TV in South Africa - 1976

I was looking at the Stat's on my Blog, to see which posts have attracted the most attention, and it seems it is all the one's in which I reminisce about the old days.   

I think a lot of us look over those days with fond memories, and by reading about someone else's memories, they think of their own and where they were and what they were doing at the time.

This reminds me of a post in a blog SA IN THE OLD DAYS from 2011, which triggered so many memories for me.  So, I thought I would write something similar about my own memories. 

1976 - TV was introduced to South Africa with the first Broadcast on the 5th of January 1976, we did not get our TV set until much later that year or the following year. 

However, to start the programs were short, I think they only broadcast for a few hours every evening. 

My Aunt and Uncle who lived on a small farm in Roodepoort had TV, we would go visit them on a Saturday with my mom and swim in the dam when it was hot, it was like a round reservoir with corrugated iron sides and it was slimy with all kinds of stuff floating in it.  But we did not care it was wet and cooling.   
Then when they got their TV, we were allowed to watch re-runs of "The Brady Bunch" that were aired on a Saturday at 1 PM. 
We didn't even realise that the show was almost 10 years old at that stage.   But we didn't care, we were actually watching a box with moving pictures, in someone's house without having to go to the Cinema. 

There was only 1 Channel to start and if I remember correctly each alternate day it would start with a different language, so for instance on a Monday you would have English from 6 - 8 and the news in Afrikaans, and then Afrikaans for the rest of the broadcast.   
On Tues you would start with Afrikaans and go onto English with the news in English. 
I destinctly remember Tuesday, as my mother would make us watch the programme "The World at War" which started at about 9 PM and had some horrific scenes of Hitler and how he killed the Jews.  They even showed someone being shot in the head and the brains splattering on Hitler's shoes. 

The sad thing about getting TV was that we no longer listened to our favourite stories on Springbok Radio.   This was the start of the end of Springbok Radio and the many shows we would listen to in the evening, like "Squad Cars" & "The men from the Ministry", so many different ones. Wikipedia has a list of all the different shows here.  But I think Springbok Radio probably deserves a post of its own, so watch this space. Oh, actually I did one previously ... Springbok Radio.

Mostly we listened to the Springbok top 20 which was late on a Friday night with David Gresham and then repeated on a Saturday.   They eventually made Pop Shop which was shown on TV on a Friday evening with the latest top hits and music videos. 

My best friend's brother "Alex Jay" (name dropping) eventually took over Pop Shop and hosted it for many years. Although now that I googled it, I think Alex's show was called "Fast Forward" and not Pop Shop.  Check it out ... 

That was also the start of all the shows that we became hooked on e.g. Dynasty, Rich Man Poor Man, Dallas, and I could go on and on for 40 years, but I will leave that post here and we can reminisce about something else tomorrow. 

Keep your feet on the ground and reach for the start until next time.  Adios Amigos

How i wish for Simpler days ...

Happy New Year to you all! 

I often wish for the "Good old days", I think a lot of Metal stress is caused from social media having information at your fingertips.  

When the clocks struck Midnight in both SA and in Ireland my WhatsApp on my phone pinged like an ongoing alarm clock, people wishing me a Happy New Year, some that I have not heard from since last New Year and it makes you wonder, if it wasn't for the ease of technology would these people wish you a Happy New Year at all?

In fact I wished I had turned off my Wi-Fi and data just to have a bit of peace, must remember to do that next time, no I am not grumpy - I just don't see the fuss of sending every contact on your phone that you never even call a New Year Message or ten!   Why?  Post it on Facebook and Instagram, someone is bound to see it.  If you really are thinking of me, then drop me an email or phone me. 

Back in the old days, the 80's and early 90's before everyone had cell phones, you would hear from someone who is either having a party or going somewhere and you would arrange to meet there.  There was no constant checking up, where are you?  Yes, life was probably harder, but still it worked and we got things done. 

I know a few parents who have an app on their children's phone and their children are in their 20's but they can constantly check where their kids are, why?    Even parents who's kids have left and moved to a different country and the parents are still checking where their kids are and what they are getting up to.   I refuse to do that to my daughter, everything should be built on trust, leave them to enjoy themselves without constantly thinking oh if I go there my parents will see I was there.

While visiting a couple just after Christmas, their 22 year old son who had gotten home at 5 am, the mother knew exactly where he had been the last 12 hours, I don't get it.    If he didn't come home and she could not get hold of him, then yes go to the Police and let them trace his last movements.   

We just tell our daughter, when you are leaving somewhere to come home, send us a text so if you are not home in an hour we can worry, just be in contact when you can, but I am not going to monitor your every move like a detective, maybe if I still lived in South Africa or in a dangerous country I would but seriously cut the cord. 

I left college and started working when I was 17 but even before that my parents had no clue where we were a lot of the time, or what we were getting up to.   Maybe if they had I would have been sent to a convent. lol   the days we would tell my mom to drop us at the sky rink on a Saturday and we would end up at the teen disco at "Just for Kicks" or "Plumb Crazy" or even "Club Chicago" and then race back to the Carlton Centre when she came to collect us. 

The nights my friend would tell her parents she was staying at mine, and I would tell my parents I was staying at hers and we would go to a disco to all hours of the early morning and then end up at someone’s house until it was a decent hour to go home.  It was all innocent fun, maybe it's the parents who heard these stories or did far worse things that are monitoring their kids, perhaps?

Give the kids a break, let them grow up and bump their heads it will all work out. 

So if I don't look at my phone and answer your WhatsApp message till Monday, well it obviously wasn't urgent, if it was you could have called me ... right?