Hi Book Lover ~~
In my novel, Flower in the Hills, Latina has brought along her transistor radio, hoping to be connected with some “life on the planet,” as she spends the summer tucked away in an old farmhouse in the Ozark Hills in Missouri.
In all actuality, the transistor radio was the craze a few years before Latina’s time, but it fits well with this story so the author (that would be me) took poetic license.
But hey, what in heaven’s name IS a transistor radio?
Your Grandparents’ iPod
It was the teens’ iPod of its time – a pocket-sized radio that teens carried with them everywhere. This meant they could listen to their favorite rock n’ roll music no matter where they went. (Some of the die-hard baseball fans listened to the World Series!)
And yes, they even came with earplugs. And many a student had the wires hidden beneath their clothing while sitting in class. (Hoping not to get caught and have the radio taken away.)
Before the transistor radio, families listened to the radio together – as a family. Now the kids could listen to all that wild rock n’ roll music alone (and with their friends), because most parents didn’t approve.
A Lot of Little Radios
At the peak of this radio’s popularity – owners in the U.S. numbered over ten million! (10,000,000,000) That’s a LOT of little radios!
Isn’t it interesting how things change – but don’t really change?
So what were fashions like in Latina’s day. We’ll take a look at that in the next post!
Meanwhile, keep on reading
Norma Jean
PS: Ask your grandparents if any of them remember owning their own transistor radio! (Did they sneak them into the classroom?) Tell your answer in the comments below.
I’ve visited the Ozarks often and the hills there are beautiful (as Latina learns in this story). The area at one time was filled with stereotypes of barefoot hillbillies, moonshine stills, rutted backwoods roads, and rickety cabins perched on the side of a rocky hill.
