Evolutions in Technology

Jay Makki
DTC 375 @ 4:15 T-Th
Dr. Farman
Word Count: 1,094

My grandmother, Theda Maki, formerly Theda Johnson, was born a few years after her parents arrived in the United States after venturing from the northern Sweden Finland borders. Her parents came to the United States in the 1910’s and in that timeframe she would come to live in Wisconsin, and then eventually move to Washington State when her father got work on the Grand Coulee Dam. In that timeframe she has gone from not even possessing a radio in her home to being surrounded by technology on a near constant basis. In my interview I asked about many subjects but selected the most interesting portion of our conversation; the transition of music and radio.

When you were a little girl, can you give me brief description of what life was like?

Sure. Oh, you know, it was pretty normal I suppose. My sisters and brothers would walk to school in the mornings every day. When we got home we would play outside and then my sisters and me would come inside and help my mother make dinner and then we would get to head.

Can you tell me about any technology you were using at that time?

We did have a radio. I don’t remember when we got it but I really liked the radio. We would sometimes sit around and listen to music but my dad and Axel [her grandfather, who lived with them] liked to listen to the news and things like that, you know. We had a phone, too, but us kids didn’t use it much. We didn’t really didn’t need to.

What was it like when you would use the phone or radio?

The phone was sometimes more trouble then it was worth. Every time the phone rang you had to make sure it was for you. Everyone on our street was on the line so anytime the phone rang you had to see if it was a ring for you.

Could you elaborate?

We were on a party line. So whenever you picked up the phone, everyone in the area could just pick the phone up and listen to what you were saying. When the phone rang it would ring one way for our neighbors, one way for us and then one way for everyone else, you know. But anytime the phone rang most people would just answer it anyway even if it wasn’t for them. You would ask into the phone if anyone else was on there and you would never get an answer, but you knew [someone was listening]. So every time you wanted to talk to someone on the phone and didn’t want people listening you would have to say, “This is an emergency!”

I imagine there were lots of emergencies.

[Laughing] Yes, I think after a while most people stopped believing it. But you wouldn’t overuse it and most time your neighbors would give you privacy when you wanted it. When people didn’t have to use party lines anymore it was so much nicer. You could say what you want without having to worry about people listening to you. It still took us a while before we could say what we wanted without feeling like someone could hear us.

Can you tell me about your radio usage?

Well, when I wanted to listen to something I had to ask someone to work the radio for me or my sisters or brothers. But I thought it was neat. I loved to sing when I was a girl, you know. I loved to sing at church and hearing the people sing on the radio always made me happy. That’s probably why I got into radio.

Can you tell me about that?

Yeah, when my dad moved us out [to Washington State] to work on the [Grand Coulee] Dam, I spent a lot of time listening to the radio. Since there were lots of families in the area who were all working on the dam there was a need for teachers and radio employees. So when I was 16 I applied for a job to sing on the radio. Of course I got the job and every day after school I would head to the radio station and sing [on the radio] for the [dam workers].

Back then you had to do your shows live, right?

Yes, there wasn’t the recording like there is now. They had those music boxes but not recordings of singers. So every day when I would go to work I would always have to try my best. Some days when I would come home people would tell me, “Well, Theda, today was good” or “Theda, maybe you needed a drink of water.” [Laughing]

It’s interesting that each day people would hear a new performance.

Yeah, but in those days people didn’t remember exactly what music sounded like. Sure you could remember but it wasn’t as easy. All you could remember was if you liked [the singers] or not and if you wanted to hear them again the next time they came on.

Did things change when albums started coming out?

Sure it did. When I was a little girl you had to remember every little bit about a song each time you heard it. And the big difference was that when I was young being a musician was a day to day job, just like a nurse or a banker. Musicians were people who made music every day. Today musicians only have to work once on a music album and then sell those. It’s very different now.

Conclusion

The reason I chose to use this section of my interview was I never considered how big the advent of newer technologies affected people pre and post World War II. After speaking with my grandmother I got the distinct impression that the 2 biggest impacts of technological advance happened in this timeframe for some people. While my grandmother does occasionally use computers and internet, her impressions about them don’t mimic the same impact as these two leaps in technology.

Before having this conversation I never considered that in today’s society we have several ways to communicate. In her time, there were three: mail, radio and telephones. It gave me insight as to both how spoiled and privileged I am to live in information age. Today it seems like our several modes of communications are vital and we would cease to function without them. Even further, it makes me curious if my grandchildren will be able to say the same about me when they are adults.