Them Ol' Halloween Confirmation Blues

I bought my first "Personal Cassette Player" on Wednesday, November 2 1983.

I was forced to go thru Lutheran Confirmation classes. My dad told me "look at it as a history class from a book you probably wouldn't read. And at the end you get a big party and people give you money". So I was bribed. I questioned everything in those classes to the point where it was hinted that if I didn't want to show up the pastor wouldn't miss me much. But I digress...

I took it as a sign that I got confirmed on Halloween Day 1983. For whatever reason it was a Monday.
Two days later I went to Know Name Records with cash burning a hole in my pocket and I bought a Toshiba KT-S2 for $99.00 (adjusting for inflation that'd be about $325 in todays money).
I literally wore that thing out. It was never away from my side. Hell, I think I even slept with it for a while. And who could blame me? I loved all that New Wave stuff no one else did, and I was more than happy to drown out the screeches and hubbub of "them" and lose myself in the music of Classix Nouveaux, Wall Of Voodoo, DEVO, Flying Lizards and many many other bands I was discovering on a daily basis.

It had a cassette-shaped FM radio that could be popped in in lieu of a tape, but I rarely used it as there was nothing on the radio that piqued my 15 year old interest. However, one night I was scanning stations while walking up to the gas station to buy my 32oz Mountain Dew. The radio took less battery power than playing a cassette and I must have been dealing with low batteries to have been listening to the radio. I came across a station playing traditional Irish folk music, and I just happened to be a fan of traditional Irish folk music. The station turned out to be a community radio station called Fresh Air Radio (90.3 fm in Minneapolis). They were the most eclectic radio station I had ever heard, playing everything from Chinese Opera to harsh industrial noise. I became a huge supporter of the station, and years later would actually host my own shows on there.

The Toshiba lasted about 2 years, and then finally the play head was so worn out it made my tapes unlistenable. Over the years I owned several other Personal Cassette Players but none hold the place in my heart like the first one.