Radio today is not what it once was. Like everything and all of us, it has changed with the times.

The basic premise was to entertain and inform, and that has pretty much always been true. But it used to be, well, a lot more interesting.

Growing up, my family had a Zenith radio and record player in our house. It was big and had a tilt-out radio that played 78 rpm records and AM radio, as well as short-wave radio. It sat in the corner of our living room near the fireplace. I remember listening to all types of programs many an evening as I lay on my stomach behind a wing-back chair with my ear about 10 inches from the speaker.

In my mind’s eye, I can still see/hear the reports from the front during the Korean War, Eisenhower’s nomination and the broadcast of the congressional committees looking into communism and organized crime (“On advice of counsel, I refuse to answer that question on the grounds it tends to incriminate me”).

Whatever it was, radio took you there … and it could be, in many ways, better than today’s TV.

Local radio, much like this newspaper, had a big job. They had to cover local events and news as well as regional, national and international plus provide entertainment, all with limited resources.

I remember an advertisement for radio done by Stan Freberg. In the ad, the Canadian Air Force towed a huge marshmallow over one of the Great Lakes that had been turned into cocoa, and dropped it in. The point was, by using your imagination, you could see what was happening.

While going to school in East Wenatchee, like most kids, I would occasionally have a day off for the flu or a cold. Mom would keep me in my room and mostly in bed. During these times, I developed a literal friendship with many of the people on radio at that time.

In the morning, you could always “March Around The Breakfast Table with Don McNeill and the Breakfast Club.” It was the longest-running network entertainment program (1933-1968). The list of performers included Aunt Fanny (Fran Allison).

Later, there was an opportunity for a housewife to become “Queen for a Day.” When I was listening, the host was Jack Bailey. The program is considered a precursor of today’s reality TV.

Later in the afternoon, the strains of Teddy Bear’s Picnic ushered in “Big John and Sparkie,” whom I actually saw once at the Liberty Theatre when they came to town.

These programs and many others set the stage for television. But unlike Oprah or the cable news networks of today, you could listen and do other things. They were not visual. You didn’t have to sit in one place for maximum effect.

There were local programs too. One that comes to mind featured Lily Jo Hammans, the 1951 Apple Blossom Festival queen. She had a 15-minute program featuring her singing. As a kid, I know I did not appreciate Ms. Hammans; in fact, I often poked fun at her, but it was local programming.

As I grew older, a local station that had enough power to reach both ends of Wenatchee Avenue featured the kind of music that kids enjoyed with live, on-air disc jockeys and personalities.

The live personalities were the hallmark of radio in those days. They not only gave the programming some color — remember Queen Bee?— but, on more than one occasion, they added excitement and a quick sense of the moment. They often had to fill in, on the spot, or add creative interpretation to whatever was going on (the crack of a bat at a Wenatchee Chiefs game, for example).

I miss the old programs and the people. They were a part of our fabric and helped shape our future. Today, 24 hours of anything blaring over and over or 30 minutes of inane, politically correct, laugh-tracked pseudo-realism is more than anyone should be subjected to.

Not saying it was better back then … just more interesting.

Perrin Cornell is a longtime Wenatchee resident who enjoys writing about his time growing up here. He sells real estate for Windermere Real Estate/NCW.