I remember when there was a channel that was just typed white text on a red background, it was news stories. There was a blue band at the top that did either sports scores or weather. And a green band at the bottom that did the other.
If there was nothing good on the other 3 channels thats what you watched.
I watched a lot of that channel actually! For some reason, my mom would leave the TV on it before bed every night. I had a paper route, and would wake up, do my papers and then get home and read the news there a lot of days.
The old Channel 2, Channel! My grandparents would always play that, so it was a staple. Plus, in our family room it was the only way to get music. So, I remember listening to Christmas carols through the channel while setting up the Christmas tree. A lot less in your face from the stuff you see on cable news these days.
Speaking of channels, remember when the north part of the city had completely different channel numbers than the south?
I believe it was because Shaw and Rogers split the territory. But it wasn’t like Shaw/Telus now - you didn’t have a choice and it was purely north/south.
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I remember when there was a channel that was just typed white text on a red background, it was news stories. There was a blue band at the top that did either sports scores or weather. And a green band at the bottom that did the other.
If there was nothing good on the other 3 channels thats what you watched.
Before the internet and 24/7 cable news, that was the most reliable way to get breaking news and weather. My journalism instructor used to moonlight writing those news summaries.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
I remember when there was a channel that was just typed white text on a red background, it was news stories. There was a blue band at the top that did either sports scores or weather. And a green band at the bottom that did the other.
If there was nothing good on the other 3 channels thats what you watched.
OMG. My brain has just been transplanted 30+ years.
Yup, good ol' channel 4, with the time and the weather. Heck, I probably learned how to read by watching that channel.
No weather app, no website. If you wanted to know the weather, check channel 4!
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In Canmore it was channel 10. I remember after every snow fall we'd gather round y'onder TV, and wait with anticipation for the school closure notices. Exshaw was always the first to go. You'd see Banff cancelled, and get excited, then have your heart broken every time when Canmore was open. I'm sure our principal had some principle about cancelling, I think it happened once in 12 years.
I remember thinking my grandmother was crazy because she'd actually sit and watch that channel. Why the hell didn't she want to watch cartoons instead?
I remember in the late 80s before going out for the day, I'd call that 263-3333 line and get the info. I can still kind of recall the voice, tempo, and order. The time is...9:15. Temperature minus 13. The Calgary weather, flurries today, high near minus 4. Flurries tonight, low near minus 16... Can't remember the last thing she'd say, but that lady gave me a lot of info for a few years.
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I remember thinking my grandmother was crazy because she'd actually sit and watch that channel. Why the hell didn't she want to watch cartoons instead?
I remember in the late 80s before going out for the day, I'd call that 263-3333 line and get the info. I can still kind of recall the voice, tempo, and order.The time is...9:15. Temperature minus 13. The Calgary weather, flurries today, high near minus 4. Flurries tonight, low near minus 16 ... Can't remember the last thing she'd say, but that lady gave me a lot of info for a few years.
Lol -- I just read that in my head in the exact same voice and tempo -- it must be seared into my brain after all these years.
I don't remember what she said after that -- either it was just a click or I just hung up the phone at that point.
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I remember thinking my grandmother was crazy because she'd actually sit and watch that channel. Why the hell didn't she want to watch cartoons instead?
I remember in the late 80s before going out for the day, I'd call that 263-3333 line and get the info. I can still kind of recall the voice, tempo, and order. The time is...9:15. Temperature minus 13. The Calgary weather, flurries today, high near minus 4. Flurries tonight, low near minus 16... Can't remember the last thing she'd say, but that lady gave me a lot of info for a few years.
In Ft McMurray it was 743-1555.
The time is..... 7:45. Temperature -37....
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And then we had Talking Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages had that directory of 4-digit codes where you could listen to things like weather, news, sports scores, horoscopes, and other mundane things. In my pre-internet youth I thought that was so modern and current and on-demand.
And speaking of phone books - it seems unfathomable that every year every single phone subscriber would get two giant books too look up individuals and businesses, but there was obviously no better way at the time.
And the resulting trend of AAA Aardvark business names by small business owners thought they were so clever, and I guess they kind of were because people are too impatient to look past the first few entries.
And speaking of phone books - it seems unfathomable that every year every single phone subscriber would get two giant books too look up individuals and businesses, but there was obviously no better way at the time.
I remember when I was a kid, my buddy and I would look up Flames players in the phone book. Sometimes you know you found the right guy if his name is unique (say, P Rautakallio). But we would also be pretty sure we found the right guy if the name only began appearing in the phone book after the player joined the Flames.
I don't remember all the players we found and where they lived but I do remember we found Paul Reinhart's phone number and his residence in Inglewood.
The other channels with text was the Civic channel, channel 15. It was a bit more advanced. It would show city council live and replays, but besides that it would be info related to city services. The screen and any pictures had polygons and was rendered for 5 or so seconds before being able to read it all. I think they also had realtor and real estate advertising on it too. Again, the screen and text took a few seconds to load.
And of course around 1992, Sportsscope Channel 30. When it was just text. Replaced the Calgary Herald Talkoes in getting semi real time sports scores to keep track of Sports select tickets. A few years later turned into Headline Sports, then the Score.
Also, the ethnic channel higher up. From Bollywood movies interrupted by commercials for ethnic grocery stores in Toronto. I would watch it every Wed for Italian soccer league highlights, in Italian. And again, then came commercials. For Italian Realtors and restaurants in Toronto.
Speaking of soccer, PBS on Friday or Saturday nights had German Professional Soccer" which was totally random.
