I call it the soundtrack of my life.
The first thing I do when my feet hit the floor every morning - even before I visit the bathroom or fire up the coffee maker - if flip on KYW-1060.
It sort of goes with the territory. I'm in the news racket. I use KYW every day to let me know what has happened from the time I collapsed into bed the night before and the time I wake up a few hours later.
Their famous background clatter - those are the sound of teletype machines, which once delivered the headlines and stories to newsrooms - is always a comforting sign that the world has not ceased to exist overnight.
I listen to KYW in the car.
I have a radio in my office with 1060 tuned in all day long.
That radio usually draws stares from everyone who enters my HQ in beautiful downtown Primos. It's a bit of a dinosaur, kind of like the person who owns it. It is an old Sony box radio. No CD player. No adapter for a cell phone. Just AM and PM. It does not have a digital display. You turn the dial in a circular fashion to move the needle up and down the spectrum.
I treasure that radio. It once belonged to my mother.
I also treasure that teletype sound.
This week KYW is celebrating 50 years in their all-news format.
I think I've been listening to almost all of them.
A lot of things have changed about the news racket, none more than the methods of how we deliver news. Not all of those developments have been especially healthy for the newspaper business. We are fighting for our lives, developing digital brands and delivering information at breakneck speed.
Sometimes you have to remember to step back and catch your breath.
It's at those times that I find that KYW teletype clatter most reassuring.
Here's to at least 50 more, folks.
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