July 11, 2025 • 20 mins
Tracy and Holly talk about their favorite pens, and Tracy describes a unique radio she had as a child.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, A production
of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We talked about pens this week.
Is the thing that this reminds me the most of
in terms of inspiration for an episode is the one
where we talked about poison control.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
That literally came about because I was reading the back
of the cats, flea and tick prevention medicine that said
if you ingested it, to call poison control.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I was like, huh, how did we get.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
A system in which there's poison control to the point
that it's printed on the box, Like that's the thing
that the people who made this can take for granted
that the people reading it would have access to poison control.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
How do we get to that?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
In this case, We're just sitting around the table, just
kind of chatting as we are preparing to start and
something ish process of signing paperwork, and I thought, hah,
who thought of pens like this? They also were retractable,
and we did not talk about retractable pens at all.
(01:14):
I don't know when somebody came up with how to
retract them? But you know, we're clicking on the retractable pens,
and I went, huh, pens, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
On the show.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
People feel very strongly about pens. I feel incredibly strongly
about pens me too. I've never felt more seen. I
will once again invoke Bob's Burger's. But there was an
episode where someone needed a pen and their daughter Tina.
I think it's Linda that needs a pen. Their daughter
Tina hands it to her and says, this is my
third favorite pen. And then she doesn't hand it back
(01:48):
right away. And Tina's like, can I have it back, because,
like I said, it's my third favorite pen. And I
was like, Tina, I see you and I feel you.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So so the part of the episode where we read
the thing that was about the person saying that they
did not think that this fountain pen would really take
off because it felt so much better to write with
a quill. I have never written with a quill. However,
that really resonated with me, because if I don't like
(02:23):
the sensation of writing with a pen, forget it.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm never using that pen again.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I not that long ago impulse bought some gel pens
at the drug store took one out to write with
it the first time, and it felt scratchy, and I
was like, nope, no, that is the worst sensation. I
hate it, especially if it's a pen like a gel
pen that normally, like a decent gel pen, has such
(02:50):
a smooth hand. Yeah, if it doesn't, if for some
reason it's cheaply made and the roller ball that conveys
the gel does not smoothly do its job.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's like nails on a chalkboard. It's awful. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And the fact that you're not expecting it, because you
expect the gel pen to have that smooth feel, was
incredibly jarring. I've only written with a fountain pen one time.
It is possible that there are fountain pins that I
would like, but that one fountain pen, I was like, Nope,
feels too scratchy on the page. Many years ago, I
(03:25):
was someplace I don't even know where, but the sort
of place that sells gifts.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And knickknacks for your home.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, and it was a glass dip pen that came
with a well of ink, and I was like, that
is beautiful and I want to own it, and I
bought it for myself. And the first time that I
actually tried to write with it. It was a glass
like a handmade glass pen that you would dip into
(03:55):
the well, and the very first time I tried to
write with it, it felt so awful to me that
that then became just a desk decoration. I have a
mixed like Tina, I have different kinds that I like,
and I will tell you I am the person who
buys the old school Bic crystal ballpoint with purple ink
(04:20):
in bulk. I'm like, send me that bulk thing. I
want my purple ink. I like the way a big
ballpoint rolls. They're pretty consistent. Those are my scribblers.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And then.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
My next thing is so specific and odd. I have
passed through as I'm sure you have many pens over
the years where I'm like, this is my current favorite.
Right for a long time, I like the pilot thick
ink rollerball great, but right now.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's so silly.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
And it's been this for a little over like a
year and a half. Now. I think there is a pen.
I don't know who manufactures it, but it is a
Lego Okay light Saber Jel pen that is the one.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, yeah, it is smooth as silk.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I have many colors. Anytime I'm in a situation where
I can buy one, I buy.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Five like I love them so much.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
My only criticism is that there's a little screw top
on the end of the barrel where the actual like
ink stick is inserted, and the threads on that can
fail and it can crack, and that makes me bananas.
You will find around my house many bodged together pens
because I cannot give the pen up even though it
(05:43):
has had a structural failure. Oh the Obsession. One of
the favorite pens that I had that has now run
out of ink.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
One.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I think the last trip that I took prior to
the start of the pandem, not the cruise that I
was on when the pandemic started. I've told that story
on the show many times, But you and I and
several of our coworkers all went on a trip not
long before that that was related to an advertiser and
(06:19):
the pen that they gave us for free with our
little packet of materials. I loved it, wrote really beautifully,
It felt.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Really good in my hands.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I was very into it, and when it ran out
of ink, if I'm remembering correctly, I sat there studying
it trying to figure out, like, what is the source
of this pen? Where can I get another one? And
I did not figure it out. I was unsuccessful. Did
(06:52):
you ever consider and I know this is crazy, but
it's the kind of thing I would do reaching out
to that advertiser and being like, yo, I got this
pen on this little adventure. Do I have a warehouse
full of them somewhere? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I did not do that. I did not. I bet
they do.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
There is somewhere an admin assessment assistant with the key
to the premium's closet who is like, man, let me
hook you up. Yeah, I might confirm that I am
not conflating it with a different source of pen. This
is where I remember that when coming from. But it's
always possible to be wrong, to remember things incorrectly after.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
That many years.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
But yeah, anyway, I really like it when a random
thing in the world sparks my interest, whether it is
pens or the poison control system or a random person
who's who you know. I stumble across a historical marker
or one little sign in a museum or something like that,
(07:56):
and I go, what is that about? And it becomes
a whole episode. It's one of my favorite things to
happen on the show.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I feel like that's life. Yeah, do you know what
I mean? Like I don't. I'm never not going like
where did that come from? What is that? Maya?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
My almost it would be a peeve if it had
not become so funny among my friend group. Is when
you know you'll be out somewhere and someone will be like, huh,
I wonder who invented this style of cheese slicer? And
I'm always like, if only there were a magic box
in our pocket.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
That can tell us so like I I never want to.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I never have the I wonder if and look off
into space I'm away, was like looking it up, looking
it up. When people think I'm walking and texting, I'm
probably looking up like what style of flower is that?
What kind of thing is this? Who designed this building?
Like I'm such an information hound. I never stop looking
things up. I've started having this while watching TikTok. People
(08:53):
will either reference a thing and I'm like, I don't
know what that's about, or there will be mentioned. It
will be you know, somebody who's made a video about
the history of something, and I don't know if they
are correct or not, And I will close TikTok and
go start looking stuff up for myself. Yeah yeah, I'm
always laughing at giant ostrich plume quills. I mean they're fun,
(09:18):
they are very fun. They would be challenging to write
with if you were trying to do that because of
the air resistance against the big flufy plumage. Yeah yeah,
I think we had one of those at our wedding
for the guest book.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Oh yeah, sure, sure, as too many people.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But it is also like a mythology that is perpetuated
by a lot of period film and television where yeah,
someone's like, I must sign my name and they whip
out a quill pen that's gigantic pill feather plumage, like
as far as the eye can see.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
It makes me giggle. But yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We talked about Edwin Armstrong this week, yep, which ended
on a sad note, but also, he's pretty cool. He's
gotten so much recognition posthumously within the science community and
specifically engineering, even if a lot of lay people don't
really know much about him, which is nice to know
(10:31):
his colleagues all recognized his brilliance. We didn't talk a
lot about one of the things that I thought was
really charming about him. We mentioned in the nineteen twenties
that he suddenly made a boatload of money, which he
spent largely reinvesting in science. But one of the things
he did as an indulgence was he went to Europe
(10:53):
and bought fast cars, okay, because he really liked cars,
And that was just one of the things where he
was like, I'm must spend some money on this, and
I'm like, I respect it. Yeah, I respect it. This
episode and thinking about FM and AM gave me so
many memories to growing up when streaming didn't exist.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I mostly had one memory, which is when I
was in elementary school, I acquired at what was effectively
a yard sale, a toy plush dog that had a
radio in its belly and also came with a little brush.
(11:38):
Because it was kind of a long haired dog, you
can brush the dog's hair. So if you brushed the
dog's hair while listening to the AM radio, it was
impeded in its belly. It would just make ongoing static
in time with the brush strokes of brushing. And there
(11:59):
was a true in our backyard that had it had
kind of grown out in an angle and it had
a place that I like to go up there and sit,
and I would go up there and sit with my
radio dog and listen to the AM radio and brush
its fur with the brush. Okay, because I can't stop myself,
I immediately looked up dog plush AM radio. Yeah, there
(12:21):
were different breeds you could buy. Oh really, and I'm
real tempted to buy a poodle. Okay, Okay, Will I
ever listen to the radio on it? Probably not? But
oh I like that they're not super pricey either. Pretty exciting. Yeah, yeah,
that's very funny though, the idea that you're inadvertently like changing.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah, creating more static.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
It looked a lot like this one that just came
up on eBay with like kind of wild hair.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So yeah, AM radio is still around.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
There are still people listening to it working for iheartme that.
Like when we get newsletters about stuff, sometimes we get
newsletters about things that are related to radio, and I
remember getting one that was about the requirement for AM
radios still to be in new vehicles. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
(13:18):
in part because AM radio is one of the ways
that you can get here in the United States broadcasts
from the Emergency Broadcast system when there is some kind
of emergency and that stuck in my head.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It was not that long ago.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, we've gotten a kajillion emails about it, which you're
probably filtering some of because it is a significant amount.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
There's a lot of emails. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
My memories about AM radio and FM radio and radio
listening in general are all very tied to my youth, right,
Like I remember. The big one is that I remember,
for a long time my dad was really into classic cars,
so we did not have modern vehicles, which meant all
of the radios in the vehicles, and I he would
(14:03):
drive me to ballet, initially twice a week and then
six days a week because some of us become obsessive,
and I remember we would have to be like tuning
into AM stations. And when I started ballet at the
age of nine, I pretty much let him make those decisions.
And as I hit my early teen years, and I
(14:23):
had an FM radio at home and I knew what
was available musically, I wanted the music that I was into,
and I remember trying to tune around all the time
and being frustrated as I'll get out at having to
like find the AM station that would play contemporary. Yeah,
(14:43):
charting music, and I just I it's such a distinct
part of my youth that I remember sitting in That's
sixty seven Pontiac LeMans futzing with the radio NonStop.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's like ingrained in my soul. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Arguing about the songs, Yeah, I think probably would have
been tricky because it seems like AM radio is more
focused on like talk radio, because it's clearer.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
With spoken voices than music.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Right, music does not play great on AM nowadays. It's
better than it certainly was when Armstrong was doing his work,
But yeah, FM is a clearer sharper that's usually considered
the high fidelity. My dad's car had a CBE radio
(15:42):
in there, and my grandfather's car. His dad's car also
a CBE radio. I never really learned to use the
CBE radio. I never really learned much about the like
CB slang and lingo and etiquette. But what I do
remember is whenever we were on road trips, we would
hear the truckers warning each other about where the speed
(16:05):
traps were over. That CBEE radio not exactly the same
thing as a radio station to listen to. The Other
thing I thought about while working on this episode was
DeForest as an example of someone who just stumbled into
success and then believed himself to be at the same
level as people in his field who clearly knew a
(16:27):
lot more than him. Yeah, and how infuriating I would
have found that to deal with.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I found the Supreme Court case frustrating. Yeah, for obvious reasons.
And you know, because of parallels to more recent cases
where you know, there has been an expert, many experts
have written amicus briefs on something, and then the decision
goes in the opposite way of those expert opinions. And
(16:59):
that was sort of what that reminded me of. And
we got to the part about him trying to return
his award and everybody like refusing to take the award back.
Part of me was like, did you had those people
written amicus briefs on his behalf for the Supreme Court cases?
(17:19):
How did they feel about that? If so, probably angry,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I do know they were giving There were a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
People giving statements like to the press about we all
know he invented this, we all know listen to the testimony.
I mean it really is like, no, the audion is
a magical wonder. We haven't figured out what it can
do and how it works yet, and then somebody who's like, yes,
we can, here's how, here's the circuitry that I had
(17:49):
published two years ago about it, here's everything like it. Yah.
At that point, it's one of those things where like
you shouldn't even need an amicus brief. One of these
men understand this science. And one of these men kind
of comes off as a ding dong who's like, I
don't know you touched the wires together, Like it's really.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
The fact that.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
He describes it as having, you know, this phenomena, as
being a wonder that can't be understood, is like, hmm,
do you think ghosts are doing this?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Like what? It's so weird?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
It's the small creatures living in the radio set kind of.
I mean, it does feel like that sort of level
of like I just don't know, we can never understand.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
It's the unknowable. And it's like, no, we know, we
all know. We all know. This guy figured it out,
we've tested it, we know, we know.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And then again, the justice is going do we though
I don't think we do know. I think he put
the wires in the light bulb first it's his and
it's like, oh, so I can understand how they were
all super frustrated.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I do like, though, that the.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Entire field rallied around him and it didn't in that
moment impact his standing. Uh. It certainly, you know, meant
that he got cheated out of some money, but he
was still very wealthy at that point, so it probably
didn't feel as painful other than just his pride.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Radio. Now, I just keep thinking about alviscostello songs.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Just what we do anyway, if you're coming up on
your weekend, whether you listen to the radio or some
other form of entertainment, or maybe you don't get to
do any of that, and I'm sorry, but if you
do get to do some things for yourself, I hope
they are so delightful, super enjoyable, leave you feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, recharged,
at peace as much as possible in our very very
(19:39):
wild world right now. If you don't have time off,
I still hope you get to do something fun and
maybe listen to something that you enjoy as you commute,
if you commute, or just you know, wherever you can,
and that I hope everyone eats something delicious. I hope
everyone that loves cake has cake this weekend. That's my
wish for the world, and that we all are as
kind to each other as we can possibly manage. We
(20:02):
will be right back here tomorrow with a classic episode,
and then on Monday we will have something brand new.
Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, A production
of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We talked about pens this week.
Is the thing that this reminds me the most of
in terms of inspiration for an episode is the one
where we talked about poison control.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
That literally came about because I was reading the back
of the cats, flea and tick prevention medicine that said
if you ingested it, to call poison control.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I was like, huh, how did we get.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
A system in which there's poison control to the point
that it's printed on the box, Like that's the thing
that the people who made this can take for granted
that the people reading it would have access to poison control.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
How do we get to that?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
In this case, We're just sitting around the table, just
kind of chatting as we are preparing to start and
something ish process of signing paperwork, and I thought, hah,
who thought of pens like this? They also were retractable,
and we did not talk about retractable pens at all.
(01:14):
I don't know when somebody came up with how to
retract them? But you know, we're clicking on the retractable pens,
and I went, huh, pens, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
On the show.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
People feel very strongly about pens. I feel incredibly strongly
about pens me too. I've never felt more seen. I
will once again invoke Bob's Burger's. But there was an
episode where someone needed a pen and their daughter Tina.
I think it's Linda that needs a pen. Their daughter
Tina hands it to her and says, this is my
third favorite pen. And then she doesn't hand it back
(01:48):
right away. And Tina's like, can I have it back, because,
like I said, it's my third favorite pen. And I
was like, Tina, I see you and I feel you.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So so the part of the episode where we read
the thing that was about the person saying that they
did not think that this fountain pen would really take
off because it felt so much better to write with
a quill. I have never written with a quill. However,
that really resonated with me, because if I don't like
(02:23):
the sensation of writing with a pen, forget it.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm never using that pen again.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I not that long ago impulse bought some gel pens
at the drug store took one out to write with
it the first time, and it felt scratchy, and I
was like, nope, no, that is the worst sensation. I
hate it, especially if it's a pen like a gel
pen that normally, like a decent gel pen, has such
(02:50):
a smooth hand. Yeah, if it doesn't, if for some
reason it's cheaply made and the roller ball that conveys
the gel does not smoothly do its job.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's like nails on a chalkboard. It's awful. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And the fact that you're not expecting it, because you
expect the gel pen to have that smooth feel, was
incredibly jarring. I've only written with a fountain pen one time.
It is possible that there are fountain pins that I
would like, but that one fountain pen, I was like, Nope,
feels too scratchy on the page. Many years ago, I
(03:25):
was someplace I don't even know where, but the sort
of place that sells gifts.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And knickknacks for your home.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, and it was a glass dip pen that came
with a well of ink, and I was like, that
is beautiful and I want to own it, and I
bought it for myself. And the first time that I
actually tried to write with it. It was a glass
like a handmade glass pen that you would dip into
(03:55):
the well, and the very first time I tried to
write with it, it felt so awful to me that
that then became just a desk decoration. I have a
mixed like Tina, I have different kinds that I like,
and I will tell you I am the person who
buys the old school Bic crystal ballpoint with purple ink
(04:20):
in bulk. I'm like, send me that bulk thing. I
want my purple ink. I like the way a big
ballpoint rolls. They're pretty consistent. Those are my scribblers.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And then.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
My next thing is so specific and odd. I have
passed through as I'm sure you have many pens over
the years where I'm like, this is my current favorite.
Right for a long time, I like the pilot thick
ink rollerball great, but right now.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's so silly.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
And it's been this for a little over like a
year and a half. Now. I think there is a pen.
I don't know who manufactures it, but it is a
Lego Okay light Saber Jel pen that is the one.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, yeah, it is smooth as silk.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I have many colors. Anytime I'm in a situation where
I can buy one, I buy.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Five like I love them so much.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
My only criticism is that there's a little screw top
on the end of the barrel where the actual like
ink stick is inserted, and the threads on that can
fail and it can crack, and that makes me bananas.
You will find around my house many bodged together pens
because I cannot give the pen up even though it
(05:43):
has had a structural failure. Oh the Obsession. One of
the favorite pens that I had that has now run
out of ink.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
One.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I think the last trip that I took prior to
the start of the pandem, not the cruise that I
was on when the pandemic started. I've told that story
on the show many times, But you and I and
several of our coworkers all went on a trip not
long before that that was related to an advertiser and
(06:19):
the pen that they gave us for free with our
little packet of materials. I loved it, wrote really beautifully,
It felt.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Really good in my hands.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I was very into it, and when it ran out
of ink, if I'm remembering correctly, I sat there studying
it trying to figure out, like, what is the source
of this pen? Where can I get another one? And
I did not figure it out. I was unsuccessful. Did
(06:52):
you ever consider and I know this is crazy, but
it's the kind of thing I would do reaching out
to that advertiser and being like, yo, I got this
pen on this little adventure. Do I have a warehouse
full of them somewhere? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I did not do that. I did not. I bet
they do.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
There is somewhere an admin assessment assistant with the key
to the premium's closet who is like, man, let me
hook you up. Yeah, I might confirm that I am
not conflating it with a different source of pen. This
is where I remember that when coming from. But it's
always possible to be wrong, to remember things incorrectly after.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
That many years.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
But yeah, anyway, I really like it when a random
thing in the world sparks my interest, whether it is
pens or the poison control system or a random person
who's who you know. I stumble across a historical marker
or one little sign in a museum or something like that,
(07:56):
and I go, what is that about? And it becomes
a whole episode. It's one of my favorite things to
happen on the show.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I feel like that's life. Yeah, do you know what
I mean? Like I don't. I'm never not going like
where did that come from? What is that? Maya?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
My almost it would be a peeve if it had
not become so funny among my friend group. Is when
you know you'll be out somewhere and someone will be like, huh,
I wonder who invented this style of cheese slicer? And
I'm always like, if only there were a magic box
in our pocket.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
That can tell us so like I I never want to.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I never have the I wonder if and look off
into space I'm away, was like looking it up, looking
it up. When people think I'm walking and texting, I'm
probably looking up like what style of flower is that?
What kind of thing is this? Who designed this building?
Like I'm such an information hound. I never stop looking
things up. I've started having this while watching TikTok. People
(08:53):
will either reference a thing and I'm like, I don't
know what that's about, or there will be mentioned. It
will be you know, somebody who's made a video about
the history of something, and I don't know if they
are correct or not, And I will close TikTok and
go start looking stuff up for myself. Yeah yeah, I'm
always laughing at giant ostrich plume quills. I mean they're fun,
(09:18):
they are very fun. They would be challenging to write
with if you were trying to do that because of
the air resistance against the big flufy plumage. Yeah yeah,
I think we had one of those at our wedding
for the guest book.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Oh yeah, sure, sure, as too many people.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But it is also like a mythology that is perpetuated
by a lot of period film and television where yeah,
someone's like, I must sign my name and they whip
out a quill pen that's gigantic pill feather plumage, like
as far as the eye can see.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
It makes me giggle. But yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We talked about Edwin Armstrong this week, yep, which ended
on a sad note, but also, he's pretty cool. He's
gotten so much recognition posthumously within the science community and
specifically engineering, even if a lot of lay people don't
really know much about him, which is nice to know
(10:31):
his colleagues all recognized his brilliance. We didn't talk a
lot about one of the things that I thought was
really charming about him. We mentioned in the nineteen twenties
that he suddenly made a boatload of money, which he
spent largely reinvesting in science. But one of the things
he did as an indulgence was he went to Europe
(10:53):
and bought fast cars, okay, because he really liked cars,
And that was just one of the things where he
was like, I'm must spend some money on this, and
I'm like, I respect it. Yeah, I respect it. This
episode and thinking about FM and AM gave me so
many memories to growing up when streaming didn't exist.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I mostly had one memory, which is when I
was in elementary school, I acquired at what was effectively
a yard sale, a toy plush dog that had a
radio in its belly and also came with a little brush.
(11:38):
Because it was kind of a long haired dog, you
can brush the dog's hair. So if you brushed the
dog's hair while listening to the AM radio, it was
impeded in its belly. It would just make ongoing static
in time with the brush strokes of brushing. And there
(11:59):
was a true in our backyard that had it had
kind of grown out in an angle and it had
a place that I like to go up there and sit,
and I would go up there and sit with my
radio dog and listen to the AM radio and brush
its fur with the brush. Okay, because I can't stop myself,
I immediately looked up dog plush AM radio. Yeah, there
(12:21):
were different breeds you could buy. Oh really, and I'm
real tempted to buy a poodle. Okay, Okay, Will I
ever listen to the radio on it? Probably not? But
oh I like that they're not super pricey either. Pretty exciting. Yeah, yeah,
that's very funny though, the idea that you're inadvertently like changing.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah, creating more static.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
It looked a lot like this one that just came
up on eBay with like kind of wild hair.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So yeah, AM radio is still around.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
There are still people listening to it working for iheartme that.
Like when we get newsletters about stuff, sometimes we get
newsletters about things that are related to radio, and I
remember getting one that was about the requirement for AM
radios still to be in new vehicles. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
(13:18):
in part because AM radio is one of the ways
that you can get here in the United States broadcasts
from the Emergency Broadcast system when there is some kind
of emergency and that stuck in my head.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It was not that long ago.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, we've gotten a kajillion emails about it, which you're
probably filtering some of because it is a significant amount.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
There's a lot of emails. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
My memories about AM radio and FM radio and radio
listening in general are all very tied to my youth, right,
Like I remember. The big one is that I remember,
for a long time my dad was really into classic cars,
so we did not have modern vehicles, which meant all
of the radios in the vehicles, and I he would
(14:03):
drive me to ballet, initially twice a week and then
six days a week because some of us become obsessive,
and I remember we would have to be like tuning
into AM stations. And when I started ballet at the
age of nine, I pretty much let him make those decisions.
And as I hit my early teen years, and I
(14:23):
had an FM radio at home and I knew what
was available musically, I wanted the music that I was into,
and I remember trying to tune around all the time
and being frustrated as I'll get out at having to
like find the AM station that would play contemporary. Yeah,
(14:43):
charting music, and I just I it's such a distinct
part of my youth that I remember sitting in That's
sixty seven Pontiac LeMans futzing with the radio NonStop.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's like ingrained in my soul. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Arguing about the songs, Yeah, I think probably would have
been tricky because it seems like AM radio is more
focused on like talk radio, because it's clearer.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
With spoken voices than music.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Right, music does not play great on AM nowadays. It's
better than it certainly was when Armstrong was doing his work,
But yeah, FM is a clearer sharper that's usually considered
the high fidelity. My dad's car had a CBE radio
(15:42):
in there, and my grandfather's car. His dad's car also
a CBE radio. I never really learned to use the
CBE radio. I never really learned much about the like
CB slang and lingo and etiquette. But what I do
remember is whenever we were on road trips, we would
hear the truckers warning each other about where the speed
(16:05):
traps were over. That CBEE radio not exactly the same
thing as a radio station to listen to. The Other
thing I thought about while working on this episode was
DeForest as an example of someone who just stumbled into
success and then believed himself to be at the same
level as people in his field who clearly knew a
(16:27):
lot more than him. Yeah, and how infuriating I would
have found that to deal with.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I found the Supreme Court case frustrating. Yeah, for obvious reasons.
And you know, because of parallels to more recent cases
where you know, there has been an expert, many experts
have written amicus briefs on something, and then the decision
goes in the opposite way of those expert opinions. And
(16:59):
that was sort of what that reminded me of. And
we got to the part about him trying to return
his award and everybody like refusing to take the award back.
Part of me was like, did you had those people
written amicus briefs on his behalf for the Supreme Court cases?
(17:19):
How did they feel about that? If so, probably angry,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I do know they were giving There were a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
People giving statements like to the press about we all
know he invented this, we all know listen to the testimony.
I mean it really is like, no, the audion is
a magical wonder. We haven't figured out what it can
do and how it works yet, and then somebody who's like, yes,
we can, here's how, here's the circuitry that I had
(17:49):
published two years ago about it, here's everything like it. Yah.
At that point, it's one of those things where like
you shouldn't even need an amicus brief. One of these
men understand this science. And one of these men kind
of comes off as a ding dong who's like, I
don't know you touched the wires together, Like it's really.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
The fact that.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
He describes it as having, you know, this phenomena, as
being a wonder that can't be understood, is like, hmm,
do you think ghosts are doing this?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Like what? It's so weird?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
It's the small creatures living in the radio set kind of.
I mean, it does feel like that sort of level
of like I just don't know, we can never understand.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
It's the unknowable. And it's like, no, we know, we
all know. We all know. This guy figured it out,
we've tested it, we know, we know.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And then again, the justice is going do we though
I don't think we do know. I think he put
the wires in the light bulb first it's his and
it's like, oh, so I can understand how they were
all super frustrated.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I do like, though, that the.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Entire field rallied around him and it didn't in that
moment impact his standing. Uh. It certainly, you know, meant
that he got cheated out of some money, but he
was still very wealthy at that point, so it probably
didn't feel as painful other than just his pride.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Radio. Now, I just keep thinking about alviscostello songs.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Just what we do anyway, if you're coming up on
your weekend, whether you listen to the radio or some
other form of entertainment, or maybe you don't get to
do any of that, and I'm sorry, but if you
do get to do some things for yourself, I hope
they are so delightful, super enjoyable, leave you feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, recharged,
at peace as much as possible in our very very
(19:39):
wild world right now. If you don't have time off,
I still hope you get to do something fun and
maybe listen to something that you enjoy as you commute,
if you commute, or just you know, wherever you can,
and that I hope everyone eats something delicious. I hope
everyone that loves cake has cake this weekend. That's my
wish for the world, and that we all are as
kind to each other as we can possibly manage. We
(20:02):
will be right back here tomorrow with a classic episode,
and then on Monday we will have something brand new.
Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
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Stuff You Missed in History Class News
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Tracy Wilson
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