An old tape that's still new

I have no idea how old I was when my dad made the tape. I assume I was less than junior high school, maybe fifth or sixth grade, but I have no idea.
I do know, however, he had gotten a new radio/cassette player that was something short of a boom box. He got it from my brother for Christmas one year. Late one night, he was listening to the radio (I think it was WJR, "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes), and decided to pop a cassette in and record what was on.
What was on, you ask?
Well, the first item was a song making fun of people who watched too much television. The song started in the middle, and it was more than 20 years before I ever heard the beginning.
Next came a song from "The Music Man," from early in the movie when Robert Preston comes to town to sell musical instruments.
"Oh, you got trouble, with a capital T and rhymes with P and that stands for pool!"
Following this, a Dragnet parody called "Little Blue Riding Hood." After that, a longer piece poking fun at the Lawrence Welk Show, "Wunnerful, Wunnerful."
The recording concluded with an episode of "The Bickersons." That one got interrupted in the middle when my dad had to flip the tape over.
It also took me 20 years to realize that wasn't Robert Preston signing the song from "The Music Man."
It was Stan Freberg.
The younger version of me listened to that tape over and over and over. I usually cut it off at "The Bickersons" to listen to the Freberg material.
His clever satire really made me laugh then, and it still does today.
I listened to it so much that I memorized "Little Blue Riding Hood," and I can still recite it from memory today.
It took me until I was 32 to buy a best of Stan Freberg CD, and lo and behold, there were all those tracks for me to listen to as an adult.
I finally got to hear the beginning of "Tele-Vee-Shun," I learned that was Stan, not Robert Preston signing the song. I still have no idea why he re-recorded it, but there it was.
I also have "The United States of America" parts one and two, his funny satire and parody songs about various incidents in American history.
That's really about all the material you can find by Freberg these days, even though in his heyday, he released lots of comedy records. There's a box set that features most of the things on the greatest hits CDs, but also includes a whole CD of the radio commercials he made for such companies as Chun Kin Chow Main, Pittsburgh Paints and Taco Bell. (Taco Bell in China?)
I wish someone would re-release more, but what's available is wonderful.
Some material is dated, but most of it stands up really well for modern audiences.
I hadn't seen "Dragnet" when I heard "Little Blue Riding Hood," but it still made me laugh. I still sometimes have to repress a laugh when I watch a rerun of Jack Webb talking.
I think if there's one famous person I wish I could meet, it would be Stan Freberg. I have no idea what I'd say to him, but I guess I'd just thank him for all the hours of enlightening enjoyment I have gotten from listening to his albums.
By the way, I think the original tape my dad made still exists somewhere and may still be playable. I'll have to go see if I can find it.