In 2009 there will be no more free television signals. Analog television, that is those televisions which pick up signal through the air like radio, will go static in 2009, ending the first era of television.
When I was a kid, each and very house in America had a television antenna standing next to it. They were as ubiquitous as clotheslines and mailboxes. It was a sign that you owned a television, and those who didn’t were somehow diminished. It’s hard to imagine a day and age when everyone did not own a television. No one owned more than one, at least not where I lived. Most antennas were turned by hand, to better pick up one of the three stations we could get in town. We upgrade to a motorized antenna turner and the box on top of the television made a chunking noise as the antenna turned. Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! And the next program would slowly come into focus.
I remember the first color television I ever saw. It was at Mark Kelly’s house. They were the first family on the block to get a color television, and one of the first shows to have color was “Gunsmoke”. After so many years, maybe three or four of black and white, all of a sudden James Arness and Amanda Blake were colorized. I didn’t like it. I thought it was too much. All the flashy color distracted from the story, I thought. It scared me. I thought that if the program was in color and you owned a black and white television then you wouldn’t be able to see the program.
Television once ran from about six in the morning until eleven at night. There were no late night shows at all. If you got up early on Sunday morning you could watch the “Test Pattern” which was a black and white portrait of an Native American face from a side view. Having all three channels we could discover there was nothing on in a matter of seconds. Channel four? Nope! Channel Nine? Nope! Channel Ten? Nope! Let’s go outside and play. Unless there was a horrific rainstorm, or it was so cold that parents wouldn’t let us out, we kids were always outside. Television just didn’t have anything to offer us.
I remember thinking cable would never catch on. Why would anyone pay for television when they could get it free? The first cable companies offered up to thirteen stations. Thirteen! That was incredible! It was in the mid 70s when I saw cable for the first time. So many channels and so little on. Little has changed, it’s just that people are willing to pay more for it now.
Analog television is coming to an end. I’ve outlived it. I’m one of the last antenna turners, one of the last people who remember when all television was black and white, one of the last people to say they didn’t own their own television until they were in their thirties. One day, people will look back at analog television and wonder how anyone could survive with so few channels and how people could live without so little to watch.
I wonder how cable will die?
Take Care,
Mike
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Comments: 37
Of course I was wearing glasses by the 3rd grade, and that's probably why! LOL
From the consumer's perspective, I'm nostalgic already (silly me). Thank you, Mike.
Thanks for sharing
For that matter, I have a huge collection of CDs, but a few years from now people will think back on the whole concept of "owning" a collection of music with a bemused sigh. for the cost of buying say 1,000 CDs, we'll be able to stream from limitless repertoires any time we like for our whole lives.
[but I've been 'set' before]....
:)
and Amanda Blake, (Miss Kitty) truly looked like a whore in color, sadly.
After coming to the US, I remember watching local channels and wishing "those people on TV" would speak slower and clearer. To my untrained Asian ear, everybody spoke too loud and too fast.
I still remember the sign-off music and colors that were used by the channels we watched. It meant I stayed up too late again watching fast-talking Americanos in crazy Westerns or scary movies.
A nostalgic walk through the history of TV, wondering how cable TV will die, and where TV is going from here.
I'm thinking the Cable companies are on their way out, as we know them, even after the Adelphia Com acquisition.
Cable TV won't let us opt to receive only the channels we regularly watch, but instead have to select one of their "Package Deals," of programs we NEVER watch. This is frustrating, along with other things, and many of us may get rid of Cable TV altogether much like some have abandoned landlines for phone service. Particularly in view of the telco's IPTV video svcs and Verizon's FiOS svcs.
We're also looking at some of the other options through JOOST, Tech Cruch, and Flash9. Well, all Cable TV companies may not go bankrupt but hopefully they will have to change the way they do business as we watch this ever changing scenario.
I am laughing, but not really. Look at technology and how quickly it's changing. Who can keep up? Being here where Silicon Valley is and listening to these folks -- yeah right! A friend trying to convince me to get back into the computer stuff -- no, thank you. I don't wanna. That's your bag, Baby. But as Mr. Swan up there was correctly stating
"The computer folks knew that the age of digital convergence was coming and YEARS AGO" and it sounds like he's hep to the system.
You buy it. It becomes outdated.
Consumer Alert: YOU ARE OBSOLETE -- (hehe) OBSOLETE!
(time for quiet panic and pulling out of pocketbooks -- automaton style)
Something NEW and IMPROVED! BE THE FIRST ON YOUR BLOCK TO GET IT!
(or get "got")
-- NOW GO OUT AND BUY! BUY! BUY!
Keep this economy healthy, what's the matter with you!
Don't you know what's good. . .
for MY POCKET.
now the dawg... SHE likes PBS and LAW & ORDER... so there is a teevee out there in her house.
that pretty much killed the "concpet album". There is so little continuity in music these days, unless, like me, you listen to classical sometimes.
In two years you'll know. ;-)
You didn't miss much and you're right; too loud, and too fast.
I'm thinking about cutt the cord myself, adn just watch DVDs and that sort of thing.
If it wasn't for football....
BATMAN! Oh I thought that was it and the special affects were So cool! BIFF BAM POW!!!!!
They plan it that way. They make more money off of change than keeping things the same.
I think I've been the 'last holdout' for most of these transitions in technology????
Your last sentence made me smile.
It was like I had died and gone to heaven!
It was oroginally designed for the fact that you could get a perfect picture, and the reason you PAID for it was because you were paying for the freedom from commercials.
Now, you pay dearly for it, there's nothing extremely valuable on most of the channels, and you now have more ad's then entertainment.
I see little value for the dollar. If it wasn't for the DVR option, I would throw the TV and the bill out the window.
I wonder if tv hasn't, too.
I feel like the announcers are treating me and my guests as morons, the commercials take the majority of the time and people yell at you to buy this or that. If you do get hooked on a show you lose all flexibility in your schedule so you won't miss it. Or you get one of those record gizmos and watch it when you should be in bed sleeping.
We don't miss TV, can't afford it, don't have room for it and might get a little more done.
I remember:
Watching Howdy Doody on a round screen black and white.
Those rainbow colored plastic "colorizers" that were supposed to give you a color image.
How about the "remote control" that was basically like a pet's squishy toy that somehow turned the set off.
MMMMMM........how about those room sized consoles with TV, stereo and speakers all rolled into one that took as much room as a small car.
Taking the burned out tubes to the drug store to test them on the machine and get new ones. That was back when a consumer could actually repair their audio/visual equipment to a degree.
I HAD to watch "Combat" with Vic Morrow everyday after school.
Mike, I think the cable-issue will eventually go the other way. Enough consumers are going to get tired of paying $200 per month for stupid stuf and some genius will come up with a dish you can buy to get everything you want free. If that happened the channels could still live off the ads.
Later,
marty
Before my time.
Those rainbow colored plastic "colorizers" that were supposed to give you a color image.
Yeah, I remember those!!
How about the "remote control" that was basically like a pet's squishy toy that somehow turned the set off.
I knew someone who had one but we never did.
MMMMMM........how about those room sized consoles with TV, stereo and speakers all rolled into one that took as much room as a small car.
I turned on into a dog house once.
Taking the burned out tubes to the drug store to test them on the machine and get new ones. That was back when a consumer could actually repair their audio/visual equipment to a degree.
I remember seeing such bit never using it.
I HAD to watch "Combat" with Vic Morrow everyday after school.
That was a great show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is not true. The broadcast signals will just be digital instead of analog. So, you will need a digital tuner, or a digital to analog converter to receive them. Guess what, you won't need an HD TV, either. Although, I've had TV salesmen try to convince me otherwise.... Don't believe them!
About five years ago I saw a couple stories on the news about people who were having trouble making ends meet in the current economy. The first one was an interview with a fellow waiting in line at the FOOD SHELF. He told the reporter he couldn't meet his monthly bills and among them he included the cable bill. About a week later, a reporter was sitting at a kitchen table with another person who had the same problem. They were going through the person's bills and there it was again... the cable bill! I thought, gee, I can afford cable TV, but I don't buy it. Maybe because I don't have cable or satellite TV that means I'm living below the poverty line? Fat chance!!! I just received notice that my health insurance premium is going to increase by 41% next year, though. I'm so glad that my elected (and unelected) government officials are focused on important things like digital TV! (insert tongue in cheek)
I used to watch about five football games per week during the season. I kicked the habit, though. I haven't watched a single football game this year.... I got so sick of team owners going on and on about how they need publicly financed stadiums in order to make money. What a crock! If the owners and the players each gave up 5% off their ends of the salary cap, the NFL could build a new stadium every year. What possible excuse could there be for providing this industry with a subsidy??? When I turn on a game now, it makes me feel like a sucker. That's what cured me of my addiction.
A football team (or any other pro-sports franchise) is a status symbol. Why should the public help someone make money off his or her status symbol? The empire loves its blood sports, and its entertaining professional gladiators who perform in publicly financed professional gladiator colosseums, eh? What do sports have to do with education? Very little! Do you have any idea how much of your school district's budget is committed to this crap that only serves a few? How many of these few will go on to be professional athletes? What a waste of resources. Teach people to read, and most everything else can be learned by reading. Don't buy a vowel, buy a vocabulary. Duh!
My folks kept their black and white TV in a closet, and only got it out on occasion. The first color TV that came into our home was the one I bought when I was about 16. A couple months later my parents bought a top of the line color TV, and it never went in the closet! I am thankful to this day for their great wisdom; as a result I read many books. (smile)
The Indian Head Test Pattern