The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Tim Krohn

Related Photos

May 30, 2009

Forget TVs, iPods, radio have a lot to offer

Television and iPods should have made radio obsolete. Why just listen when you can see the video with the voices? Why not tailor exactly the listening experience you want instead of letting a radio station decide it for you?

But there is a special value in listening to the radio — something more than nostalgia.

Recent technological advances have been all about empowering the user. They allow a la carte selections so you can watch, listen or read only exactly what you want. Zip past TV commercials with TiVo. Use a software package that automatically builds a music library based solely on your likes. Get only the types of news, sports and entertainment you want on your computer.

With radio, you get what they give you. Which isn’t a bad thing. You tend to hear opinions you wouldn’t have sought out — ideas that challenge your comfort zone. And you learn things about a community or region you’d never know by keeping your iPod earpieces in place or fixating on your Blackberry.

The small-town radio stations around our cabin Up North host an array of stations: 24/7 religion; backwoods, anti-government talk shows; top 40 music.

The local hosts’ chit-chat gives an insight to the area you can’t find without living there.

And it’s not just the news and talk that can give you something extra on a radio, but entertainment as well. Playlists chosen by someone else present you with songs you wouldn’t have thought of downloading to your MP3 player, but they’re a gratifying surprise when you hear them.

And listening to a Twins baseball game on a summer afternoon is hard to beat. My uncle, who had a perfectly good TV and radio in the house, would instead go outside, pull the big Buick under a shade tree on the lawn, open the doors and listen to Herb Carneal give a leisurely play-by-play.

The radio you listen to makes a difference. The sweet spot of radio tone is somewhere between the tinny sound from a cheap, small radio and the ultra-refined detail emanating from a state-of-the art, fully digital player.

I found a beauty for the cabin at Gardiner Hardware in Pine River. It’s a hefty, black model with a fold-up handle and long, solid antenna. An “RCA Superadio.” Hi performance, wide band, auto frequency control, treble and bass knobs.

It has a deep sound that gives rich resonance to voice and song.

As the coffee brews and the sun slides up over the bay, or as night settles and the lights in the cabin spread a rich orange glow out the windows, the RCA is a comfortable companion.

Somehow, a TV or iPod would be an intrusion.



Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at 344-6383 or by e-mail at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Tim Krohn