TV and Radio are a little different now than they were back in my childhood. Now we have cable, or satellite, and hundreds of channels with nothing on them. Back then, at my house anyway, we got CBC TV from Port Rexton on channel 13 and, depending on the weather, CTV/NTV on channel 6. If you could see it for snow that is. Sometime later we got closer broadcasts on channel 10 and 7, but even then weren’t always easy to see. We had the old rabbit ears or outdoor aluminum antennas, with wire strung across the garden to get it, and we’d always be out adjusting them.
Radio was similar, there were no close stations till I got older when VOCM added CKVO to Clarenville (tho of course there were no people there per se, all the broadcasters were in St. John’s) and later on OZ-FM got a rebroadcast channel there too. Tho of course OZ-FM itself was a fairly new thing then too!
Most radio was AM radio in those days, with VOCM and for the life of me I forget the other larger stations name! One of the highlights was listening to the top 10 at 10. I’m old enough that one of the songs I remember from the countdown was Paul McCartney and Wings. Another highlight were the call in talk shows, the largest one hosted by Bas Jameson. I can hear the people saying “Datchewbas?” now. The topics were many and varied, and it always amazed me the difference of opinion, and of course you also got the real winners sometimes too. Bas had an acerbic tongue and had no problems cutting people off and hanging up on them!
One of the better memories I have tho, was that back in the day of analog radio, AM channels often skipped off the atmosphere, especially at night, and was a highlight to slowly dial through the channels seeing what you could find; I remember channels all over, and even listening to a hockey game from New York one night. Of course they’d fade in and out sometimes, and then disappear entirely, but was cool to pick them up.
Not so many analog radio dials now, and not so many AM channels either. Another passing thing that today’s youth may not get to experience.
Raised in outport Newfoundland in a town of 65 people, I pursued a post secondary diploma in Information Technology right out of High School.
I’ve always been a geek at heart, but yet I love the rural life I grew up with. Fishing, hunting, camping and the great outdoors are still loves of mine, even if I don’t pursue them as often as I once did. Sports were always a big part of our lives, and I played many (badly) and loved them all.
