My Radio Programs
Starting at 6 a.m. with Rambling with Gambling on WOR710 on your radio dial, my day is spent listening to the radio. John Gambling’s a reasonable guy who asks pertinent questions and follows up; he also has great guests, like Mayor Bloomberg among others. John and I seem to be on a similar wavelength- I used to listen to his father and grandfather.
Imus is not my cup of tea but I do occasionally switch to 880 CBS to get the latest news. At noon, in the car, I listen to Rush Limbaugh on 770 WABC. This will disgust many of my readers, but he explains much of what is happening in Washington D.C.
At 4 p.m. I tune in to Steve Maltzberg, as he is quite controversial and comes up with many twists on the news of the day. At 6 p.m., I go back and forth between the analysts Michael Savage and Mark Levin. They scream and yell a lot, but they are informative.
Baseball games (preferably the Mets) are also on my listening agenda. Having push buttons to get instant programming is a great electronic boon to tuning while driving.
On Saturday morning at 7 a.m., I go to WBAI, 99.5 FM to hear Simon Loekle. He’s a wonderful raconteur, and a James Joyce and Shakespeare expert. David Rothenberg follows on WBAI, selling theater tickets at reasonable prices. He also selects very good recording stars.
Growing up in a non-television era made way for the “golden age of radio.” Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Eddie Cantor were just some of the performers featured as part of the comedy programming.
The afternoons had many heroes for a young boy. Jack Armstrong, Hop Harrington, The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger kept a teenager’s attention. Soap operas like The Romance of Helen Trent, Our Gal Sunday, and Dr. Kildare kept the housewives tuned into their daily problems.
Radio allows us to multitask while listening. We can hear the news with Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid and Gabriel Heatter and still finish the newspaper’s crossword puzzle.
Television stepped in and hijacked the dramas and comedy from radio; news and opinion shows remain. Next week, I plan to introduce my readers to my strange television watching. Stay tuned!
