A Moment Like This

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #33:

Old School

When I was a kid, there was a local radio station called Hot 94.9 (which we called “Hot Ninety-Four-Nine). The frequency was hard to pick up in some parts of the valley, so I remember being able to listen to it at my mom’s house but not my dad’s house.* Every now and then, if we had the radio in the perfect spot with the antenna pointing just so and the dial tweaked to the precise place, my sister and I could get a fuzzy signal for 94.9, but a lot of the time we couldn’t get it to work. Eventually they adopted the 97.1 frequency as well, and that allowed us to listen to 94.9 from Magna. 

When my grandma passed away at the beginning of this year, my mom found a Hot 94.9 fanny pack in her house. She thought Zoe might like it, so she brought it over for her. When I saw it, I wanted it for myself. It was a relic; a nostalgic treasure from my younger years, and it was beautiful! I knew people would love my fanny pack. 

It didn’t make sense for my grandma to have a Hot 94.9 fanny pack. The music of 94.9 was not “elderly friendly” by any means, but my grandma always loved SWAG, so that must be why she had it. She was a collector of free stuff whether it suited her or not, and then she would very selectively choose who to give it to. We had a family rule - if Grandma offers you stuff, you take it whether you want it or not because it needs to be removed from her house! I guess none of us ever deserved the fanny pack while she was living.

The first time I wore it was at an 80’s themed dance I went to with my friend Christie. I wouldn’t consider 94.9 to be a “true” representation of 80’s culture (its more 90’s), but since the station started in 1989, it wasn’t a complete farce, so I donned the bag (as well an an authentic 80’s jumpsuit with shoulder pads that I found at DI a few months earlier and bought because I knew I would need it someday). As I was getting ready for the dance, I kept thinking, “Everyone is going to love my fanny pack!” I knew people were going to comment on it all night - things along the lines of, “OMG! I used to love that radio station!” and “No way! I remember Hot 94.9! Where did you get that fanny pack?” As an introvert, I had to prepare mentally for the fast fame that would be coming my way.

In the end, not a single person at the dance mentioned my fanny pack, and I roamed the venue thinking Does no one remember 94.9? 

Months later, I started using the bag for Lagoon trips. I thought surely people at Lagoon would remember Hot 94.9, but no one at Lagoon ever said anything either. The fanny pack wasn’t the conversation piece I thought it would be!

The last weekend of summer break, I took my girls on an overnight trip to Logan. Someone complimented my fanny pack. It was the hostess at Angie’s Restaurant in Logan (where Hot 94.9 didn’t reach). She was a Utah State student - far too young to know anything about old school radio, and let’s be honest, she probably didn’t know what radio even is since she has probably streamed for all her life. She liked my fanny pack… because it was pink. 

A couple of days later, I finally got some legit recognition. August 16th, 2023… yes, I recall the date… around 7:30 pm… yes, I recall the time… in the parking lot of the police station… long story… a guy named Rob said, “Hey, I remember those fanny packs!”

And that was it. The fanny pack survived 30 years in my grandma’s drawer for that moment. 

*At my dad’s house I usually listened to Oldies 94.1. As a teenager. I loved oldies just as much as I loved anything modern. I jammed to No Doubt, Will Smith, and TLC on the weekdays and The Beatles, ABBA, and The Supremes on the weekends.