Before the Internet there was Citizen's Band Radio!

Currently, the Internet is THE thing man.

I mean you can't read a newspaper, or watch television, or listen to the radio without the Internet being mentioned. Well, back in the mid-1970's, that is how it was with CB Radio.

For $50 bucks, one could put a CB radio in their home or car and instantly be communicating with others in their community. And, just like the Internet, there was some degree of anonymity involved. People didn't use their real names over the radio, they used "handles". A handle was some catchy self-descriptive name that people gave themselves. Mine, well - it was "Beach Baron" - "Beach Bum" had long been taken (by several other guys) so I had to find something else. Having an interest in small airplanes such as the "Beech Baron" and a love for the beach, "Beach Baron" just seemed to fit just right.

I started out with a CB radio in my car but eventually talked my father into purchasing one for our house. Naturally after that, my father put a CB in his truck. We were a full blown CB family after that! I met a lot of very nice people over the CB. After talking to folks for a few months, we'd end up meeting face-to-face. I actually dated a couple of girls that I met on the CB and established a few really good friendships with other guys my age.

I joined the local CB club and met even more nice people. We'd have cook-outs, transmitter hunts, help look for lost children, etc.

There was one aspect of a CB radio that most folks never gave much thought to and that was the built in public address system contained in almost every radio on the market. All one had to do was mount a P.A. speaker under the hood of their car and then run a wire from it to the back of their CB radio (it simply plugged in). After that, it was simply a matter of flipping a switch on the front of the CB and you could blast out announcements and such from your car.

Do you remember Steve, the fella' I wrote about in the past? Well, Steve and I had hours and hours of enjoyment with our portable P.A. systems. The first practical joke that we played with our units was that whenever we'd come to a stop light - especially in the summer when most folks had their car windows down, one of us (according to who was riding in the car and not driving at the time) would grab the CB microphone and announce something along the lines of:

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. You are experiencing the world's first talking traffic light. This is a U.S. Government experiment and we would appreciate your cooperation. When the light turns green, you may proceed with caution through the intersection."

People would be freaking out. They'd be straining their necks trying to figure out where the talking voice was coming from. Some folks got out of their cars and looked around. Of course, if I was driving my car, Steve was laying on the back seat with the microphone in his hand an no one could see him. I'd be busy pretending to look around the area myself so that no none would get suspicious.

Steve and I must have played that joke on thousands of people all over Ft. Walton Beach, Destin, and Niceville, Florida.

Another joke that we liked to play on our fellow teenagers was that we would drive to a city park late at night, a park that had a small beach just below a sea wall. That location was a VERY popular location for teens to go and make-out. Steve and I would slowly drive one of our cars into the parking lot (the headlights would be off of course) and then one of us would yell over the P.A. speaker something like "I'm looking for my daughter and if I find the guy that is with her I'm gonna' kill him!"

You should have heard the screams and then seen the teenagers practically climbing over each other to get to their cars and out of that park!

I know, we were mean. It was harmless fun though. Steve and I didn't do drugs, smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or commit any crimes. We were only guilty of being practical jokers!