Mass Media, Then and Now

November 18, 2019

"The medium is the message..."
Marshall McLuhan

I want my old, black and white television back. The one that sat in the corner of the living room when I was a child. Being the youngest in the family, I was designated as the remote control. There were several knobs on the side but only two got any use. Of course one was the volume knob and the other was called the vertical hold control. Modern TVs don’t have a vertical hold but back in the day, it was common for the picture to begin to flip vertically, either up or down like some sort of bizarre slide show. That would be my cue to go over and adjust it to stop this annoying behavior. The channel knob was never used as we only got one channel. The only TV broadcaster in central Alberta was channel 6 out of Red Deer. The station began operations when I was about 18 months old, so as far as I was concerned, TV had been around forever.

My generation was known as the TV generation, as we were the first to grow up under the influence of television from an early age. Oh, I do remember as a preschooler, sitting on a chair by the radio listening to “Kindergarten of the Air” but I didn’t think much of it. TV was the way to go, as far as I was concerned. I would have much rather watched “The Friendly Giant” and even “Chez Helene”, which was mildly interesting even though I was often perplexed by the French language she used. I am not sure if CBC’s attempt to impose bilingualism on unsuspecting children was much of a success.

For the most part, programming in the 1950’s and 60’s, whether for children or adults, was pretty banal. But, as we didn’t have anything to compare it to, we thought it was wonderful. We recently watched an old episode of “Petticoat Junction”. It was so contrived and tedious that, by the time it was done, I wanted to gouge my eyes out! There were some exceptions. “Bugs Bunny”, though being horrendously politically incorrect, was truly hilarious and I still enjoy watching the odd episode.

And some shows were truly memorable. I will never forget seeing the first appearance of The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show”.  I can still hear my dad’s withering disapproval of the motley crew from Britain. Little did we know that they would usher in a seismic shift, not only in music, but in society at large.  Unlike today, breaking news in the 60’s was truly something so extraordinary that it justified interrupting regular programming. And so, everything from space flights to assassinations will forever be etched in my memory.

While we are on the topic, I wouldn’t mind having my old, AM radio back as well. Not the actual radio, mind you, but the experience of, as an adolescent, tuning in to the only top 40 station that respectable teens of my generation listened to: 630 CHED broadcast out of Edmonton. Reception during the day was fine, but things began to fade a bit in the evening. If the conditions were right, it might have been possible to listen to 1140 CKXL out of Calgary, however due to its better reception, CHED was the preference. It really didn’t matter, as I suspect the play lists were pretty much identical. 

The top forty playlists were an indispensable part of my life. Each time a song was played, I would wait, hoping that it was one of my favorites, even though I had heard it played only an hour before. It's a wonder that the disc jockeys didn’t go insane, playing the same songs over and over again. But AM radio is where I honed my taste in music and where later, I would learn which bands I liked and which LPs to purchase.

So if TV was so humdrum and radio so repetitive, why would I want it back? In reality, I don’t. I’m pretty sure that if I was forced to watch a rerun of “Gunsmoke” in grainy black and white my eyes would roll back in my head. And if I had to endure an hour of top forty radio, hearing the same songs over and over, that I would stuff cotton in my ears. 

No, what I want back is the predictable world that these forms of mass media created. It was simple. I knew what that the discussion at school on any given day would probably involve the plot line from the previous evening’s TV programs. And while we didn’t all agree on our taste in music, we were very much aware of what was being played, whether Led Zeppelin or Simon & Garfunkel. In short, rather than dividing us, mass media brought us together socially. Little did we know what the future would hold.

 In grade twelve, my English teacher, Mrs. MacIntyre, assigned us to read the book, “Future Shock” by Alvin Tofler. The author, who proclaimed himself as a futurist, attempted to give a glimpse into the world that was about to unfold. I don’t remember a lot about that book, but one chapter still stands out. Tofler predicted that in the future we would be hampered, not by a lack of choice, but by the opposite: too much choice. He was prescient in envisioning a day when there would be multiple choices in something as simple as toothpaste. A visit to any pharmacy will easily confirm that his forecasting was correct.

These days, a glance at the channel guide on my satellite TV displays much of the same thing. Even though we pay for the most basic of service, there are a multitude of channels available, 90% of which we never watch. And of course, the development of broadband Internet, while not without its benefits, has only compounded the problem of over choice. It is not uncommon to scroll through the seeming unlimited catalogue on Netflix for half an hour before finally giving up with the declaration “There’s nothing to watch!”

Similarly, due to the advent of streaming, the music industry has been splintered into untold numbers of genres. If you don’t like “progressive country”, and then maybe try out “west coast hip hop” or check out “speed metal rock”! It kind of makes me wonder… what do kids talk about at school these days?

I know, I sound a bit like an old fuddy duddy, and in many ways I guess I am. However, it seems to me that often technology is a zero sum game, giving with one hand while taking with another. No, I don’t want to go back to the days of “Gilligan’s Island”, (even though I thought Mary Ann was pretty cute). However, while improving our lives in so many ways, modern technology seems to have separated us without our ever knowing it.  What once brought us together, now divides us. Maybe we’ll never get it right.  I guess I had better bring this to a close. I need to check the subscription list on my YouTube account for new videos to watch!