Those were the days, my friends

[esquire]

Man. You guys who grew up with less than six TV channels are the true OGs.

When I was a kid in the 80s I only had channels 2-13, and I thought I had it rough. My parents' TV only went up to 13 so that even when basic cable pushed beyond channel 13, we didn't have a device capable of viewing them until we got a new VCR maybe around 1989 or so?

Going out to the cottage meant only pulling in CTV, CKND (Global), MTN and CBC. It felt primitive

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If I lived in a place like Toronto with a lot of channels available over the air I think I'd cut my cable package and just use rabbit ears like in ye olde days at the cottage. But alas, here in Winnipeg the OTA offerings are a little sparse. Basically CBC, Global and City, along with some sort of religious broadcaster. Apparently CTV is available too but I have no idea how to actually pull it in.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

We had a rotator for our rooftop TV antenna in Charlottetown too. It was a pretty novel device on the island. Not too many people had them.

Our antenna rotator was me or one of my siblings. Another would be positioned at the doorway to relay "BETTER!" or "WORSE!" to the person actually rotating the antenna (with a hockey stick, standing on a snowbank).

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

Our antenna rotator was me or one of my siblings. Another would be positioned at the doorway to relay "BETTER!" or "WORSE!" to the person actually rotating the antenna (with a hockey stick, standing on a snowbank).

Our rooftop antenna was on a tall mast, and the rotator occasionally allowed us to pull in exotic signals.

In the winter and spring, a phenomenon called "e-skip" could occur, where the reflectivity of the "e layer" of the ionosphere would increase, allowing signals in the VHF TV spectrum to bounce back and forth to the surface of the Earth and dramatically increase the range of the TV signal.

This phenomenon was sporadic, seasonal, usually occurred early in the morning and could not be predicted, but occasionally we could pick up TV signals from the midwest USA and central Canada on our TV.

I clearly remember one time when I was about 12, I went down and turned on the TV to CKCW in Moncton to watch the Saturday morning cartoons. The channel was just starting to broadcast for the day, and Oh Canada was playing. I wasn't really paying much attention, then suddenly I heard the Star Spangled Banner playing too, so I perked up quickly, to find that the channel I was watching was actually in Sault-Ste-Marie ON, and the reception was strong enough that it was drowning out the signal from the Moncton station.

TV watching was an adventure back then.........

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

Our antenna rotator was me or one of my siblings. Another would be positioned at the doorway to relay "BETTER!" or "WORSE!" to the person actually rotating the antenna (with a hockey stick, standing on a snowbank).

If Norman Rockwell had painted scenes of Canadian life, this would have been a good one.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

If Norman Rockwell had painted scenes of Canadian life, this would have been a good one.

It was usually "Hockey Night in Canada", as well! It literally took a team of 3 to tweak reception to one of the 3 or 4 channels (half were French) that we got where I grew up. Our original antenna pole was actually a rough, delimbed tree trunk.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by Razor

No they were definitely re-runs, although I was alive (toddler) when they were still producing them. They were relevant re-runs though, Played after school, but not in the evening. I'm aware of both Laugh in and the Ed Sullivan show, and I almost remember Laugh In, but man it's waay back in the recesses, the same way that Under dog is..The Partridge Family definitely. There was one cartoon that I also barely remember..It was scary to us young uns and I sort of remember it being triangular stick figures centering around a witch.

Regarding the witch and stick figures, I wonder if you were remembering the cartoon, Tales of the Wizard of Oz, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054568/ it was one of my favourites, along with Kimba, lol.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by biguc

Remember sneaking the Sears catalogue along when we weren't?

yes, to look at the lingerie models

[MolsonExport]

Anyone out there miss the weird, trippy McDonaldland commercials that saturated the airwaves on Saturday mornings back in the 70s?
• Video Link

The weirdest of all was Mayor Ford (err, McCheese)
• Video Link

[north 42]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Anyone out there miss the weird, trippy McDonaldland commercials that saturated the airwaves on Saturday mornings back in the 70s?

I remember them, apparently they were dropped by Macdonald’s after a lawsuit said that those characters were too similar to the characters in HR Puffnstuff, another one of my favourite childhood shows.

https://www.mashed.com/136474/how-mc...nd-characters/

[ScreamingViking]

Could never figure out what Grimace actually was.

Did he represent what you need to do when helping your GI tract complete the digestive process for the food?

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Could never figure out what Grimace actually was.

Did he represent what you need to do when helping your GI tract complete the digestive process for the food?

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by esquire

Man. You guys who grew up with less than six TV channels are the true OGs.

When I was a kid in the 80s I only had channels 2-13, and I thought I had it rough. My parents' TV only went up to 13 so that even when basic cable pushed beyond channel 13, we didn't have a device capable of viewing them until we got a new VCR maybe around 1989 or so?

Going out to the cottage meant only pulling in CTV, CKND (Global), MTN and CBC. It felt primitive

---

If I lived in a place like Toronto with a lot of channels available over the air I think I'd cut my cable package and just use rabbit ears like in ye olde days at the cottage. But alas, here in Winnipeg the OTA offerings are a little sparse. Basically CBC, Global and City, along with some sort of religious broadcaster. Apparently CTV is available too but I have no idea how to actually pull it in.

The beauty of one (1!) channel is that there was never any arguments about what to watch!

I was born in 61 so I was a late boomer who didn't get to experience the SDRR of the earlier Boomers. I distinctly remember watching the Moon landing at home, Apollo 13 re-entry at the school gym, Paul Henderson's goal in my Grade 6 Classroom.
Anyone remember visiting the Centennial Train? I remember waiting for hours in Brandon to walk through the train.


Finally, not wearing seatbelts in the car, I would migrate from the front to the back seat while Dad rocketed down country roads (distinctly remember hitting the roof of the car when Dad took a grid intersection a little too fast!

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

The beauty of one (1!) channel is that there was never any arguments about what to watch!

I was born in 61 so I was a late boomer who didn't get to experience the SDRR of the earlier Boomers. I distinctly remember watching the Moon landing at home, Apollo 13 re-entry at the school gym, Paul Henderson's goal in my Grade 6 Classroom.
Anyone remember visiting the Centennial Train? I remember waiting for hours in Brandon to walk through the train.


Finally, not wearing seatbelts in the car, I would migrate from the front to the back seat while Dad rocketed down country roads (distinctly remember hitting the roof of the car when Dad took a grid intersection a little too fast!

Ahh the centennial train I do remember it coming through Edmonton. And My family drove across Canada that year to go to expo. in a 66 Plymouth Belvedere with no AC (the vent window turned to force air in)and 3 young boys. The car pulling a tent trailer behind.

Sitting on dads lap while he smoked a cigar and we got to drive the car on country roads some Sunday afternoons.

Sitting in the basement watch Apollo 11 on the TV in B&W.

Yup watching the Summit series in the Classroom.

As elementary kids protesting the Nuclear testing in the Aloussian Islands.

Watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. we only had cbc and ctv. so we were forced to watch Wayne and Shuster. kids shows like Junior Forest Rangers, Chet Helen (where we all learn french for the first time), Mr Dress-up and the Friendly Giant. Born in 58.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Ahh the centennial train I do remember it coming through Edmonton. And My family drove across Canada that year to go to expo. in a 66 Plymouth Belvedere with no AC (the vent window turned to force air in)and 3 young boys. The car pulling a tent trailer behind.

I drove my family from Winnipeg to Banff last summer but it was tolerable thanks to the help of Nintendo Switches and tablets... I can't imagine doing a drive 3x as long and without the help of those devices, relying only on books and toys

[Blitz]

My grandparents had one of those in Windsor. I still remember the sound it made when you rotated the dial (I vaguely recall that on a good day they'd pick up a station in Toledo). They didn't even get cable until the 1990s, and only after we had it installed for them as a Christmas gift.

I didn't have cable growing up in Windsor in the '90s and most people I knew didn't either. There was enough free tv available from Detroit. We had a roof antenna too and we would turn it southward if we wanted to watch a Toledo channel. The only Canadian stations we could get were CBC and TVO.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by esquire

I drove my family from Winnipeg to Banff last summer but it was tolerable thanks to the help of Nintendo Switches and tablets... I can't imagine doing a drive 3x as long and without the help of those devices, relying only on books and toys

Books, books, and more books. When I was 11 we drove up to Thompson to visit relatives. I must have read a dozen books on that trip.

With my own kids who were tweeners just when personal entertainment devices were being introduced, it was still books, talking and listening to the Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio.

[urbandreamer]

I didn't have TV growing up so I can't relate to anything most of youse here (and IRL) talk about. I grew up reading the Hardy Boys, Swallows and Amazons, Little House on the Prairie series, Two Little Savages etc then going out to the woods to recreate plots: built the teepee, the log cabin, built a boat etc. Digging around the neighbouring farmland, I'd often come across ancient arrow heads like https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...yard-1.6012638

I always thought maybe one day I'd watch all these 1970s/80s TV shows; but nope, other than WKRP I haven't bothered.

[JHikka]

I've been trying to watch more older movies lately. Watched Klute a few days ago which featured a very young Donald Sutherland. It was fine.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Books, books, and more books. When I was 11 we drove up to Thompson to visit relatives. I must have read a dozen books on that trip.

With my own kids who were tweeners just when personal entertainment devices were being introduced, it was still books, talking and listening to the Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio.

I had handheld Coleco video games like Head to Head Football.

We'd also play games like trying to find as many different licence plates as possible on passing vehicles.

Though depending on where you are in Canada that can suck a bit because the provinces are so big that when you're in the middle of it there are few out of province vehicles.

Playing that game in the eastern US is awesome though!

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by biguc

I meant to comment on this earlier. I got into Korn during last year's lockdown and they were a revelation--very musically serious. Jonathan Davis is a great song writer; he put down some thought-provoking lyrics. And the band's funky-metal sound is significantly different from the hard rock band with a DJ and whiteboy rapper sound of some of their later peers.

On that same musical trip I rediscovered System of a Down. They're just excellent. But are they nu metal?

Anyway, it's a genre that deserves better than Fred Durst.

I listened to Korn in jr. high and highschool but they were a guilty pleasure. Back then I related to Jonathan Davis' lyrics but didn't know why. I got heavy into Korn again in 2016 when I remembered some childhood trauma. I think that band was a trailblazer for more than just musical sound. Jonathan Davis' candid lyrics about his sexual abuse were unheard of in music at that time or really since. Michael Flynn of Machinehead also has songs about abuse he suffered as a child that are quite haunting.

Korn is considered the father of nu metal bands. Besides the heavy bass and quick tempo changes they didn't really rap. Sure there were guest stars, but no real hip hop to my ear unlike Limp Dickzkit. SOAD is another band lumped into that category but they had more Polka elements than anything else. I liked them as well and actually saw them in concert.

If you want to see the OG nu metal influence bands check out Faith No More and lead singer Mike Patton's other band Mr. Bungle. The most obvious precursor though was Rage Against the Machine.