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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