Pre-stereo
Early Record Players
When I was a little kid I didn't listen to much music. I had some Disney records: "Mary Poppins", "Pinocchio", etc. Mom was listening to Easy Listening on WDAY FM. Dad was listening to KFGO on his car radio to a blend of talk, pop and mostly country. In the basement we had a GE AM/FM phonograph, which mom and dad had when married. It was a 'portable' although the size of an end table; weighing about 40 pounds. [In the 80s mom tried to sell it on a rummage sale. It didn't sell. I took it apart and made a tube powered guitar amp out of it. It worked pretty good. I wish I kept it.]
Suzanne and I shared a little green record player that came from who knows where. I remember it had four speeds: 16, 33, 45, and 78 rpm. Suzanne got a little record player for her odd collection of 'singles' cut from the back of cereal boxes, thick colored plastic doll records, and pre-teen 45s.
In the early 70s mom bought a Magnavox home entertainment center - you know the large wood furniture with enclosed speakers. It had FM stereo and a record changer, so you could put a stack of records on the spindle and it would play them one at a time. Mom didn't like us using it but Suzanne and I did anyway.
I started to get some records of my own: "The Grassroots: Greatest Hits", my first rock album, from a recommendation by Cheri Dement, Joe's daughter and Suzanne's babysitter.
Radios
When I was about eight years old I got a yellow AM radio. It sat downstairs; it was rarely on. Dad and I would bring it to our building across from NDSU while we cleaned, painted and fixed up the apartments.
Dad had an early GE portable radio that was very heavy and quickly went through 4-AA batteries.
I had a better 9V radio with integrated circuits- it wasn't as heavy or as power hungry.
Suzanne had a White Panasonic AM radio that was notable for it's twisty shape.
Panasonic Cassette Recorder
Dad was interested in recording some of mom's Artex meetings. I was interested in recording music or playing cassettes. On Christmas Eve (1971,72) dad give mom and I a portable Panasonic cassette recorder. Dad got it at TEAM electronics in Moorhead. Surprisingly the company is still around today. We bought 'TEAM' branded cassette tapes for it. I got the first Partridge Family album. This would be the first and last pre-recorded tape I ever bought. (I preferred to record my own from vinyl.) The recorder failed within warranty so we got another one. It took dad forever to take care of the problem.
Circa 1974 dad came home with a 'Craig' brand AM/FM Cassette Recorder. It wasn't long before I had them hooked together to make copies.
Around this same time Sony came out with the Walkman. I couldn't afford the Sony but Suzanne and I did buy a knockoff or two, but we couldn't afford the batteries.
Sound Design AM/FM/SW Multi-band Radio
Our neighbor's, the Dements, were big on Ham Radio. They had a big antenna on their house and a lot of equipment. Joe Dement loaned me a Short-wave radio, which I hooked up in my bedroom. I listened to foreign stations. It didn't make an impression on me. What did make an impression was when Joe became Sales Manager at KQWB in Moorhead. This was the premiere rock station in town. They had just started to simulcast their signal on both the AM and FM band. I started to hear Rock music in Art Class. I heard it at Civil Air Patrol, when the other kids would play their radios. I began to enjoy this rock and pop music. On my birthday in 1974 I got a multi-band Sound Design radio that stayed pretty much on KQWB (Q-98). This radio lasted a long time, many long hours in the garage working. Then I took it to ECI where it played in the warehouse all day. Then I brought it over to Baker Wholesale where it played on top of the pop machine in the front sales desk. When I left it stayed.
