Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

When I was young, we didn’t have cell phones or laptops but we sure loved our transistor radios! We took ours to bed and listened every night.

One of my prized possessions as a pre-teen was my little transistor radio. I still remember the smell of the plastic and connecting the earphone for the first time. In 1965 I was 12 years old. My sister was a year older and we both got transistor radios for Christmas. Transistor radios were sold at Radio Shack, Lechmere Sales, Woolworth’s and Grants. You could probably get a slightly burnt and scorched one from Bargain Center.

Me, Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg and Bill Rossi.

We listened to Arnie Woo Woo Ginsburg on WMEX. My sister’s favorite song was Downtown and mine was Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter.

We took our transistor radios to bed with us even though we weren’t supposed to. I listened for hours after we went to bed. If I learned my school subjects as well as I memorized my favorite songs, I would have gotten all A’s.

Comments:

“I remember walking around with friends and we would all have our radios up to our ears listening to the same station.”

“Trying to keep it low so the other kids wouldn’t hear it. They would want to hear it to. Then your mom would hear it BOOM it’s gone.”

“OMG. 1967 August 5! I had one, but those 9V batteries. My mom hated it ‘cause I’d sleep with the ear bud and kill the battery. My Grandfather noticed and gave me a crystal set so it got AM without batteries! My mom was so mad. She hated how I’d fall asleep with the earbud and now he made it possible every night! The Great 68 WRKO!”

“Nov 22, 1963, freshman year of high school. I had my transistor radio hidden in my snap ring notebook. I was on my way to gym when the hall monitor told us JFK was shot. The gym teacher let me climb up to the top of the bleachers to get a signal and we all listened to my radio.”

“Listening to west coast Red Sox games and hearing that pop of the bat. Priceless.”

The stations we listened to back then we’re WBZ, WRKO, WMEX, WCOP, WCAS, WNTN, WILD, WXKS and a few others. My kids couldn’t believe that we tested the transistor batteries by touching it to tongues! If you got a shock, the battery was good. I demonstrated. Maybe I was the only one.

We will never forget great Boston DJs like Dale Dorman, Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg, Larry Glick, Ron Robin, Jess Cain, Dave Maynard, Norm Nathan, Wolfman Jack, Little Walter, Casey Casem, Carl DeSuze, Jerry Williams, Harry Nelson, Bud Ballou, Bruce Bradley, Jim Sands, Bill Cusack, Alan Dary, George Fenelll, Gary LaPierre, Joe and Andy, Dick Summer to name a few. I had the honor of working with Dale Dorman, Woo Woo, Bill Cusack, George Fennell and Alan Dary. Here’s a jingle I learned from listening to Dick Summer on WBZ about 60 years ago that I still remember:

One hen, two ducks, three squawking geese, four limerick oysters, five corpulent porpoises, six pairs of Don Alvarsio’s tweezers, SEVEN THOUSAND MACIDONIANS IN FULL BATTLE ARRAY, eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred crypts of Egypt, nine apathetic, sympathetic diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth, ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul salt around the corner of the quay in a query … AT THE VERY SAME TIME. So now I’ll say goodnight all you Glick Niks!”