio dial.

If I do the math, those 5 years of my life would fall between 1970-1975.  WTRU was a Top 40 station, so I heard the popular songs from that era over, and over, and over. Driving those tunes deep into my psyche. So, I continue to hear them in my head, even now. And today, Casey was reminding me of my musical awareness of this period. As I knew every word, to every song that he played.

Sadly, during my youth, AM radio was in its last years of prominence. The FM band, with its richer sound and new genre-based format, was on its way in. By the time I was 13, FM was truly “it”. And, like so many others of my generation, I totally embraced this. We moved on. The vehicles of the era did too, with the FM band being added to every automobile’s in-dash radio.

So, it was goodbye to the AM giants in Muskegon; WTRU, WKBZ and WMUS. Stations that had dominated our local airways for decades. And hello WLAV!  A powerhouse Rock station from the metropolis of Grand Rapids, with DJs that I can still recall, Tony Gates, Alison Hart, Kevin Matthews and Aris Hampers.  Legends of the airways for me in my teens and early twenties. 

But AM radio had held my attention during my truly formative years. In that era, AM was a unique vehicle for listeners.  It was not really just about the music.  There was a great deal of talk, and other stuff.  Local news at the top of every hour. And advertisements! Ads at the time were long and thorough. But we didn’t know any better. Advertising itself was just then becoming the powerful selling tool it has developed into.

But AM radio was more than just that too.  They held contests where they would call you on the phone and you had to answer with “WTRU plays all the hits and is the TRU spirit of America!” Or something like that.  They always had some crazy contest going. Twenty questions, guess the artist, or some other form of trivia.  Often providing a cash prize with a growing balance. “Our jackpot is now $135.42!  Stay tuned for your next chance to win!” It was a means to get you to keep listening.  And it worked!

You could also call in and make song requests, so you could hear your favorite Top 40 tune even more often.  If you requested something not in the Top 40, your chances of hearing it were almost zero. But it was fun trying.  You might even get to hear your name on the radio; “This is for Jim and his buddies over in Lakeside, here is Muskrat Love by Captain and Tennile”.  Ok, maybe not!

There were other types of shows too.  I remember “Tradio” where people got on and talked about some object or service they had for sale. “I have a 5-quart pressure cooker and I want $5.  Call 755-2589 and ask for Bob.” Bob might close with… “Hi Sandra! I love you!”

Everybody seemed to enjoy hearing their voice or name on the radio.  And this show went on for a whole hour.  Even my dad bought and sold stuff there.  I know he bought push lawn mower.  I think he tried to sell some hub caps once.  How embarrassing!  At least for me at the time. 

I also remember a show called “Hot Line”, where you could call in and bitch about a local issue. Subsequent callers could call in and add on about the issue or refute your point of view.  Sometimes they had a topic, other times not.  “Tonight’s topic is the drinking age, should it be 18 or 21”?   Some subject matter could get people really passionate!  All I know is I think we listened to it every night at dinner time. We had a radio on the kitchen counter next to the can opener.  Just for that purpose.  It would go all static when my mom ran a mixer, or her hair dryer.

Not that other genres don’t do this too, but back in the day, our AM stations broadcast local high school sports.  Football, basketball and baseball.  Local professional teams got airplay as well.  The Muskegon Mohawks, a minor league hockey team, had most of their games broadcast on WTRU.  These were my favorites to listen to. Hockey on the radio is something special. At least it was then. I rarely missed a game that way. Even when they played in exotic faraway places like Saginaw, Port Huron, Flint or Kalamazoo. 

My dad would play the radio as he was putzing about in the evenings. Usually while he was out on the patio or working in the yard.  He loved traditional Spanish music for some reason.  Or old-time country music, like Grand Ole Opry stuff.  These you could easily find on AM radio of the times.

But an indelible memory for me is when he listened to baseball.  That is where I heard the voice that became a beacon for me.  His name was Ernie Harwell and he iconically provided play by play for the Detroit Tigers for my entire life, until he retired in 2002.  I will always miss Ernie. Maybe because he had the same name as my dad.  I miss him too.

Yes, back in the day, AM radio had its unique attributes.  On the occasion that a storm would knock out our power, out would come the radio that ran on batteries, and we would get filled in on what was going on locally by our AM station. I’m still unsure why they always seemed to have power when we didn’t.  But they did.   I still have a radio ready for just such an emergency.   And yes, we have used it!

The early 1970’s were a golden age for me, and AM radio certainly played a part in making it that way.  I miss the simplicity of it.  We rarely flipped channels.  We listened to whatever was on.  I think it was at noon, but we rarely missed Paul Harvey.  Always giving us “the rest of the story” and ending with that characteristic “Gooood Day!”.  An iconic phrase from my youth.  I wasn’t sure what he was talking about half the time, but I liked it anyway.

There was also Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion”.  It was a bit of a radio variety hour on Saturday evenings.  My dad and mom both loved that one!  It brought a touch of nostalgia to radio with its stories, folk music, and humor. All with a rural bent.  It had a loyal following at my house.  It was not my favorite, but I loved it because my dad enjoyed it so much. I even saw him laugh a few times, which was very rare indeed!

But times have certainly changed.  Technology has taken over again. AM radio is virtually gone, and FM is quickly fading away. Especially in vehicles.  I hear that now, with the advent of electric cars, there will no longer be AM radios included in the sound system.  Apparently, their power source disturbs the AM signal.  Something called EV interference.  Just like my mom’s mixer and hairdryer back in the day, I guess.  Oh well, another nail in the coffin of this dying radio band.

It doesn’t matter anyway.  There are now so many alternatives. It’s quite simple to use your vehicle’s Bluetooth and hook into your phone.  I can even do it!  Anyone can just play what they have uploaded.  Or better yet, listen to Spotify, Apple music, Pandora or IHeart radio. These, as well as others, continue to encroach and change yet again how we listen. What we hear.  Especially in the car.

Oh well, just another thing we leave behind in our disposable world.  At least I have memories of the way it used to be.  The static, the poor signal, the endless advertisements, stupid contests, the continuous overplaying of the same songs.  And talk, talk, talk. You know, the good old days!  At least American Top 40 is still around. Not just the XM radio replays.  Casey is long gone but Ryan Seacrest plays the current Top 40 music for you now.  If you can call it that!  Yikes! I better stop right there.  I don’t think we are ready for the rest of that story.  Gooooooood day!