“Old Timers” like me may still remember when radio was King.

For the first decade or so of my life, there was no television. The only common, immediate public communication came via the radio.

For some reason, after the lake ices over, and after the ice fishermen start coming–an old radio program starts coming into my head. It was about a “Sergeant Preston” who was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and who roamed the arctic during the winter chasing crooks and criminals.

The radio program would start with a howling wind in the background, and then would continue with these words: “From the windswept snow-covered prairies of the wild northwest, Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice (two common cereals then) bring you Sergeant Preston and his mighty dog, ‘Yukon King’!”…and then the dog would bark in the background.

I don’t know about you, but when I wake up on a frigid morning, and the wind is whistling down a frozen Chautauqua Lake…it makes me think about Sergeant Preston and the “windswept snow-covered prairies of the wild northwest.”

There was another regular radio program which we always listened to. It came on for a half an hour, usually right after dinner and before bedtime … the Lone Ranger. The intro to that started with a rendition of the William Tell Overture followed by the sound of galloping hoofs. Following that, the announcer would say: “Out of the west in a cloud of dust and a mighty ‘high-ho Silver,’ the Lone Ranger rides again!”

Then we would be treated to how this masked man, riding his famous horse “Silver,” along with the help of his Indian partner, Tonto, would save some maiden from distress or bring a crook or murderer to justice. You could just close your eyes and, with the sound effects from the radio, envision this all happening out there in the wild-wild West.

As I got older, I would help my Dad in the barn doing chores. During the milking, he would always have the radio turned up so that you could hear it throughout the barn. We would get whatever music and commentary (and advertising) was being brought to us by our local AM radio stations, WJTN or WKSN.

During the early morning milking, probably every dairy farmer in southern Chautauqua County would be tuned in listening to Doc Webster (father of the current announcer still working at WJTN.) Doc Webster would always have a weather round-up from places all across New York state, and he would focus on what weather was expected and how that might affect farming operations here. He was such a common voice in the barn, that often, I would talk back to him as if he were a real person helping me with the milking.

Which brings up one of the great things about radio…you can listen to it and enjoy it while doing something else – whether that be milking cows or driving a car down the road. You are not distracted like you are when fumbling with a cell phone or watching TV.

It was a simpler time back then when “radio was King.” I still remember it positively as connecting us, in an immediate way, with our community, culture and country. It was one of those experiences which makes you a bit nostalgic for the “the good old days.”

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.