So this past Saturday, we saw the annual celebration of National Radio Day, that funny little thing that hangs out in your dashboard and went pretty much unchanged for 102 years.
Well, almost.
The first radio broadcast was the results of the Harding vs Cox presidential election on 11/02/1920. Rumor has it a Nickelback song was played directly after that but it was hard to tape the DJ playing the tunes back then. Remember that? Laying up at night and crouched over your boom box because any minute, your brand new favorite song was gonna get played and with any luck, the DJ would shut their mouth over the intro and you would have that greatest gift in your hands?
With streaming services that’s long gone but honestly…. isn’t it still so much cooler when YOUR song shows up unannounced on the radio? Like someone else out there gets it? They get me? I truly believe that’s why radio will always be here to stay. Yes, it’s old. Yes, we don’t play EVERYTHING you want. Yet for some reason, we’re all still here and it’s because of the connection. A local DJ talking local to a local commuter.
Sure, any song can be an international sensation, but what happens when we start sharing stories about hearing Metallica for the first time at Lake Ronkonkoma in your older brother’s Firebird? Or seeing Life Of Agony and Type O Negative on Halloween night at the old Coliseum in 1996? That’s when it becomes PERSONAL. That’s why we still turn this thing on. To share a piece of us that still ticks loud and validate that its still the best piece of us!!
We are Long Islanders sharing a ride with the best music on this planet. For THAT alone, I hope you had a great National Radio Day. Thank you for making it such a special thing for us.