Listening to OTR on an antique radio

I listen to a lot of OTR; it's one of my favorite pastimes. Yesterday some interesting thoughts crossed my mind as I was listening to a Mercurty Theater CBS production of August 29, 1938, starring the great Orson Welles, "The Count of Monte Cristo." I was broadcasting the recording to my RCA 7K, one of my favorite receivers. As I listened, these thoughts entered my mind: Someone, somewhere, almost 74 years ago had undoubtedly listened to this program on the very same receiver I am now using. I had bought this unit in Michigan, and I wondered if it had originally belonged to someone in Detroit, my home town; if so, that person would have been tuned to Detroit's CBS outlet, WJR, 760 kc, "The Goodwill Station in the tower of the Fisher Building." A strange feeling momentarily went through me as I felt I had somehow made contact with the past. I can't think of any other hobby that permits such dramatic connection to our history. Incidentally, WJR is still on the air, still at 760 on the dial, and still has its studios in the tower of the Fisher Building on W. Grand Blvd. However, the city of Detroit I grew up in no longer exists.

I feel that way every time I work on a radio. When I pull a chassis & get a look underneath, I think about the fact that I may be the first person to see these parts in 50 years or more. Or when I fire up some big band tunes, I think about how the same thing played when the radio was new.
Dave