I Heard It on the Radio
Saturday night I had a blast from the past that brought an instant smile to my face. While driving home from dinner, I was thumbing through the radio dial when I stumbled on to the broadcast of the Atlanta Braves game. Immediately I was taken back to my childhood.
As a child I spent many nights lounging on my bean bag holding my radio while I surfed the dial trying to find a ballgame to listen to. I was loyal to the Tennessee Vols, but if they weren’t playing, I was seeking a game. Fortunately, with 50,000-watt stations like WLAC in Nashville, WSB in Atlanta, and WLNO in New Orleans I was able to hear beyond my little world. I recall the first time I felt the roar of the Tiger Stadium crowd when I heard the announcer say, “its Saturday night in Death Valley,” or the unique play by play call of Larry Munson, the voice of Georgie Bulldog football. I can’t forget hearing Harlan, Kentucky native Cawood Ledford first call Kentucky basketball games from Memorial Gymnasium and then from Rupp Arena. He didn’t like Tennessee much and so I didn’t much care for him, but his description of a game was dramatic. My memories of days listening to the world from my small radio will always bring a smile; and if I relive certain moments, will likely bring a tear. I still get chills when I remember the Vol Network coming on air for a game with a booming voice saying, “from Mountain City to the mighty Mississippi and all across the great state of Tennessee.”
I suspect I am not alone. Even though my memories are uniquely southern, I am sure my love of radio broadcasts isn’t so unique. Ask anyone my age or older from New York to LA and you will hear them fondly remember their team and their announcer. Whether it was the Brooklyn or LA Dodgers, the New York Yankees, or the Green Bay Packers, their rich histories are woven with great broadcasters and loyal listeners.
As I have reflected on my love of sports on the radio, it isn’t nostalgia that touches me. It is how these nights staring at my radio impacted my life. When you don’t have much, and we didn’t, and when watching sports on tv is a luxury, and it was, radio opened a door to a life that could only be imagined.
And that’s really it, at its core, it was the power of imagination that made it so special. The announcers told the story of what they were witnessing with a little personal flare, and if they were good, gave the listener the ability to create their own vision of what was going on. It was as though you could see what was happening, living the emotions of the game with a prime seat. For me, I knew I couldn’t be in Baton Rouge on a Saturday night, nor in Lexington, but my mind could take me there. I was free to open my imagination, and no one could tell me I was wrong. It was my private interpretation of what I heard. It was magical.
Those nights taught me how to create a scene in my head, opened my mind to the power of creativity, stressed the importance of intently listening, and gave me a sense that the world was an exciting place. It also showed me the power of words. When you are listening to a story unfold in a dynamic, emotional, and sometimes theatrical way, each word can impact what you feel or how your mind sees what is happening. I began to love words and the many interpretations of how a word could be spun to add to a story. There were times when I heard words and I didn’t know what they meant, but the description offered gave me a chance to figure out what the “new” word was all about.
In that regard, I was fortunate to grow up listening to a master wordsmith. John Ward became The Voice of the Vols when I was a toddler and stayed in the role until, I was an adult. He emphasized words with an eloquence unlike anyone I had ever heard speak. “Green sward, rumbling, bumbling stumbling, tackled by a host of volunteers,” were just a few of the phrases I remember. He captivated me and I hung on every word.
Those nights gave me a life-long love of words and the power to imagine. I am grateful for the little radio I had and the world it gave me.
Today, I miss having time to let my imagination run free. The over availability of information and the ease at which you can watch every event has lowered the opportunity to see a world without using your eyes. Today sports have become an exercise in perfection. Most plays are replayed and studied, every questionable call is reviewed, there are multiple angles available for each moment. Nothing is left to wonder; no longer can you interpret words into images. Sadly, the images are the foundation, not the words.
All is not lost for me. Fortunately, as I aged and had less time listening to sports on the radio, I gained an outlet for imagining the world; I became an avid reader. In the last 40 years, I have found I can get lost in a book and, if it is good, recapture the youthful imagination I lived when I was using my ears to explore the world.
Books compel the reader to imagine more than what is said. An author describing a scene is not the end of the story but the groundwork for what the reader’s mind will see. There can be no story if the reader doesn’t add to it and imagine what is being described.
Books also ask the reader to think about the words that are written and how they are presented. A well-crafted sentence flows in and out with compelling words that add to the flow, not distract. Words sharpen the imagination and the imagery that comes from it. Simply put words matter, and how they are used matters.
What a boring world it would be if everything were so clear as to block out the power to imagine. I cannot fathom the mundane existence if we all saw the same thing and weren’t able to internalize how we wanted to craft our version of a story. I’m not suggesting we live with our own alternative facts. Rather, I am suggesting that facts aren’t to be altered, our imagination is to be used. When John Ward described Johnnie Jones gaining five yards on first down, the fact was, he gained five yards. What made it magical was John took ten seconds to describe it and I felt like I lived the whole experience; and I heard it on the radio.
