Chapter 1

The other day several of my young employees were discussing some show they had watched on television the previous evening. The discussion branched out and they got to talking about MTV and other channels they enjoyed watching. I mentioned when I was their age we had just three stations to choose from and around midnight the stations would play the national anthem and then shut down until early morning.

Of course they knew nothing about the Indian head test pattern we used to see on our television when the stations were shut down for the night. The test pattern with the Indian head located in the middle of the pattern or what a big deal it was when a fourth station was finally introduced. They were stunned with these bits of information and even more amazed when they learned we didn't have any type of cable ... or any type of dish television ... every station just broadcasted over the air. They wanted to know how we got our televisions to work. I explained about antennas. None of them had ever heard of "rabbit-ears", however, a couple of them had seen antennas still fastened to a rooftop, but didn't think much about it. When I told them at one time almost every home had an antenna on top of the roof, they were speechless. I continued on explaining ... to make matters worse, if you were in a hole ... if you lived in a valley or were surrounded by high hills ... your reception was crummy. I told them how the home where I grew up was located in a television shadow and in order to get reception my dad had to purchase a television tower. This tall tower had an antenna at the top with a small electric motor which would rotate to help with the reception. After my explanation, my younger staff made sure they made me feel like some kind of fossil ... just like I am.