So, I'm listening to the radio in the truck on the way into work. Reception starts getting fuzzy on a good song (ZZ Top's "La Grange", if you must know; singing "how-how-how-how" as it cuts in and out just wasn't working for me). I reminisced a moment about analog radios, and how you could tune the radio just a bit to get better reception, and how kids today don't get that experience.
Of course, you weren't really getting better reception - you were getting hope. With the digital display, you set it to the exact frequency of the station you want as opposed to a general vicinity - no more need to hunt around. Analog radios were on their way out when I got my license - I owned a 1983 Cadillac that had a digital display and a 1984 Toyota that was analog. I'd wager no car made in the last 25 years has had an analog radio.
It's sad that today's teenagers don't have that same hope - but then again, they have $50 iPods that hold more music than you could listen to in a week, so I don't feel that bad for 'em...
That is all.
Friday, June 3, 2011
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8 comments:
Cars still have radios? I really need to unplug the iPod and see what else this stereo thingy does.
I remember what a big deal it was when my dad put an FM converter into the car I drove so I had a choice other than AM.
FM? I've been listening to satellite for almost 10 years.
First car I ever bought back in 2001 had one of these in it: http://www.blackforestllc.com/becker/europa2_s5/index.html
Still works most of the time too!
Also, the transmitters have improved.
They used to wander more, being themselves analog.
These days? Not so much.
(Also, fun fact: Cadillac had an auto-tuning vacuum tube radio in the 50s called the "Wonderbar".
Crazy stuff.)
Not only do I live in a neighborhood that still has pay phones, I still regularly listen to AM terrestrial radio on an analog device here at the house.
I'll admit to spending most of my music-listening hours listening to a radio station out of Ft. Worth via internet stream, though.
My wifes Town Car has an analog clock.
And if you listen real close I think it ticks.
How long will it be before kids don't understand the term "radio buttons"?
(Just as today they don't understand old-timer words such as "clockwise"...)
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