Anyone remember the days when...

[KenRagsdale]

I met "Buffalo Bob" at Penn Square Mall a few years ago. Received an autographed picture from him. I was a grown man, but it was still thrilling to me!

[Swake]

And classroom/school violence still escalates.

No it doesn't.

Violent crimes are way, way down across the board. 50-60 year lows actually. Murder is down by half in just the last 20 years.

[Mel]

That we would be sitting around a checker table talking about "back in the good ol' days".

[KenRagsdale]

That we would be sitting around a checker table talking about "back in the good ol' days".

I've wondered if I have been reduced to that. Oh! Please excuse me. I need to recuse myself from this discussion in order to bark at young people crossing my lawn.

[ljbab728]

Anyone remember Jack Paar or Howdy Doody?

Of course I do. I was never a big fan of Jack Paar but always watched Howdy with Buffalo Bob, Clarabell, and Princess Summerfall Winterspring.

[Dennis Heaton]

What's a TV?

[RadicalModerate]

Typical Saturday Morning (c. 1959, Boulder, Colorado): Black and white test pattern featuring an Indian in a feathered headdress against a strange, technolooking background . . . The National Anthem . . . The Farm Report . . . Captain Kangaroo . . . Heckle and Jeckle . . . Fury . . . Some other cartoon show . . . Then out to play and cause mischief for the rest of the day.

[Urbanized]

Not too different from 1974 Wichita, KS I must say.

[Urbanized]

[RadicalModerate]

I think we had six channels to pick from: The three major networks, the local PBS station and a couple of really fuzzy UHF channels. The UHF stations were the "bush league" TV of the day, weren't they? Compared to the VHF channels? I'm old, I forget. In retrospect, early American TV was a lot like the BBC in terms of viewing choice . . . wasn't it? Some Saturdays, I'd go down to the local drugstore or whatever, with Dad, where he would take his cigar boxes of vacuum tubes to test them to see why our viewing pleasure was being messed with on account of bad tubes.

We also had rabbit ears and I vaguely remember an outside antenna, as well. It never worked right either. Having rabbit ears made it difficult to shop for hats that fit correctly.

[Dennis Heaton]

Let's not forget that at the end of each broadcast day...

[RadicalModerate]

I don't remember them having jets like that when I was a kid.
I think they just replayed The National Anthem with a picture of the flag.
I'm not sure that the flag was even waving.

[Dennis Heaton]

I don't remember them having jets like that when I was a kid.
I think they just replayed The National Anthem with a picture of the flag.
I'm not sure that the flag was even waving.

Yep, I remember that, too. I also remember that some of the stations were doing the John Wayne version as well.

[BlackmoreRulz]

Danny Williams and Mid-South Rasslin on Saturday nights after the news "...and watch out for flying chairs!"

[Mel]

Waking up feeling great and not having a shoebox full of daily meds.

[SoonerDave]

Waking up feeling great and not having a shoebox full of daily meds.

This reminded me of my grandmother. Ardently opposed to taking medication of just about any kind, other than Milk of Magnesia (and no, I'm not kidding), she had to go to the hospital for something...when they did her backgrounder and asked her what meds she took, she said "nothing," and they didn't believe her. "No, hon, we mean what medications do you take daily?"

"Nothing."

"You don't take any kind of medicine?"

"No, nothing."

They wrote "psych" on her chart. They just didn't believe anyone could possibly exist into that stage of life without some kind of daily medicine - but she did.

And this was a lady who for years smoked packs of cigarettes per day until the price went up when she restocked, and it so incensed her that she quit - cold turkey - that day and never touched another one. My mom unloaded cartons of untouched cigs from her home years and years later. She snacked on mayonnaise, ice cream, and garlic for snacks, and drank the strongest coffee you'd ever see.

She lived into her eighties when the after effects of heat stroke from working outside a bit too much in the Oklahoma summer caught up with her. (Not a direct cause, mind you, very much a downstream effect, but that was the catalyst). Those last few months were the only times she ever took much of any medication.

[Mel]

Sorry about your Mom Dave. I believe some families genetic inheritance just make for a longer life. My Grandparents were long lived and my parents are in their mid to late 80's. Genetic crapshoot.

[SoonerDave]

Sorry about your Mom Dave. I believe some families genetic inheritance just make for a longer life. My Grandparents were long lived and my parents are in their mid to late 80's. Genetic crapshoot.

Thanks, Mel - my grandmother was one of those incredibly tough types of people who were tough, I think, because they didn't know they were tough. They just lived. And worked. And did what they had to do. i think - no, make that know - that generation was infinitely tougher than mine in general or me in particular.

I remember lots of fun Saturday mornings as a kid with her and my mom just running errands. Good times. Fortunately, mom is still in really good health overall, and tough as nails

[whorton]

Arriving much too late to this posting, but I have to admit, I greatly miss those days of signoffs. At least you KNEW the day was over and it was time to go to bed. Mike Ransom has an excellent page over on Tulsa TV memories about signoffs where he offers some interesting perspectives. As he notes;

"Sign-offs could be scary as a kid. (It's still disquieting to wake up to static). They were like a kind of death; you wanted to be under the covers before the static, and it was creepy when a parent fell asleep on the couch and let it go on for a while."

Be sure to check his page for Frank Morrows perspective of late night sign offs from an announcers perspective!