Radio Heritage Foundation www.radioheritage.com May 26 2013 The 20 Year Old from 1950 _________________________
The ruthless passage of time means that showcasing heritage & history needs continual reinventing to stay relevant. Take radio broadcasting of the 1930-1950 era. Assume someone was just 20 years old in 1950 to have been involved [other than being a listener] in broadcasting, and basic math tells us that person is now 83 years old, 93 if they were 20 in 1940 and 103 if they were 20 in 1930....... And only if they're even still alive and with us......statistically, most of them simply aren't any more. If they are, a significant number are now unable to physically get around the house or the neighborhood easily, have restricted financial means, and simply don't have internet access. Sadly, they're a critical but now fading group for a memorabilia project like ours. Move along a generation to their children, now aged between 63-83. Still some life left in this group yet, which now includes the first baby boomers as well. The links to the past are getting weaker, but in some ways, they represent the second golden period of radio through the 1950's, and bring a new range of interest, involvement, memories and engagement to this project. Then, the grandchildren of our 20 year old generation from 1950......now aged 43-63 and struggling with life today, sandwiched between care needing parents and their own children [and their grandchildren] in tough economic times. How does a project like ours, which covers radio from the 1920's up to today, remain relevant to different generations all with different experiences and expectations, and interests? As a web based project, we can probably move faster than a museum or archive full of locked away artifacts. We also know that some of the 20 year old folks from 1950 still hold and express strong views about radio in their day, and do what they can to encourage us. Their children also have memories of a strong influence of radio in their popular culture of life, and browse our hundreds of features. >From our research and our Facebook page we know most of our supporters, those who engage with us, those who make a donation of money, time and materials from time to time are actually aged about 45-65..........with some spillover over to 65-75 and under to 35-45..........so we wish to acknowledge these hard pressed folks in particular for finding some time to honor the past and remember their parents generation, and contribute to a project that one of our visitors from India has described 'as an encyclopedia'............ Encyclopedias are fast becoming dinosaurs of today's information age, along with museum artifacts and physical storage facilities so I hope you'll agree we need to continue telling more stories, stories based on sound and accurate knowledge of the facts.............and I hope you'll find ways to keep us relevant, accurate, honest and inclusive as we move towards our first 10 years online......and no matter what your age, memories or means. Thank you for trusting us to share your stories and memories. David Ricquish Chairman Radio Heritage Foundation www.radioheritage.com The Global Radio Memories Project An independent non-profit made possible thanks to a core group of supporters all over the world who like what we do. Will you pass it forward today and join them? _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com