Why I’ll Never Throw Away My Dad’s Broken Zenith Console
I can still picture it: my mom dancing in the living room to Burl Ives and Johnny Cash, singing along with Mitch Miller records while twirling my sister, my twin brothers, and me around the house. On Saturdays, my dad would put on the Ferko String Band, then fall asleep on the living room floor. Sundays were reserved for Packer games on the radio.
That Zenith console wasn’t just a stereo; it was the soundtrack to our family life. And it’s what started my lifelong love of audio systems.
As a teenager, I discovered FM radio was a huge leap over AM. The sound was clearer, the programming edgier (though not always to my dad’s taste). I went from listening to “Woky in Milwaukee” on AM to WQFM, our local underground rock station. That’s when I really learned how to use the Zenith myself.
By 1972, I had left home, joined the Army, and got stationed in Germany. That’s when I bought my first “real” speakers, a pair of Bose 901s at the PX on Ramstein Air Base. They were party monsters with sound that seemed to come from everywhere. Those speakers marked the true beginning of my own HiFi journey.
From that point on, it’s been a wild ride through decades of changing audio technology. My current system so far surpasses what those Zenith or those Bose speakers could ever do; it’s almost impossible to compare.
When my dad passed away in 1996, I inherited the old Zenith HiFi console. By then, it was broken tubes burned out, knobs missing, the turntable frozen. I tried to restore it, but couldn’t find the parts. Now it sits quietly in my basement, gathering dust, but every time I see it, I’m transported back to those moments with my family.
I’ll never be able to throw it away. Someday my kids will have to deal with it, but until then, I’ll keep reverently dusting it and remembering where my passion for music truly began. lifelong love for audio systems and music.
“A personal story by Craig John“
