Listening to NPR while packing boxes and emptying closets this weekend, I picked up a juicy political-technological morsel indeed: during the 1970s CB radio craze, President Gerald Ford’s wife Betty apparently campaigned over the citizen’s band. She was a big CB lover (her handle: “First Mama”) and apparently used some of her radio time touting her husband’s 1976 campaign. A Google search turned up a handful of references to her CB fandom, for instance this CBS Evening News story summary and an acount of a campaign trip that included an airport meeting with a local CB enthusiasts’ club. I couldn’t find details of her actual on-air comments — if anyone knows more, I’d love to hear about it.
– cpd