My parents were early adopters
in the early 1950s: they bought a television set. How they rationalized that
expenditure I do not know. I think it was a portable, maybe with a 7-inch
screen.
They were among millions
who were putting down the cash to acquire technology with rabbit ears.
TV in its infancy was the
fastest blooming technology in the history of humankind.
At the end of World War II
there were only a few tens of thousands of privately owned television sets.
Within 10 years, two-thirds of American households had one. By the early 1960s
more than 90 percent of homes had a boob tube.
In the early years, when
few households had a set, the neighborhood tended to gather at the house with a
TV for a social evening, watching whatever was on one of the (maximum 3)
available channels. I was a kid when the family drove into Philadelphia to
watch The Wizard of Oz on my uncle’s
brand-new color TV.
I don’t watch TV
now—stopped channel checking almost seven years ago. OK, I make exceptions for
the Super Bowl and the State of the Union address and election returns in early
November.
I’m bound to say I don’t
think I’m missing much.
The news media industry,
particularly TV, has become a beast with no scruples. I think it is deranging
our society.
At least, in the old days,
we had the Milton Berle Show.
Copyright
© Richard Carl Subber 2016 All rights reserved.
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