On The Fly

In this episode – What Time Is It . . . In the era before smartphones, let’s say we’re on a telephone call, and you ask me, “What time is it?” As a five-year-old, my reply is, "The big hand is on the two (2) and the little hand on the eight (8).” You would then say, "Alright, it's ten minutes after eight o’clock or eight-ten, right?" This is how we learned to tell time as children–remember? Well, what happened . . . During dinner last week in Westfield, NJ, a retired high school teacher told our group, “Did you know that children today cannot read the time on a traditional watch with an analog face?” “Why not?” we asked. “Because of smartphones and the proliferation of digital clocks.” “Wow! That’s hard to believe.” Welcome to this week's episode of "On the Fly." Today, we'll compare classic mechanical watches to modern quartz watches and explore an unexpected social shift. To begin with, let me take you back a few days. I’m a traditionalist and pre...

In this episode - Frosty the Snowman . . . Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television (TV) special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It’s the first television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. The program aired on December 7, 1969, on the CBS network in the United States, broadcast immediately after the fourth showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Frosty the Snowman has been televised annually for the CBS network’s holiday season ever since. Based on the Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson tune of the same name, the TV special featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as the film’s narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, and Jackie Vernon as Frosty. Durante was one of the first  to record the original song released in 1950 (though, at the time, the song had slightly different lyrics); he re-recorded the music for the TV special.  TV Guide  ranked the special number nine on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list. ...

Podcast - The Magic of Television . . .  Time travel is possible! Dateline July 16, 2019, 6:32 a.m. PST, 50 years to the day. Once again I’m glued to my television watching the original CBS broadcast of the Apollo 11 launch live streaming on YouTube. In the 1960s NASA’s Apollo program was science fiction come to life. It was July 16, 1969, I was 13 years old, watching Walter Cronkite , on a black and white Zenith console television with complete fascination and suspense; the space program held me captive. As an avid science fiction reader, this was not fiction - but mankind’s greatest achievement. Looking back, humanity can now see the obvious advances in communications technology, medical advances, space travel, and human relations. But at the time, during those early Apollo years, people were enduring simultaneous conflicts with Vietnam, The Cold War with Russia, Civil Rights, and all the political unrest. Television news was rampant with the world’s problems. 1969 was also the...

An incredible convergence of technology and human ingenuity was achieved as Commander Neil Armstrong and Colonel Buzz Aldrin stepped cautiously down the ladder of the lunar module Eagle and onto the moon’s surface. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” came Armstrong’s crackled transmission from the moon's surface. That sentence would resonate with millions on Earth for years to come. It was July 21, 1969, when I was 13 years old, watching a fuzzy black and white television transmission with fascination and anticipation; the space program held me captive. As an avid science fiction reader, I know this was not fiction - but mankind’s greatest achievement. That memory was rekindled over four decades later while clattering along the rails in a passenger train from Kansas City to Galesburg, Illinois, recently, while listening to Buzz Aldrin’s audiobook version, Magnificent Desolation, retelling the story in detail. I was transported back in time...