1982 5 Degrees Across the Airwaves

October 1982 was the 25th anniversary of Sputnik. A national radio program (NPR maybe? I don’t remember) wanted to put together a special show about Sputnik, its influence on America over the past 25 years and even what its potential impact might continue to be on America's future. The Lamplighter School was the first elementary school in the world to have a computer in every classroom and was to be featured in the show as representative of what the next 25 years could look like. They interviewed a lot of people at LL, maybe even some students. I remember being interviewed and the newscaster asked me to reflect on my memories of Sputnik. He was so shocked when I told him I was only 6 months old at the time and didn’t have any memories. It was a funny and flattering moment I still remember. I never knew who was doing it or when it was going to be broadcast so I never told anyone about it. A while later (weeks? Months?), my sister had just moved to a new city and was driving around one day feeling pretty lonely. She saw a billboard for a Christian radio station and turned on the radio and dialed to that station to cheer herself up. Next thing she knew, my voice was coming out of the radio. My tiny piece of that Lamplighter segment was playing at that exact moment. And it wasn’t even the Christian radio station! She had found a station close to it but it wasn’t the one she was looking for.