Broadcast vs. ?

[Rianon]

My partner tells me we are the last two on Earth who watch only broadcast TV, the only two who spend most of the evening moving the rabbit ears around from place to place? 😁 Are we the only two? I'm curious. Are any of you still watching only broadcast TV? ––Rianon

[awkward-yet-sweet]

I didn't think anybody had rabbit ears since the broadcasts switched to digital.  Back when I just lived with my GF and my sister, we had a TV and the antenna looked like a black rectangle that we hung in the window.  That would have been 2016 or so.  Where we live now, we don't even have a TV hooked up to anything.

 

When I was a kid, we had rabbit ears and two TVs.  One was older and black-and-white.  Aluminum foil sheets attached to the rabbit ears got us an extra channel that was fuzzy but good enough.  We had a total of five channels of broadcast TV, which I thought was pretty good for free.  We had NBC, ABC, CBS, a Christian channel, and a classic/retro movies channel that played lots of John Wayne and 50's/60's/70's stuff.  Ah, the memories of a 90's kid.  

[KathyLauren]

We haven't watched broadcast TV in 20 years.  We have a 40" flat screen TV that has a tuner built-in that is apparently obsolete because the technology changed since we bought it.  It worked fine with our DVD player and it still works fine when connected to a laptop for streaming Netflix and Britbox.  But we have no motivation to watch broadcast TV.  500 channels and there's nothing on.

 

When I was a kid, we had a black-and-white TV that could tune 12 channels, which was overkill, since there only were two (CBC and CTV).  You had to wait a minute after turning the TV for it to warm up on before you had a picture.  You had to reposition the rabbit ears any time you changed the channel.  Which you could only do by getting up and walking across the room to the set.

[Dillon]

Not me, anymore. We can't get broadcast TV here without a roof antenna because of high buildings between us and the Empire State Building, which is about 8 miles away. 

[Rianon]

21 hours ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

I didn't think anybody had rabbit ears since the broadcasts switched to digital.

Hi, awkward-yet-sweet!

 

I guess what we've got isn't really "rabbit ears," but more of a flat rectangle (like the one you describe), but we still have to move it around if we want a steady picture. And I thought too when we switched all TVs went digital we could do away with any sort of in-house antenna. But nope. Even the digital Toshiba we bought still needed an in-house antenna. The picture is sharper, we could see that immediately, but we still had to move that antenna around here, there, and everywhere.

 

Oh, boy, I remember those sheets, or strips, of aluminum foil! That takes me back to when I was a kid. As I recall, we had a number of broadcast channels: 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC), 5 (Dumont?), 7 (ABC), 9 (local), 11 (WPIX), and 13 (pre-PBS?). That's what? Seven channels. I remember too how none of these channels would be on 24/7, but go off the air at 11 or midnight, then not come back on the air until early the next morning.

 

Rianon

[Rianon]

19 hours ago, KathyLauren said:

We have a 40" flat screen TV that has a tuner built-in …

Hi, Kathy Lauren

 

You'd laugh if you saw our TV. It's a 14-incher. A few days ago a neighbor's girl saw our TV and said, "Oh, look, Mommy, they have a tiny TV!"

 

My partner and I content ourselves with broadcast TV. We're not big TV-watchers anyway. Weeknights, we make do with PBS Newshour, maybe an occasional nature program; then on weekends we'll watch most anything that Masterpiece or Masterpiece Mystery is showing. If it's a program I don't much care for, that's when I'll go into the kitchen and do the dishes.

 

I remember too when TVs had to "warm up." My Dad used to repair our TV, our neighbors' TVs too, but that was back in the day when TVs had tubes. Our first TV was an RCA Fada (odd name for a TV!), with something like 34 or 36 tubes.

 

Rianon

[Rianon]

19 hours ago, Dillon said:

We can't get broadcast TV here without a roof antenna because of high buildings between us and the Empire State Building, which is about 8 miles away. 

Hi, Dillon!

 

I didn't realize you're in NYC. That's where I'm from (still am, in my heart of hearts). I first came out West because I was scared to come out to my parents and my 14-year-older jock brother. I came out to Colorado to get my MA, not expecting to stay. I tried several times to return and find work and a good-paying job, but never had any luck. Each time, I turn tail and run back to Colorado, to start savings all over again. My parents and brother are deceased; my sister-in-law, nephews and niece are still in NY, but up in Rockland Co. I get to see them occasionally because they're more accepting of me.

 

I know what you mean about problems with high buildings and TV reception. When I first came out to Colorado, Denver didn't have many high, high buildings, and TV reception wasn't much of a problem. That's all changed now. It's nothing like NYC, of course, but Denver now has a tall skyline and reception here, for the few of us still using at-home antennas, has become a challenge.

 

Rianon

[Dillon]

@RianonIt's ironic that I've tried to leave the city. I almost moved to where I grew up in New Jersey a couple years ago, but I can't drive anymore and public transportation is so much better here. Not great, but better LOL.

 

I remember those tube TVs. I miss being able to fix something by hitting the side. It was amazing how tht really worked, and a friend finally explained to me that it helped reconnect loose tubes.  

 

[Rianon]

56 minutes ago, Dillon said:

 … I can't drive anymore and public transportation is so much better here. Not great, but better LOL.

 

By comparison, public transportation here is abysmal. The locals who've never lived in a "real" city think our bus and light rail service is "not too bad." They've no idea what it was like when I was a kid in the Bronx and my family had never owned a car; we never felt a reason to have one. My dad rode the subway to and from work, as I did to and from both high school and college in Manhattan. The first time I bought a car was to commute to a job in Hackensack; I had a graveyard shift with the newspaper, the Record, and trying to get around at those hours, from Pelham Bay to Hackensack and then back again, was just too much to ask.

 

I sure do remember those tubes! My dad had a bureau full of them. He liked always being ready should one of our neighbors call and say, "Once more my TV picture is 'rolling' and won't stop. Help!" LOL

 

Rianon

[KathyLauren]

9 minutes ago, Rianon said:

I sure do remember those tubes! My dad had a bureau full of them.

 

When I was in the air force, the plane we flew was from the early 1960s.  They had flight simulators for them that were, of course, built with 1960s technology: tubes.  They had to keep the simulators running, but the only people still making tubes for them were the Soviets.  So we had essential NATO military hardware being kept operational by the Soviet Union!

 

They had five of the simulators, each of which occupied a large room full of racks of tubes.  The air conditioner for those five rooms was enormous, the kind of thing you'd find on top of a 50-story building.

[Rianon]

8 minutes ago, KathyLauren said:

They had five of the simulators, each of which occupied a large room full of racks of tubes.  The air conditioner for those five rooms was enormous, the kind of thing you'd find on top of a 50-story building.

When I was in the Army as Field Artillery fire direction officer, the Pentagon was just introducing us to computers to arrive at the data needed by the howitzers. This computer-derived data still wasn't "official;" we were still using our slide rules (remember slide rules?) for the "official" elevation and azimuth figures. Our "experimental" computers –– like the air-conditioners you mention  –– were darn near the size of Volkswagen buses. (Not quite, but close!)

[April Marie]

41 minutes ago, Rianon said:

When I was in the Army as Field Artillery fire direction officer, the Pentagon was just introducing us to computers to arrive at the data needed by the howitzers. This computer-derived data still wasn't "official;" we were still using our slide rules (remember slide rules?) for the "official" elevation and azimuth figures. Our "experimental" computers –– like the air-conditioners you mention  –– were darn near the size of Volkswagen buses. (Not quite, but close!)

Charts and Darts!!! And Freddy FADAC!!!  "To identify a BMP with dismounted infantry - 3 fingers to the right of Blockhouse Signal Mountain. Your mission, Lieutenant." 🤣

 

Those were the days.

Edited March 27, 2023 by VickySGV
per poster request.

[Rianon]

53 minutes ago, April Marie said:

Charts and Darts!!! And Freddy FADAC!!!  "To identify a BMP with dismounted infantry - 3 fingers to the right of Blockhouse Signal Mountain. Your mission, Lieutenant." 🤣

 

Those were the days.

OMG! I'd almost forgotten! Blockhouse Signal Mountain –– of course! If we had only been at Fort Sill at the same time, what conversations we might have had. 😁

[April Marie]

32 minutes ago, Rianon said:

OMG! I'd almost forgotten! Blockhouse Signal Mountain –– of course! If we had only been at Fort Sill at the same time, what conversations we might have had. 😁

Oh, my! Too funny!!!

 

PS: Thanks @VickySGVfor fixing my typo!!!!

[Dillon]

3 hours ago, Rianon said:

The first time I bought a car was to commute to a job in Hackensack; I had a graveyard shift with the newspaper, the Record,

OMG the Bergen Record! I grew up in Paramus, and a teacher at my high school came out publicly in the early 1970s. A reporter at the Record followed his fight for decades. 

[Charlize]

Where we are in NJ 1/2 way between NY and Philly we get amazingly good reception from both.  Since we watch a "small" screen it is certainly as good as we need.  We also got a Roku stick, whatever that is, and can see some stuff from the web as well if we go that way.  We otherwise cut the TV cable some time ago.   There have always been roof antennas here since shortly after watching Cookra , Fran and Ollie on a wavy black and white TV, waving rabid ears the whole time.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Ivy]

I've never had broadcast TV since I "left home".  These days I do have a "TV" for DVDs and streaming things.  Lately my adult daughter mostly uses it for video games.  I mostly watch what I do on my laptop.

 

When I was a kid we had a BW set.  We lived near Albany nd got the 3 networks.  Later we moved farther away and I think it was only2 of them.  You did need the antenna on the roof (or in attic).  I was an older teenager when they got a color set - it was a big deal.

 

Where I live now (in NC) to get a broadcast signal, I would have to put a pretty good antenna on the roof.  It's just not worth it.  I guess most people around here use cable which I don't have either.  I do have internet though.

 

I remember the old tube TVs and radios.  If it didn't work you could look inside and see if any of the tubes weren't lit.  You could get new ones at the store and swap them.  I also remember those first little transistor radios - usually from Japan.  They had an antenna you had to pull out to use it.

 

Now you can do all that stuff and more on your phone.

[Rianon]

12 hours ago, Dillon said:

OMG the Bergen Record! I grew up in Paramus, and a teacher at my high school came out publicly in the early 1970s. A reporter at the Record followed his fight for decades. 

Good morning, Dillon

 

One of the great regrets of my life is not having stayed at the Record. I was fresh out of the Army (having gotten involved with the Army: another of my great regrets) and, although I was enjoying my work as a junior reporter, NYC, having been away for three years, was proving itself to be too crowded, too noisy, too fast-paced (it wasn't of course, but I just couldn't see that at the time). I fled West, not expecting to stay, but yet: Here I am! LOL

 

Do you remember the name of the reporter who followed the story of the high school teacher? Those were the days I was at the Record.

 

Cheers!

Rianon

 

 

[Dillon]

@RianonIt might have been Joan Cook. The city did seem very intense around that time. I don't know if it was because I was a teenager or if that really was the atmosphere then.

[Rianon]

1 hour ago, Dillon said:

@RianonThe city did seem very intense around that time. I don't know if it was because I was a teenager or if that really was the atmosphere then.

There was an intensity about the place as I recall. Lots of student unrest. One of my first daytime assignments was to go with one of the senior reports to a local college campus and collect on-the-street interviews. I remember feeling really nervous about the atmosphere on campus.