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Rudi Steiner writes about AM radio and youth in the 1950s - By the late 1950s CKLW-AM 800 (Detroit/Windsor) began developing the Top 40’s programming format that it became famous for in the 1960s.

CKLW AM, a Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate, was loud and slick. Its catchy jingles, 30-second spots and witty commercials were exactly what Bluffton and Midwestern teens wanted to hear.

On summer afternoons at the Bluffton swimming pool most transistors radios were tuned to CKLW’s Ron Knowles or Robin Seymour.

Night-time radio was a different world. The AM air waves came alive with radio skips bombarding the Midwest and Bluffton like falling stars.

Our world was opened up to places few of us had ever been. That doorway to the other world was:
• KDKA Pittsburgh,
• WLS Chicago,
• WBZ Boston,
• WABC New York City, and
• KYW South Philadelphia home of Chubby Checkers, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Dick Clark and American Bandstand.

Listening to night-time radio required an understanding of the law of physics and meteorology.

The FCC required most AM stations to reduce their power at sunset so the radio signals didn’t interfere with one another. At sunset when the “generator was kicked” and if the weather conditions were just right the AM radio signals were so clear we could almost see the lights on Broadway.

This is a sample of the content of "Bluffton Anthology - A creek runs through it." Copies are now available for $24.95 plus tax in Bluffton at:
• Roots by Strattons
• The Food Store
• The Black Lab
• Bluffton Senior Citizens Center
• The Dough Hook
• Polished