So, Willard is Retiring

[digitS']

Thirty five years for Willard Scott at NBC's Today Show. I thought it might be longer, maybe because I didn't have a teevee in 1975 .

Do you remember when you first experienced a new medium?

The reception was so terrible (and I don't use that term loosely) that I really wasn't sure what I was seeing on that set, turned on sometime in the early 50's .

What I could hear was that chime. Go ahead and click it. It should work ...

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Although television first came out the year I was born, I do remember the early days of TV. It was one series of snowy pictures after another. I remember putting a clear vinyl sheet up to the screen to copy Crusader Rabbit's weekly secret message. Sometimes the snow was so bad, I couldn't get the message.

We were among the "lucky" ones and had a good sized television pretty early in my memory. I remember my grandmother had one with a screen that wasn't more then 8 by 8 inches and practically impossible to watch with the 9 grandchildren she was raising.

Does "experiencing a new medium" count my new smart phone? If so, yes!

 

[digitS']

Smart phones count, @Smart Red ! That first poke at a touch screen.

Vinyl? I remember looking around the house and trying to figure out what plastic was. The electric cords were made out of a tube of some kind of woven fabric, over paper. But, the plug was different. It was called bakelite and was the same stuff Mom's new kitchen pans had for handles! That was it as far as I knew. Oh, why did I tell you that? You'll be thinking I predate the stone age! Yeah, back in the wood & bone age, things were different ...

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Okay, vinyl might be stretching it a bit. Think. . . the cover sheet on a child's draw and erase board. An early use of a stylus -- one was used to draw the picture into a black waxy substance.

 

[Smart Red]

Bakelite is big in antique circles! It was used for many things other than plugs. . . kitchenware, jewlery, pipe stems, etc.

 

[Nyboy]

I remember when my parents got their 1st color TV. That was such a big deal. Years later my 1st apartment, all I could afford was small black and white TV.