Warning: Once You Cross the Gates of Radio-Philia, There Is No Going Back

Through this website, I have been in communication with a recent "radio convert," someone who suddenly and inexplicably loves radios and, like me, demands the best performance in them. He has recently written me:

Herculodge, you are so right. Radio lovers can't be cured.

I'm perilously close to pulling the trigger on an Eton S350DL, even though I'm perfectly satisfied with my Kaito KA2100.

I should be all set. I have the perfect bedside radio, an ideal all-purpose radio, and a good pocket-sized portable. And yet I want the Eton S350DL. Sheez.

Notice the reader writes, "I should be all set." He is wrong. Radio lovers, myself included, are never "all set." There is always a new radio we think we can't pass up. We love to fall in love with radios. Sometimes we'll fall out of love with a radio only to fall in love with it, inexplicably, all over again.

I don't even know why I love radios so much. I'm not an engineer. I didn't grow up collecting radios. It's a mystery. One Fall day in 2004 at the age of 43 I walked into Circuit City on a whim. I didn't really want to buy anything with any urgency, but there it was, a blue Tivoli PAL for $130. I told my wife I wanted it and she approved. The incident seemed innocuous, but I had no idea that I had just entered the Gates of Radio-Philia for which there is no return. Two months later, I walked into Circuit City intent on buying a digital radio with presets. I was less than impressed with the speaker sound on the little Grundig radios, so I instead bought a Grundig S350. The S350's pseudo-military design ignited sparks in the reptilian centers of my brain. After that, I started reading radio reviews onRadioIntel and soon I had to get all the radios featured on the site including the Kaito 1101, 1102, and 1103. I'm sure I purchased over 50 radios and have spent around $5,000 during the last four years. I've sold many of them. I keep buying new ones.

The good news: I don't collect super expensive items like espresso machines, tailored suits, titanium watches, sport cars, neolithic statues.

A possible explanation: I sometimes think radio lovers are looking for escape. Like everyone else, we get frustrated with all sorts of things and we feel helpless as we watch the news about our world going to hell in a hand basket. The radio is a refuge, an escape, and gives us a sense of control. I'll say to myself, "Yeah, the world is going to hell, but, wow, doesn't my Eton S350 really grab 89.3 FM with boldness and clarity!"

An annoying thing about being a radio lover: One thing that I find laughable about myself is that I see myself as having superior radio knowledge to the average person and stupidly I feel that this knowledge gives me a significant "advantage." I'll go to someone's house and sniff with contempt at their crappy Teac radio and think to myself, "What a poor lost soul. This is definitely someone who needs my help." So in fact being a radio lover has turned me into a supercilious know-it-all. How very annoying.

To conclude, I will continue to pursue my radio passion on this website, as my radio virus remains strong and there is not a vaccine or antidote on the horizon. At the same time, I laugh at myself as I am surely not blind to the absurdities of my obsession.

Through this website, I have been in communication with a recent "radio convert," someone who suddenly and inexplicably loves radios and, like me, demands the best performance in them. He has recently written me:

Herculodge, you are so right. Radio lovers can't be cured.

I'm perilously close to pulling the trigger on an Eton S350DL, even though I'm perfectly satisfied with my Kaito KA2100.

I should be all set. I have the perfect bedside radio, an ideal all-purpose radio, and a good pocket-sized portable. And yet I want the Eton S350DL. Sheez.

Notice the reader writes, "I should be all set." He is wrong. Radio lovers, myself included, are never "all set." There is always a new radio we think we can't pass up. We love to fall in love with radios. Sometimes we'll fall out of love with a radio only to fall in love with it, inexplicably, all over again.

I don't even know why I love radios so much. I'm not an engineer. I didn't grow up collecting radios. It's a mystery. One Fall day in 2004 at the age of 43 I walked into Circuit City on a whim. I didn't really want to buy anything with any urgency, but there it was, a blue Tivoli PAL for $130. I told my wife I wanted it and she approved. The incident seemed innocuous, but I had no idea that I had just entered the Gates of Radio-Philia for which there is no return. Two months later, I walked into Circuit City intent on buying a digital radio with presets. I was less than impressed with the speaker sound on the little Grundig radios, so I instead bought a Grundig S350. The S350's pseudo-military design ignited sparks in the reptilian centers of my brain. After that, I started reading radio reviews onRadioIntel and soon I had to get all the radios featured on the site including the Kaito 1101, 1102, and 1103. I'm sure I purchased over 50 radios and have spent around $5,000 during the last four years. I've sold many of them. I keep buying new ones.

The good news: I don't collect super expensive items like espresso machines, tailored suits, titanium watches, sport cars, neolithic statues.

A possible explanation: I sometimes think radio lovers are looking for escape. Like everyone else, we get frustrated with all sorts of things and we feel helpless as we watch the news about our world going to hell in a hand basket. The radio is a refuge, an escape, and gives us a sense of control. I'll say to myself, "Yeah, the world is going to hell, but, wow, doesn't my Eton S350 really grab 89.3 FM with boldness and clarity!"

An annoying thing about being a radio lover: One thing that I find laughable about myself is that I see myself as having superior radio knowledge to the average person and stupidly I feel that this knowledge gives me a significant "advantage." I'll go to someone's house and sniff with contempt at their crappy Teac radio and think to myself, "What a poor lost soul. This is definitely someone who needs my help." So in fact being a radio lover has turned me into a supercilious know-it-all. How very annoying.

To conclude, I will continue to pursue my radio passion on this website, as my radio virus remains strong and there is not a vaccine or antidote on the horizon. At the same time, I laugh at myself as I am surely not blind to the absurdities of my obsession.

Comments

[Ed S.]

You're not alone, Jeff. I've been into radio stuff since my first 1958 Rocket-Ship crystal radio, and the bug is still going strong. It's just the sheer magic of voices and music and infornmation being sent to you on freakin' invisible waves! We are jaded now, but do you realize how crazy and miraculous that sounds? (I read that Marconi's family had him put in a mental ward when he first said he was communicating using invisible waves!)
The portable radio is the original ipod. Except it gives you millions of songs, perhaps not according to your desired playlist. It is the voice that keeps you company when you are alone. It helps you sleep at night. It provides the background soundtrack to your life.

To find out how voices came out the radio box, I became an enegineer. But I never became a Ham. I have a theory: just as there are "super tasters" (those who have more taste buds on their tongue), I believe there are also "super hearers" sometimes pejoratively referred to as "golden ears." I know I am into "aural sex" when listening to my hi-fi.
Like you say, there are worse things we could spend our money on. Like you, I also have no interest in gambling, card games, etc. It is definitely something genetic, as my grandfather had the radio bug too, in the 1920's! He mad his own coils from boxes of Quaker Oats and used a "cat's whisker" detector (look it up). You were just a late bloomer it seems.

[jeffrey McMahon]

I agree with all your points. For me, I'm sure my insomnia, a trait my mother and grandfather have and had, keeps me dependent on the radio. But even in my waking hours, I prefer live radio to an iPod, which I play for company or only occasionally for myself.

I'll have to post a section of your toothsome comments.