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Is because we don't use those any more. Johnny can go to Target and buy a radio imported from China for a couple of dollars. It's not interesting.
Before this particular writer was coding in BASIC, his father might have been building a radio out of the pages of Popular Mechanics, and getting his HAM license. And his father before that was building an airplane out of the pieces of a chicken coop. And his father before that was... you get the idea.
Kids in any generation who have a bent toward building things and geekiness will use whatever is at hand to expand their understanding of it. They do this naturally. Give a kid a screwdriver, and you'll have whatever it is in pieces all over the floor. If you're lucky, Johnny just might figure out what the pieces are for and put it back together again.
Many posters have pointed out good reasons why BASIC is obsolete. Let him use the tools that are here today, relevant today (a lot of excellent suggestions for HTML and Javascript), and let him fly. Don't lament that the tools the previous generation learned on aren't available any more. He'll surprise you with the results.
