 My second job after college was as an analyst in Rockwell International's anti-submarine warfare division. One day in 1976, co-worker/friend, Paul, and I were talking about things not related to work. I don't recall how we got on whatever topic caused him to name-drop "Lamont Cranston", but he did, and I had no idea who or what that was about. Paul was shocked I didn't, and went on to explain the following (for those of you who also don't know.)
Lamont Cranston was the alter ego of "The Shadow"; a serial radio show first on the air in 1930. I don't recall if I had even heard of The Shadow, but I do know I had never actually heard the show on the radio. And that's not because I wasn't listening to the radio, I was beginning in the mid '50's. Just not serial radio programs. I was all about R&R on Southern California radio stations KFWB, KRLA, and KHJ "Boss Radio". Paul had a vague recollection of that, but nothing more. So why were we at such cross purposes when it came to radio entertainment? Paul was six years older than me, enough to have listened to radio before TV came along. Me being six years younger than Paul meant I came of age with TV as my primary form of entertainment. No "The Shadow", or any other of the many serial radio shows so popular prior to TV. And that includes one my all-time favorite TV shows, "Gunsmoke", which first appeared on TV in 1955 after a successful run as a serial radio show. I didn't even know it existed until hearing it on SiriusXM decades later. The more Paul and I discussed how different our entertainment experiences were, the more we realized that when it came to entertainment early in our lives, we were from different universes. Raymond Quinn would relate to that.
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