Musings
~ by Mark Blackwell
Weather
My close personal friend, and the personification of the spirit of Brown County, Abe Martin once said:
“ Don’ t knock th’ weather; nine tenths o’ th’ people couldn’ t start a conversation if it didn’ change once in a while.”
That was back before all the instant weather“ apps” for your“ smarty-pants phone” or the TV weather folks, or the dial-up weather report on your land line. And when people still had conversations.
There was a time, a hundred years ago, when a person’ s connection to“ official” weather forecasting came from the newly established medium of radio. But it could be quite an endeavor to squeeze that information out of a wireless set.
First, a feller had to get up before dawn and start searching for the right frequency on his crystal radio, or he had to fetch the battery from out of the Model T and connect it up to his heterodyne radio and tune in the“ National Farm and Home Show.”
Back in those days the weather report was disseminated by the United States Department of Agriculture to various national and local radio stations. That was when most folks still lived in rural areas. And these forecasts helped farmers to better plan planting, fertilizing, and harvesting crops. This information, coupled with market reports, revolutionized agriculture in the 20 th Century. But what about the 19 th Century? That is a very pertinent question, especially considering Brown County spent more time in the 19 th Century than other places. People here in the hills were not known for being“ early adopters” of technology, or much of anything else for that matter.
34 Our Brown County May / June 2026