Don't Touch, It's Electric

No dear, you see this knob? It's to turn it on and off, the voice comes through the cable.

How does it know when it has to come on? All right, enough questions, go get dressed.

From that day on the mother sang along to the beat of the radio, she learned other new songs. But Juanita wanted to know where the words that came out of the radio were born.

A little while later the teacher told them they would visit a radio studio and that their parents would have to sign the permission slip.

Juanita couldn't believe it, at last she would find out where the words are born, she got home out of breath: you have to sign. Did you misbehave. No, no, please sign.

The mother signed the note, there was a week left, it was the longest and most eagerly awaited one. The last night she didn't sleep for fear of oversleeping, and what if she arrived late and they left without her, what if she got sick, she thought of every calamity that could happen to her. At last, in a freshly ironed smock, with a big bow in back, her shoes polished, her hair combed, she joined her classmates and the bus set off, I believe the radio station was on Maipú 555. They were taken into a hall that looked like a theater, with seats where they were placed, they were told that when that light on the wall facing them changed color, there had to be total silence, they were on the air.

Juanita wanted to ask a question, but she couldn't. A young woman arrived who from a platform began moving a little device up and down, looking for the right height, then a man came in with an accordion. Finally a man arrived with a device in his hand, he was the announcer, he greeted the class warmly and, click, the light changed. —Good morning, dear listeners, today we are visited by the fifth-grade students of the Provincia de Jujuy school, and in their honor our star will sing a tango. And she sang very beautifully, when she finished they were signaled to applaud, the teacher started it and the class joined in, then the announcer asked:

—Did you like it? A chorus answered: yes! To finish, he asked them if anyone wanted to ask a question. Total silence, Juanita was dying to ask, but... the teacher, who was tired of the student's questions, sent her to the front, poor thing, her legs shook the whole way there and, point-blank, without waiting, she asked: how does the voice and the music get to my house? The announcer looked at her, smiling, through this little device, he told her, showing her the microphone, and turning to the class he said: you're going to learn many things thanks to new technologies, this is only the beginning; and turning to Juanita he said: I congratulate you on your curiosity, never lose it. And at that moment the light changed. Juanita got back on the bus with her eyes full of tears, but she didn't know if it was from emotion or because she hadn't managed to find out where the voice came from. Today Juanita is a researcher.