Couldn't have done that because the train station serving the PG was NOT elevated. It was underground, a subway, so he couldn't get any reception on a radio there. Also, it was fairly cumbersome to take a portable radio with you on a train then, because small transistor radios were still a few years away in 1951.
I am going by second hand recollection. If you stand outside a major league stadium you can hear a lot of cheering, and the crowd outside relays accounts, perhaps from the cabbie’s radios.