Real Radios Glow in The Dark

The dream this morning has me thinking back to a time when I was young man in the 1970's and I used to listen to shortwave radio broadcasts from countries all over the world. It was an obsession for me to chase after stations in distant exotic lands and get my world news from as many different points of view as possible.

In my dream I am walking pass a small group of people gathered in a room. These people are having a serious panicked discussion about a current world event. Apparently, the entire internet has been shut down by the government. The federal government has decided to suspend the first amendment and restrict the access of news and information to all of the civilian population. They have pulled the kill switch.

I calmly walk past them, I know what I need to do, I have been prepared for this! I remember I have



a vintage shortwave radio in an up stairs room of this building. I can see it in my mind's eye. It is an old tube type radio with a lighted dial. Under my left arm I am carrying a clip board with English language radio broadcast charts. I printed them out from the internet just before it went down. I now have all the information I need to find the news sources that will tell me truth of what is going on nationally and globally.



I walk down a long basement hallway and come to a spiral staircase with my charts, and a hot cup of coffee in hand. The stairs go up to a sweet radio room. This room is specially designed for radio listening and my old vintage radio is featured prominently there for my monitoring pleasure. This is when I wake up.

In the old days, before there was an internet, a majority of people on this planet, commonly got news and information by radio. Shortwave broadcasts reached millions all around the world. if the internet ever goes down due to natural disaster, war or censorship then shortwave could make a serious comeback. An old medium could become new again. I believe that.

I miss my old hobby of shortwave listening. It gave me so many hours of entertainment and education. It made the long dark winter nights so much more bearable. There was such a variety of things to tune in and listen to back in the day. Most countries had broadcasts in English from huge radio facilities. I used to listen to the BBC, Radio Moscow, Radio Australia, Radio Havana. Even little countries like Nigeria and Luxemburg had shortwave broadcasts back then. The majority of the old broadcasters are gone now. Many governments shrank the budgets of such operations and have shut down or scaled back such facilities. I have no idea what can be found on the shortwave bands now.

I used to tune into the Ham radio broadcasts, the military, and the space shuttle as well. I remember listening to rescues at sea. That was what made me join the U.S. Coast Guard when I was older.

What is the chief take away to consider with this dream? Is it a premonition of things to come? Is it nostalgia? My gut tells me to pay attention and dust off the old radios I have stored somewhere.