"When I was 5 years old, I would lie in bed, look at the radio, and I wanted to be on the radio. I don't know why"
About this Quote
The image is doing quiet heavy lifting. He “looks at the radio,” an object that doesn’t look back, and already he’s practicing the relationship that would define his work: intimacy without reciprocity, closeness mediated by technology. Radio is disembodied attention; it rewards voice, rhythm, persistence. That’s King’s whole lane. He didn’t become iconic by being the smartest person in the room; he became iconic by being reliably there, making the medium feel like a living conversation.
Context matters, too. King’s childhood sits in the golden age of radio, when the box in the corner was the household’s portal to glamour and authority. For a kid from Brooklyn, “on the radio” wasn’t just show business; it was a ticket into the national bloodstream. The simplicity of the memory also mythologizes his origin story in a way that fits his brand: not crafted genius, not tortured artistry - just a clean, almost innocent desire to join the signal.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
King, Larry. (2026, February 16). When I was 5 years old, I would lie in bed, look at the radio, and I wanted to be on the radio. I don't know why. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-5-years-old-i-would-lie-in-bed-look-at-118955/
Chicago Style
King, Larry. "When I was 5 years old, I would lie in bed, look at the radio, and I wanted to be on the radio. I don't know why." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-5-years-old-i-would-lie-in-bed-look-at-118955/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When I was 5 years old, I would lie in bed, look at the radio, and I wanted to be on the radio. I don't know why." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-i-was-5-years-old-i-would-lie-in-bed-look-at-118955/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
