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Broadcast TV: the Condensed Version |
Okay, here's how it works. Step One: somebody gets a really great idea for a TV show.
Like, say, a weekly show about busty lifeguards who always run in slow motion,
or a guy whose mother turns into a car, or a nun who can fly. Step Two: they get a whole lot of
money and then make the TV show. Step 3: They send the TV signal out over antennas like this one.
Step 4: The broadcast signal is received on high-tech TV sets.
Step 5: People watch the show, and obediently buy everything that's advertised on the commercials. Step 6: The producers become very wealthy, and the actors become fodder for tabloid journalism.
Note: Yes, I know this explanation leaves out fiber optics, satellites, and all those things because it was just too much work making the animation. It's like McLuhan said: the medium is the message. In this medium, I got tired after making two animated GIFs. So the message stops with an antenna and a TV set. In that respect, this would be a "hot" medium in McLuhanesque terms: you, the user, have to imagine viewers sitting and watching the TV. The reason the reception is so bad is because it is a TV SET OF THE FUTURE, and naturally is not backward-compatible with today's signals. Sorry.
Whoever uses this page last, please return the TV set to the Jetsons' prop closet. Thanks.
(Note for you young people: Looking at this today, you would probably not view it as being very advanced.
But when the original version of this web page first appeared back in the 20th century,
some web browsers were too primitive to display animated GIFs.
Firefox, Edge, Chrome, and Safari had not even been invented yet.
The reason this page jokes about "Broadcast TV" is because that was how most people received television
at the time this page was written.
Half of American households did not have access to cable TV yet. Nobody had "high speed" internet, so
even with a good computer you could not stream audio, much less video. No YouTube, no Netflix.
And of course, people could not watch video -- or even look at pictures -- on portable phones.)
