YESTERDAY
In the thirties when I was a little girl growing up, the world was very small. All I knew about was what I heard from the neighborhood children or what I learned in school. When my mother sat on the stoop in front of our house she got the neighborhood news. My father heard the news when he went to work or read the local newspaper.
We did have a Zenith radio and listened to Gabriel Heater's broadcasts.
Audio: VE Day Gabriel Heater [ mp3 ]
If something of great importance happened the newspaper would publish an extra edition. I remember hearing the newspaper boy going around the neighborhood yelling, "EXTRA, EXTRA, Read All About It."
When we finally got a telephone, it was a two party line! Does anyone remember those? If you were lucky you shared the line with a reasonable person, many times it was difficult to "get the line."
As far as making a long distance call, it had to be for a very special occasion or an emergency. My mother had two brothers who lived in Chicago and I don't ever remember her calling them on the phone. She communicated with them by mail and they did the same.
Movietone News Video Clip
Then we had Movietone News at the movies - Before the picture was shown we saw news from around the world, not current, but the world was getting larger. We could see and hear what was happening.
Then came television - Funny thing about early television, all I remember is "The Milton Berle Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show." I don't recall any news programs at that time, Cronkite and Murrow must have come later?
TODAY
I hardly listen to the radio.
I watch some daytime news programs if I'm home, watch the nightly news and still read the newspaper.
I don't think anything of making a long distance call.
Cellphones and iPhones are commonplace.
The internet has opened a whole new world to me.
I can communicate with people all over the world through e-mail and blogging.
I can read many newspapers and magazines.
Watching people on Youtube, I see all age groups, singing, dancing, acting and doing whatever makes them happy.
Next Saturday I will attend PodCamp Boston 2. It's an unconference exploring new media community tools like blogging, videoblogging, podcasting, second life, twitter, and more. I'm involved with blogging and videoblogging but know little about some of the what's new in the media today. This will give me the opportunity to learn and grow my knowledge.
On Wednesday I'll be on a panel at Video on the Net where Chris Brogan will moderate "Meet Tomorrow's Stars Today." To quote Chris, "It's going to be a conversation about the videoblogging/internet video world and hopefully enlighten folks in the audience about the life of videobloggers."
And what do you know, my son Steve is going to be on the panel with me!!
I'll tell you all about it in my next post. That's communication!!