My Musical life -- The Early Years 1953-1963

The day I was born the Billboard Magazine No.1 hit was Vaya con Dios by Les Paul & Mary Ford. The transistor radio had yet to be invented. Every home had a radio with vacuum tubes, as was the custom for decades in America. Radios in automobiles were ubiquitous. Television was established as the hot new technology with programming evolved to the level of I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners and the Ed Sullivan Show. Such was the state of the commercial broadcast environment.

As far as the state of community broadcasting, in 1946 Lewis Hill moved from Washington DC to the San Francisco Bay Area and began work toward creating the first listener supported non-commercial radio station in the United States. In 1949 Pacifica first goes on the air April 15 as KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley CA (FM was a novelty and never expected to be widely used). In 1953 KUHT in Houston becomes the first non-commercial educational TV station.

Music was common in my home environment by means of the commercial conduits mentioned above. My mother listened to the popular music of the time by tuning to the local AM station  KTSA in San Antonio, Texas. My father kept the radio in the car tuned to KONO AM.

I remember the hits from those years, many of them from semi-ethereal fever ridden funks of childhood illness with radio accompaniment. For some reason The Wayward Wind, by Gogi Grant (#1-1956) brings back memories of measles. Weekly trips to the Drive-in theater with my parents afforded opportunity to listen to the popular songs of the era over the window-hung speaker, between movies. This Ole House by Rosemary Clooney, and the other novelty song, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor stand out.

Television was an increasingly important source of musical exposure during the period. My mother would watch Liberace during the day, bringing piano music, and some classics into the home. My father liked to watch Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan, Andy Williams, Perry Como, and Porter Wagoner, providing a wide range of music. My sister, five years older than I, liked Everly Brothers, Righteous Brothers, and Motown. Me -- I liked cartoons. That brought me into contact with all styles of music. Betty Boop had early jazz, Popeye used hornpipes, and Warner Brothers, especially, Carl Stalling, introduced me to classical themes from Wagner to Mendelssohn.

Sometime late in this period, my father purchased a Curtis Mathis Console Black and White TV, with multi-band radio and automatic phonograph. I was fascinated by the 'Magic Eye' FM tuner (seen at left). At that time FM radio in San Antonio, Texas was 'easy-listening' or environmental music, meant to be used for elevator, doctor's office and mercantile atmosphere. Dad bought one of those classical music collections with '120 beloved melodies,' and his era music (Glenn Miller). I enjoyed school field trips to see the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra educational presentations.

As I was turning ten years old, many changes to my musical life were occurring  By 1963, the Beatles had become established as a major force in music. They had four #1 hits in the U.S. and were due to debut with a bullet on Ed Sullivan Show (Feb 1964).

Oh, and on my 10th birthday I got my first guitar as a present.