Your comments give me an opportunity to reconsider what I've written in a previous post. For the post on the internet I was trying to comment on one of the problems with the internet. There are others. But I made it seem like all the internet was negative which isn't so. . The internet has allowed us to achieve much by having a much better communication system.
Then I got thinking about radio and television. I think they both started with hopes for better communication and keeping people together. Radio took a long time to get to the point where homes could have a radio . The first radios in homes where large affairs with poor quality reception. So people had to crowd around the machine and they also invited neighbors. The first radios were battery powered. Electric radios came later and transistor radios about 1954. So families and neighbors gathered around the radio. When the transistor arrived radio became an individual happening. In the beginning there were very few radio stations. Now there are thousands.
In 1953, I got my Grandpa's beautiful large wooden cabinet radio. I could listen to radio stations from very far away. There were many different languages and I heard different music. My experience with Grandpa's radio came to an end when I couldn't buy the battery that was required.
As a kid I made a small radio with parts obtained around the house. We used a magnet, cold of wire, flashlight battery and earphones and wow! We had to buy the crystal. Every kid could have a radio. This gizmo was called a crystal radio.
Television developed much the same as radio. We had one television station. All the family gathered around the TV. Neighbors got together to watch TV. We didn't have our own TV so we went to the neighbors to watch a very poor reception which was described as snowy. Does anybody have a snowy picture today? Soon homes had more than one television set. Kids had their own TV and watched their own shows. Now we have hundreds of channels to choose from and smart guys who charge us lots of money to see them.
So as communication devices develop and change, the listeners and viewers have to change and have a new experience. Or do the listeners and viewers have to change because of the guys with the money? We certainly hear and see far more ads so the money guys can get far more money.
Wow. You ask some interesting questions and I believe much of what we have these days does revolve around those money guys getting more money. TV has changed so much in recent years. Years ago we had cable but stopped that when we retired due to the high cost. These days we stream about half of the TV programs we watch but of course that depends on the internet. Any way you look at it money is involved but at least we are not spending as much as we used to in order to watch TV. Interesting post Red!
ReplyDeleteThe money guys work on the technology so that it's more lucrative. To begin with radio and TV were meant for the public's pleasure.
DeleteHello, technology has changed over the years. I remember having a B&W TV. The prices for all the channels is getting crazy lately, they want you to pay extra for little bits here and there. Enjoy your day, have a great week ahead.
ReplyDeleteThere are many many angles to the sales pitch for TV.
DeleteFunny thing about radio. I used to listen to it all the time when I was working (I was a project manager for a construction company often travelling between sites) and had certain favourite shows. Since retiring I sometimes go for weeks without listening to the radio. I don't watch much TV either, but recently we discovered a channel (I think it is a free trial period) where they dish up David Attenborough documentaries all day it seems, so we have been over-indulging ourselves on those a little. Would be great for someone quarantined with Covid 19. Maybe have some Corona beer on hand!
ReplyDeleteI don't watch one minute of TV all year. I do listen to quite a bit of radio but not commercial radio.
DeleteHow things have changed in just a hundred years. Within the span of human history this is just a smidgen of time - the batting of an eyelid.
ReplyDeleteThese changes will become more rapid since we have technology to help us.
DeleteI think the thing about the internet and the development of smart devices is that it has happened relatively quickly and is universal.
ReplyDeleteYes, and it will make all future developments occur at a more rapid rate.
DeleteYou brought back an ancient memory of me coming home from a Brownie meeting to join the rest of my family in front of the cabinet radio, to listen to Baby Snooks. Remember that one? :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't remember Baby Snooks but do remember Amos n' Amdy and Fibber mMgee and Molly.
DeleteI still listen to a lot of radio. I remember our black and white TV!
ReplyDeleteI like radio but not commercial radio.
DeleteYeah, I guess communication is all about change, isn't it? In theory the TV guys these days are giving us what we want -- at least, SOME of us -- but I'm not sure it's very good for us! Programming for the masses often seems to sink to the lowest common denominator.
ReplyDeleteThe one size fits all means they can make more money.
DeleteThe old radio and TV days were times that actually brought us together, like gathering around the old radio and TV and all of us listening to/watching the same thing. Now we each get to stream whatever we want to see. There are news channels devoted to convincing their audience of certain political perspectives. Instead of being a community builder the tools of communication have become a a way to tear us apart and convince us of our righteousness as it divides us.
ReplyDeleteCommunication has been skillfully arranged to separate people. We seem to be gullible enough to believe the liars.
DeleteI kind of wanted to build a crystal radio when I was young, but I never got the opportunity. It's just as well because I later discovered that I am mechanically challenged.
ReplyDeleteCrystal sets are for sale all over the pace so you have no excuse to not make one. Just think of the great blog post it would make. and it would be photographic too!!
DeleteThe pace of change has become faster and faster. That makes it hard to keep up and to make good decisions, for a lot of folks, I think.
ReplyDeleteFunny that you mention the number of radio stations now. That is true. But I think the quality has degraded, just like with newspapers. We used to have a six-days-a-week newspaper locally. Now it's part of a conglomerate that scaled it back to once a week, and it's old news by the time it's published. Our radio station was in the same way swallowed up by a conglomerate and has very little local news on it. Very little news at all, for that matter. It's canned music most of the time.
Check out CKUA.com. I think you'd like listening to it.
DeleteI watch Netflix when I get tired of commercials:) The Political commercials have started and they are so stab you in the back that I will probably watch more of Netflix...or replay where I can fast forward through commercials:)
ReplyDeleteThose constant ads are what makes commercial radio so disappointing.
DeleteGrowing up, we had one of the big cabinet radios too. I remember when the first TV came to a furniture store in the little town we lived in in South Carolina. It was displayed in the store window. People would gather on the street to see it. I remember my family stopping by to get a look at it.
ReplyDeleteTV has come a long way since those days. I don't watch TV.
DeleteWe don't have a tv but do listen to classic music on the radio. I do hate ads, way too many but the people want their money or you get no service. I remember my first cystal radio when I was a kid. It was in the shape of a satellite.
ReplyDeleteThey still sell crystal radio sets today. Check out Amazon.
DeleteWe gave up watching TV several years ago when we were living in VA because (1) there was no good cable service there and (2) there wasn't anything worth watching since they had limited channels. But then I know so many people with so many channels and they only watch a handful. Growing up I can recall watching TV on the single family set on Sat and Sun eves - variety shows and westerns were what we watched back then. Now, we stream shows from Netflix and through a couple of free streaming services the local library provides to patrons.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bonanza! Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan! They don't make shows like that anymore.
DeleteThis is one of my favorite topics: Radio. My dad gave me a "shortwave" radio when I was about 12 years old. I was totally fascinated listening to broadcasts from countries all around the world. That is pretty neat that you built a crystal set. I've heard of them but never got around to building one. How do you tune them? Lastly, you are so right about all the ads on TV now. The Micro Manager and I have gotten sick of them and now we mute them as they come on while we're watching. And one thing seems for sure ... there must be a lot of us out there who need medication of one kind or another. Have you noticed that? :-)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed listening to all those stations around the world even if I couldn't understand the language. When I was in the north we only had limited short wave and the odd freaky bit of commercial radio. It seems to me that there was a right wing commentator by the name of Brown. His station came in once in a while. I was camped on Richardson Island one night and somebody had a radio and left it on. I listened to this guy spout off all night.
DeleteWe had a big cabinet radio that we listened to also. I remember many of the old radio programs. I still have the radio on in the mornings when I'm working around the house. Radio news is my first source of news for the day. I wake up to it.
ReplyDeleteThere are still some good non commercial radio stations.
DeleteI watch so little television that what I want to watch, I'll catch by computer.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch one minute of television a year. Yes I do pick up some off the internet.
DeleteIt seems to always come down to making money, no matter what market.
ReplyDeleteMoney can spoils some very good things.
DeleteI recall battery operated radios, I'm talking a big battery which sat on the floor of the cupboard with the radio on the shelf above
ReplyDeleteI still listen to radio.
I remember TV with a snowy picture. What happens now is in a poor reception area the picture breaks up into pixels and the sound comes and goes.
I don't have TV (by choice) I look at it sometimes when I'm at the dentist.
Alphie
These huge dry cells for radios were called B batteries. Then came electric radios and then transistor radios.
DeleteI was thinking about typewriters and their emergence to speed up the written word and then being replaced by digital technology and next voice in the phone!
ReplyDeleteYes, good one. You could probably come up with much more technology that has changed and then become obsolete.
DeleteSuper post Red! I am slowly getting away from tv watching. I ought to listen to the radio but am tending to read more these days. Thank you for letting me know about the robin and the thrush. I found that very interesting.
ReplyDeleteGosh... I haven't really listened to the radio in such a long time. As for TV programs, we now record them and fast forward through the commercials.
ReplyDelete