Wilco - ARE...you reading me?
How the-H-in-blazes ....could your father hear inside Chattanooga homes while riding streetcars? Was he bionic, or privy to Mr. Hoover's telephone taps?
Are you a communist....or illiterate.....why would you "lower-case" AMERICAN?
I've heard some statistics If you "want" to appear credible....PLEASE acknowledge you source.
The following phrase, inserted into your opening sentence renders it ????? when in the 1920's and 1930's, incomplete, without a subject, illiterate?
Friends could hear ...the entire grand ol' opry broadcast while walking through neihghborhoods, because everyone was listening..."
What the-F-in-blazes does THIS the pasive activity (listening) have to do with ACTIVE PROCESS of Playing Music????
Wilco Waco - Over and Out
Sincerely weeping for poor non-commissoned souls.