DO TOUCH THAT DIAL!

Ready or not, the digital conversion has taken place.

I watched live as Jim Goodman of Capitol Broadcasting tripped the switch that turned off the analog broadcasting tower. A little analog TV with a set of rabbit ears simply went blank. The nearby HD system was receiving crystal clear.

There will be Christmas lights on the old tower and it will be leased for other uses, but the TV broadcasting tasks now belong to some little digital towers.

Television viewing, oh how you have changed and changed us and how we have changed the way we use you.

The first TV signal I ever saw was a dim, bounced signal from a TV station originating in Oak Hill, West Virginia. To get to our little black and white set it had to bounce off of a range of mountains and endure being captured on Dad's array of antenna and follow a 300 ohm cable into the house and into the TV. The various mountains, iron ore deposits in the mountains and distance from the source made for a weak signal with multiple shadows – but we could see and hear The Lone Ranger and Howdy Doody. That was 1958 and I was ten years old.

The first color set I saw was sad. A clever couple had put a sheet of blue, red and green plastic over their screen and that was supposed to emulate color. The blue was at the top and the green at the bottom. I guess it worked as long as the top shot was the sky and the bottom was a meadow. It didn't do much good when “A Wonderful Life” was shown.

By the time Bonanza made it to the screen, another neighbor had a real color set and it was the place to be after evening church, liberals that we were. I remember one of our hounds being scared to death when a Ponderosa bear charged at us on the screen.

All of that started “appointment TV”. You had to be in your house at a certain time to watch your shows.

Our most watched programs really were sports, programs Like Red Skelton, Perry Como and Lawrence Welk and, just for me, Mr. Wizard.

There was news with real newsmen: Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley.

Television brought us the launches of our first efforts in space and the Kennedy assassination.

This tubed box was a wonder that had immediacy and that immediacy is growing.

Being the school A/V guy I learned about TV and radio tubes and later how to work on transistors and certain cards.

Cable and satellite opened our eyes to more selections and probably lesser quality.

VHS and Beta let us choose when we watched what we want. Now, we Tivo and DVR and download shows at our leisure. Appointment TV is gone forever, for most of us.

Something is lost when something is gained. Fewer families watch TV together. Marie Callendar even lets us eat TV dinners in separate rooms.

I'm sorry that some people's TV's went gray with the transition. I have helped about 20 people install their converters and will help others, if called upon to do so.

I might also point people that have a high speed internet connection and decent PC or laptop that many TV shows and movies can be watched by logging on and tuning in. Be careful of getting butter, popcorn, chips, salsa and Coke in the keyboard. [Now that's a Sham-Wow seller: laptop keyboard to TV-tray converters. Protect your keyboard and enjoy your snacks at the same time. Look for it in the no-too-distant future. Am I joking? Hmmm. ]

Our world population is more connected in some ways than we used to be. However, a digital connection is not a personal connection.

Rabbit ears don't replace letters and phone calls and sharing a meal – in the same room has to be a decision people make and keep together.

Maybe the clarity in the digital signals will signal a growth in the clarity of our true communication with one another. DO TOUCH THAT DIAL! © Tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com