What with all the attention to such topics as COVID-19, the on-again-off-again soap opera of professional sporting events, city council activities, who We did or didn’t pay, and the upcoming provincial and civic elections, the big day was easy to miss.
Back in June, in a normal year, North Americans for sure would have been celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first radio to become part of an automobile.
For a mere $130, owners of the Model A Deluxe Coupe could have a radio installed in a vehicle that had only cost them $540. A deal not just anyone could afford.
This historic moment was created by the Galvin Brothers and the radio was the first of the Motorola brand of electronics.
Six years earlier a much cruder form of speaking box was fitted out in certain models of vehicles in Australia, but these devices had little success and thus all the attention goes to the 1930 date.
Back in those days, and even as car radio designs were refined and upgraded, such entertainment centres were considered “dangerous distractions” and were frowned upon by law enforcement.
But car and truck radios gradually took off, being especially popular among the younger set who even back years ago must have enjoyed cruising the streets, playing songs at volumes that no doubt made the dogs howl and the adults cringe in dismay and mutter, “what is this younger generation coming to?”
Learning about the car radio anniversary brought up some memories of family vehicles that did not have a factory-installed radio and there was no way the family could afford to have one installed after the fact. I was especially excited when my brother had a radio put in one of his cars. He wasn’t too excited to find me sitting inside it listening to the radio and running down the battery. What did I know as a kid about engines and batteries and jalopies? I thought using the auxiliary setting would be sufficiently safe.
Imagine, though, the excitement when the family was able to buy a car that came with an in-dash radio as a standard piece of equipment. It was a proud moment when we drove that car off the lot and headed home. I would have been happier if Mom had moved to the back seat so I could have picked my favourite station, but she insisted on riding shotgun and listening to the Mail Bag all the way home.
And so what followed in entertainment systems in motor vehicles included 8-track players in 1965; cassette players in 1968; CD players in 1984; satellite radios in 1999; and bluetooth systems in the early to mid 2000s.
While the radio is still the basis for inclusion in most vehicles, 8-tracks and cassettes disappeared long ago in new models. But when I recently purchased a brand new replacement vehicle, I was astonished to learn that CD players are no longer included in many new vehicles.
It was pointed out that most drivers now have playlists on their smart devices and simply plug those in and listen away without having to change stations when the music doesn’t meet one’s criteria.
The devices we own might be “smart” but it doesn’t necessarily follow that we are smart enough to figure them out. Thus it was devastating to learn we would have to get along without a CD player if we decided on certain vehicle models.
Imagine our relief when the vehicle we bought still provided a CD player as a standard feature. But we were warned: this would be the last model to do so. So now we have to select favourite CDs to be played in the vehicle — so many choices, so little time and only a certain amount of battery life available while sitting in the driveway.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
