I follow the Catalyst for his humor and variety of material.
I knew that he originated in North Dakota. I was born and raised in Saskatchewan so we lived about 300 miles from each other. So we experienced many similar things like the wide open prairie, harsh winter storms and a pattern of leaving the area for other places to live.
Catalyst said that he was 13 in 1953 and that he listened to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. The key word here is listened.
We lived in a area that didn't have television coverage. We would have to travel to the nearest city with a TV station to watch the coronation on snowy TV reception. I'll bet most of you have never heard of snowy TV!
There were some very skilled broadcasters at the time who could ably describe an event so that you felt you were right there. We also had to work with the broadcaster and use some imagination.
I was probably about 15 years old when I saw my first hockey game on TV. All those years I remember listening to hockey games and knowing exactly what was going on in the game.
Some people wondered how I could just listen to a coronation and get anything out of it. Yes, we enjoyed radio and were glued to it for drama, sports and mega events like the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
I first remember television in 1957 when I was 4...watching horse racing of all things...then Muffin the Mule..though I didn't like children's programmes. We had a TV because my father worked for Rediffusion, mending TV sets. We didn't watch much TV until the late 60s
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how things go by generation.
Grandma was a Flapper in the 20s..cinema and Rudolf Valentino was the thing. Mother ended up watching TV all the time.
My brother watches YouTube channels...
Things have developed and changed immensely in a short tine.
DeleteYes, in England I know what snowy tv reception is - tv sets in the late 1950s often picked up only poor reception. I listen to football coverage on radio and get a far better 'picture' of what is going on and, along with many others, still prefer it to tv. Or I watch football on tv but listen to the radio commentary simultaneously. Skilled radio broadcasters are a joy to listen to.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard about watching the game on TV and listening on radio for a long time.
DeleteI still rely on the radio for most of my news and entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI certainly listen to news on radio and some talk shows.
DeleteMy little granddaughter Phoebe is entranced by what she sees on screens yet when I was her age there were no screens to look at. I don't believe my family had a TV until I was about five or six years old. There must be psychological impacts on small children's minds and of course it is not their fault. They didn't ask to enter a world where they would soon become hooked on screentime.
ReplyDeletethe thing that gets me is how these little ones pick up a phone and can find what they want.
DeleteAlthough household televisions were commonplace when I grew up, and in color too, I grew up without one and so listened to the world around me for the first couple decades of my life.
ReplyDeleteAt that time you could take the listening with you.
DeleteWe didn’t get our first tv until about 1958 or so. Previously I did see a hockey game or part of one on our landlord’s tv. I think it was the year before Montreal went on it 5 year cup run. They lost to Detroit.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that your television was that late in coming. we lived in the boonies so I thought we were the last to get TV.
DeleteThe first TV event that really registered with me was the JFK assassination broadcast with Walter Cronkite. So sad...
ReplyDeletehugs
Donna
I was in Inuvik NWT when Kennedy was shot. We heard about the news but not any of the broadcast about it.
DeleteI also remember a time before TV and how much I enjoyed listening to shows on the radio! You got to use your imagination. :-)
ReplyDeleteThere were many very good shows on radio. Lots of humor.
DeleteRadio was wonderful back in the day! Sports via radio was the best!
ReplyDeleteI can remember the intensity in listening. The broadcasters were great. Now on television they just yell rather than describe the game.
DeleteTechnology has sure changed since we were young!
ReplyDeleteIt's been an amazing change and it will become more rapid.
DeleteI never knew a world without television, but I do remember it being occasionally "snowy."
ReplyDeleteThat makes you one of my youngest followers.
DeleteI always listened to sports on radio when growing up. Sunday nights was Mystery Theatre with E.G. Marshall. Now I listen to baseball on the internet. I prefer to listen rather than watch, anyway I don't have a TV, got rid of it 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteTV broadcasters just yell as hard and as long as possible rather than describe the game. I don't watch any TV.
DeleteI grew up listening to radio of Baseball games with my Dad. We didn't get a TV until 1960.
ReplyDeleteBase ball was great to listen to. Broadcasters were quiet rather than yelling. Who can forget a World series on radio?
DeleteI always enjoy your memory posts Red, always very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks. They're fun to write.
DeleteI remember listening to songs on radio when growing up!
ReplyDeleteMusic radio started somewhere in the mid to late 50's.
DeleteI'm old enough to have grown up with the radio and I still have it on during the mornings.
ReplyDeleteI liked the old radio schedule before music took over.
DeleteI'm a wee bit younger than you, but remember snowy television very well. I don't recall not having a television but we also had a radio so mom could listen to her morning shows. Afternoons were her soaps.
ReplyDeleteI do remember when Walt Disney announced they would be offering their Sunday night show in "colour". We were so excited, and then disappointed to learn one needed a special television to watch it in colour.
Those were the days! Early television had some great shows. who could forget the Disney show?
DeleteI remember snowy tv!
ReplyDeleteRadio play by play broadcasters had to be very descriptive.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, our local radio station began replaying old radio shows. We were riveted. Fibber McGee and Molly. The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, We gathered around our radio just like you must have gathered 'round yours. We had a television, but it rarely worked in the winter. Our aerial was across a creek and up a mountain (we lived in a valley). The squirrels chewed the wires through regularly.
ReplyDeleteEarly television reception was variable.
ReplyDeleteI used to listen to the radio all the time when I was younger. There were some people that were very talented on the stations and could really bring things to life.
ReplyDeleteI can remember listening to the National League baseball playoffs on a big Philco floor model radio in 1951 and sobbing when Bobby Thompson of the New York Giants ended my hopes as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan for a World Series. Little did I know then, or in 1953, that my career would involve radio and television broadcasting.
ReplyDeleteah radio was my first connection to world outside my tiny village . i would call it my second mother which would annoy mom :)
ReplyDeleteimagination is mysterious power indeed .one who has it knows wonders of it only . i still remember the radio dramas that are stored in my memory more than those i watch everyday
unlike mom my father loved hockey and would listen and watch matches regularly :)
ReplyDeleteGosh! I didn't even watch Charlies III's coronation this time. But I read up about it and saw the pictures. It was much too early for me.
ReplyDelete