Grandpa Stayed Up All Night At The Radio

Well, actually Mom told me he stayed up all night until 10:00 trying to get KDKA in Pittsburgh on the radio. For him, 10pm was pretty much “all night,” as he turned in at what he considered a reasonable hour, but as I later became a night owl, I came to think of as a bit on the early side.

For instance, it’s 1:55 a.m. Saturday morning as I am writing this. (Ignore the posting time down below; I had trouble signing on and had to back-time it.) I try to get to bed by 2:00, but it’s usually a half-hour later.

When I was in my later teen years, I got involved in radio, evenings after school, and my parents sort of wanted me in bed by 11:00, if possible. Weekends, they thought 1:00 a.m. was really the outer limits, thank you. I learned to come in very quietly a bit later, you’re welcome.

There’s something magical being about in the night. We had a beach just down the street and late at night you had to know where the paths were up the steep bluffs to the street. They were “darker than dark,” and that’s the only way you could find them. You really had to know your way. But it was just you, the pounding waves and the darkness, with the occasional maritime vessel’s navigation lights out there.

I remember, as a very young person, being brought home and seeing the streetlight through our tree’s oak leaves. It was late, very late for someone my age. We had been out all night and it was, perhaps, ten p.m.