I remember life before tv.
The oldest tv station in Texas is here in Fort Worth, KXAS-ch 5 (neé WBAP). It went on the air when my friend David was one day old. I was born 12 days later. We're all 60. Born in 1948.
Four years later tv came to my home town of El Paso--KROD in December 1952 then KTSM three weeks later. Why the gap? The FCC froze applications from 9/30/48 through 4/14/1952*. You'd think it's because El Paso is small and remote, but apparently they were rarin' to go, if KROD could get on the air in eight months in 1952.
The first time I saw one was at the Cichettis' house. Round screen in a box. We didn't have a television set until I was in school. It was a media center, with a drawer that had a turntable in it. Big piece of furniture that showed you tv and played your records.
The next revolution was color. Pretty magical. I was grown, outta college and moved here before I encountered UHF stations. Cable didn't arrive until the 80s, probably because it was hard to sell the need for cable here in a top-5 media market with plenty of free broadcast tv.
Get to China
OK, now the Chinese stuff. The fancy Radio Shack antenna didn't work, gotta take it back. I captured all the digital stuff with rabbit ears--original equipment on a 10-yr-old tv.
The Zenith converter boxes, highly recommended, work well. Made in China. Ditto the antenna that's going back.
Now I wonder if any of the converter boxes are made anywhere but China?
Probably not. Oooo! Where are the cable boxes made these days?
I have two elderly cable remotes, both Scientific Atlanta. Elder one made in Korea, newer one "assembled in Mexico". These relics are decades old. Bet today's models come from China.
*Mike Shannon's Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station History http://www.knus99.com/tvlist.html
As someone with a converter box (tryin' to keep it simple) I'm bummed.
ReplyDeletecath
I have a couple of analog tvs, but the expensive cable service has insulated me from the shock of digital television... I was preparing a physics final test the other night and removed three questions related to analog TV broadcasting... it's old when it can not be tested on a multiple choice test.
ReplyDeleteHey, Claudia, fellow blogger.
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Thanks for the read, goodnight.