Well today is the last day of analog broadcasting. It is kind of a sad day really. I thought about all the old TV's out there, that if found in a barn or an old house will no longer be able to pick up anything other than some pirate signals, that I'm sure will become popular someday. Here are a few of my favorite analog TV moments...
My Grandma's house in the hot summers... watching a 15 inch black and white TV all day. Gilligan's Island, Banana Splits and Godzilla movies. And speaking to that, until I was a teenager I thought all the Godzilla movies were in black and white!
My first TV in my room at my parents was a little 10 inch or so black and white TV. I still remember the first thing I ever saw on it. ABC was showing the broadcast premiere of 1978's Star Trek: The Motion Picture with new footage! It was 3 hours long with commercials, and I witnessed every damn second of it. I had the action figures from the movie too...
Camping in my Grandpa's old travel trailer in the middle of nowhere in the country, I watched "The Shining" on a 8 inch black and white screen in the back of the trailer with sheets pulled up over my head. I've never gotten those images from my mind. Even if it was cut for TV. Shelly Duvall still scares me to this today. And I am weary of any little kids named Danny including my cousin. And now I have twin nieces. Where are my covers?
Next was at home on maybe my first color TV set in my room. I was in the 6th grade and I stayed up late and watched Kubrick's 2001. That movie disturbed me in such a monumental way. I think it changed the way I looked at movies. I remember telling my Dad and classmates how amazing this thing was. Of course my classmates were more into Porkys than existential space movies. My dad told me stories of how he drove to Dallas to see 2001 on this new gigantic screen back in the 60's. he said he went twice. Lucky.
Other great moments in analog TV history for me were the mini series craze of the 80's that brought us North and South, V, and The Day After. Everyone and I mean everyone was home when these things hit. There was no VCR, no going back. You either saw it live or missed it. People would mock you if you didn't see it. I can remember the madness of going to the grocery store an hour before Miami Vice would come on Friday nights. People were in a panic to get back to there house so they could check out Don Johnson's fresh clothes.
There was also this time where my best buddy Joel and I discovered how to de-scramble the Playboy Channel using an analog TV tuner. But that's a story for another day... Electric Blue...
But maybe my favorite analog moment of all time was in college. I got the opportunity to work with the great Bobbie Wygant at NBC 5 for five plus years on her TV shows, and go home and watch what we did live with my parents while eating dinner. Getting to meet all the hosts of Channel 5 shows from my childhood was nuts. And gaining a lifetime friend, like Bobbie was a dream come true. She really taught me what the TV biz was all about. From watching a crappy 10 inch B&W set in my bedroom, to helping produce what came out of it has been a wonderful journey indeed! Farewell analog world, you shall be missed but not forgotten.
Check out these awesome Channel 5 promos!!!
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