Good Nite All

[Wilma]

Well, Rudy, you know that the lower forms of life don't need things such as electricity and TV sets so they can't miss them.  My 2 televisions are on all day, one on the weather channel with the sound down, the other on, who knows?  I stop once in while to rest and notice what is on, maybe change the channel, watch the news and 2 soap operas, then pick up a book or come to the Forum.  This forum is better entertainment than anything that is on TV.  The reason the TVs are on?  For the company, to tell me the time since I don't have time to look at a clock, so I don't have to turn them on when I stop to rest, maybe to keep me up on current developments.  I would have missed 9-11 if my TV hadn't been on.  I saw the planes hit the towers as someone had the TV cameras turned that way at that moment.  The volume is always low so it isn't interfering with my thoughts even.  Gotta go now, the washer is done and I can start the dishwasher.

[kdfrawg]

For any other lower life forms, those of us (frawgs, especially) who prefer to have to think as a part of our entertainment and even for those who normally don't, I offer a compromise. Reading is not the only medium which requires one to participate in their entertainment. Please take a look at the following:

http://www.radiolovers.com/ with thousands of shows.

There are more at the site below, but it requires the Real Player software, of which I am not a big fan.

http://www.otr.net/

There, you will find 12,000 shows from old time radio. It isn't as hard as reading because you don't have to strain your eyes. You can even close your eyes; sometimes it helps. But you still have to make up your own pictures.

[Wilma]

I have lived through radio.  My earliest memory of it is hooking the radio up to the car battery.  My younger brother had crystal radio, not very good but did receive programs.  He went on to make a lifetime career of radio and TV repair.  Radio was all I had until we got our first TV in 1955.  First daughter and I still play the radio in the car when on the road.  Her favorite is a PBS station out of Tulsa or Hutchinson, I think.  I have outlived the good entertainment of TV, except for the news and basketball.  I am ready for the FORUM!

[kdfrawg]

I agree with Wilma. The forum is better than all of the above. The only thing better would be sitting in the same room having a cup of whatever we like and doing exactly what we do here. That is not always possible, of course, so here I am.

[Wilma]

And I am here.

[kdfrawg]

See how well that worked out?

[Rudy Taylor]

My first love was radio. In fact, my mother named me after a little boy on the radio soap opera, "When A Girl Marries." I worked in radio as an announcer, built a crystal radio, too, got a ham radio license at the age of 13 and I still listen to NPR as I work. When I travel in my pickup, the radio is always on.

And I agree --- television is a fine co-habitant when you need to hear someone's voice, or need to know the time, or when you want to watch the news.  As much as I grouse about the boob-tube, I probably watch it 2 to 3 hours each evening.

Here's a dumb thing: I've started leaving the stupid thing on during the night, even though the volume is turned way down.  Am I the only one with that crazy habit?

[Wilma]

Maybe, Rudy.  I could never go to sleep until my husband turned off the TV and came to bed, too.  Now, the house has to be dark and silent when I go to bed.  (Bud doesn't count.) but I need to be able to hear what is happening and since my bedroom is just French doors away from the living room everything has to be off.  I even hear when Cardad very silently opens my front storm door and puts the Sunday morning paper inside it.  I wait then until I hear a car door and the car moving away and I know everything is all right.

[greatguns]

Speaking of television, can someone tell me why at my house we spent hundreds of dollars to buy a colored TV and then spent more money to buy a dish so we could have a monthly bill to watch black and white TV shows and movies.  I'm sure this makes sense, but I just can't figure out how this makes any sense

[Rudy Taylor]

Good question, Sally.  I like the way you Piedmont girls think. And, I suppose your urban neighbor to the west now has a dish atop their historic water tower?