The Radio Years
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When I was a young boy with not much to do inside at night,
We turned on the radio and listened to shows with no sight.
As the characters that we listened to, we could not see
My imagination conjured up faces that were only for me.
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The Radio Years
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Between 1950 and 1954 we had no TV as they were brand new,
We had a table model radio that we often listened to as we grew.
There were certain fun shows that ran continuously as a serial,
That we listened to at certain times and the suspense was so real.
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There was “Superman”, the a man of steel who was faster,
Than a speeding bullet and stopped many man made disasters,
I had seen him in comics so I knew he had a cape and blue tights
And won nearly everyone of his bad villain and monster fights.
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There was the “Shadow” who was a dark and mysterious guy,
With a very shady sounding voice we listened to Sunday night.
Who started all his of his live exciting weird mystery radio shows,
With a long weird sounding laugh followed by “the shadow knows.”
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The “Lone Ranger” with his friend Tonto who called him kemosabe.
Was an exciting show about heroes and evil bad men wannabes.
The masked man yelled “hi ho silver” to his white trusty steed,
And shot silver bullets knocking guns out of hands in the street.
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We listened to “The Adventures Of Sam Spade”, a private eye,
Who was a crime solving dude and somewhat of a ladies guy.
He talked with that smooth cool guy kind of voice that we adore,
As he solved all the mysteries while kissing the girls and more.
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Then there was the “Cisco Kid” who was a cowboy hero star,
Who had a compadre, Pancho, who was always close, never far.
They rounded up bank robbers and then tied them up tight,
Then took them straight to jail after they won the big gun fight.
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The “Red Skelton” show was one of my Moms favorite radio shows,
I didn’t understand all the jokes as some of the stuff no kid knows.
Mom did a lot of laughing to Reds jokes and skits that he did,
So I just laughed along with her as if I understood what he said.
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“Abbott and Costello” was easier for me to understand as a kid,
“Who’s on first” and “What’s on second” was as simple as it gets,
In fact it seemed like the jokes they told were silly as can be.
I guess goofy comedy stuff made people laugh until they peed.
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My Granddad Kendrick had an old upright RCA Victor Radio,
That we sometines gathered around on Saturday night for a show,
We loved “The Grand Old Opry” sponsored by Martha White Flour,
Those times listening to the great music was fun for a whole hour.
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I have that old RCA Victor upright radio that we listened to then,
Sitting in my dining room looking as good as it did back when,
We sat around it in the floor watching the music flowing out.
It sounds as good now with the same old tubes there’s no doubt.
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.This old RCA Victor upright radio was the top of the line when my granddad bought it the 1940s. It still sounds good today. My Grandmother Kendrick crocheted that doily on top
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We got our first TV about 1955 and it got most of our free time,
As we could see the characters we heard on the radio so fine.
There was a lot of snow on the picture for the first couple ot years,
It soon got better as did the TV shows, so the radio fell to the rear.
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By Bill
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Thanks for reading The Radio Years,
Bill