You should understand that I work at a radio station. It’s something that I have wanted to do since I was in the neighborhood of twelve years old. I can’t tell you how or why the bug bit me. It just did. And I had one of those things happen today where I remember being a little kid and having that moment reflect on where my life is today. How I grew up in a small town with probably the best hardware store on the face of the earth. Still housed to this day in a early 1900’s building, it’s run by some of the most incredible people you could ever meet. It’s that aspect that makes it great, not the selection. Odd to speak so highly of a store like that, but I’m sure there are things that you became attached to in your life that you can relate.
They always had the radio on when you walked in. It just gives the place an atmosphere. It’s hard to describe. Often, it was tuned to the AM side of the dial, usually to the local NPR affiliate. A flash of my memory and I can recall running up to the store just as a horrible thunderstorm was rolling into town. Dad and I had to grab something from them before they closed and get home before we were caught by the weather. The radio was crackling like a sparkler when we walked in. The AM band tends to do that when the sky is about to release. To this day, that still sends a chill up my spine to hear that over the speakers.
Somehow, I can remember thinking, “What causes that?” I wanted to know more. The announcer alone can tell you about the impending weather, but other garble and whistles within a frequency can add to the impact of what the atmosphere is doing above your head. Dad would always do his best to explain it to me, and some times I got it. I truly believe that was the day that it bit. I just didn’t know it. Oddly enough, I now work for the same station that they listen to all the time at that same little hardware store.