Things you could have never imagined 40 years ago

[KQ]

Speaking of how things change.....


Those of you who are old enough: remember when we only had 3 channels (4 if you got PBS), the stations quit broadcasting at midnight and we were good with it?

[Diamond Joe]

DIdn't read the whole thread, but I never could have imagined EVERYBODY constantly staring at their own tiny little personal computers/communication devices

[riser4]

Speaking of how things change.....


Those of you who are old enough: remember when we only had 3 channels (4 if you got PBS), the stations quit broadcasting at midnight and we were good with it?

Ya. Big markets also had some independents that showed a lot of syndicated reruns. Slowly those moved into smaller places. And then Fox and CW and WB and UPI, and some others came along. And cable expanded further into the sticks.

[old goat]

Speaking of how things change.....


Those of you who are old enough: remember when we only had 3 channels (4 if you got PBS), the stations quit broadcasting at midnight and we were good with it?

PBS started broadcasting in Detroit in 1955 but we couldn't watch it until years later when we got our first UHF capable TV.
Back in the day TV's were pieces of furniture too heavy and bulky to take to a shop; the repairman came to the house. I still remember ours--mostly to change the tubes. That stopped when TV's became appliances. I never imagined that they would get big enough for repair people to come to the house (if the thing was still under warranty)

Speaking of tubes--I have a 65 Fender amp that still has some original tubes. When the amp crashed I went to the drugstore where there was a tube testing machine and when you figured out which one was bad there was a selection under the tester. Nowadays you get them from guitar stores and online and they all come from Russia, China, or one Slovakian maker. There is still some NOS (new old stock) available, for a price. Niche audio and guitar amps are the only tech that still uses tubes AFAIK.

[Meadow Skipper]

^ tube tester - now there’s a blast from the past.

My last crt tv required two people to pick it up.

[MakersTeleMark]

That I could be wrong.

[old goat]

^ tube tester - now there’s a blast from the past.

My last crt tv required two people to pick it up.

The last one I saw for "free" by the side of the road was only 2 years ago.

[Brownski]

Ya. Big markets also had some independents that showed a lot of syndicated reruns. Slowly those moved into smaller places. And then Fox and CW and WB and UPI, and some others came along. And cable expanded further into the sticks.

Right
I was lucky that we lived on the outer edge of the NYC media market so we had 5 channels to choose from but the 2 independents and PBS were noticeably fuzzier than the networks. My brother would make our little sister sit right next to the TV to adjust the antenna and change channels.

[MakersTeleMark]

That I'm fragile.

[old goat]

That I could be wrong.

[Dantheman]

That a 59 y.o. would be No. 1 on Maxim's Hot 100 list.