R.I.P. Rabbit Ears

Well, it finally happened. Friday at 9:00 AM PST, following the conclusion of Good Day Oregon (Portland’s Emmy-award winning, #1 rated Morning Show- ahem) KPTV completed its conversion to Digital TV. Portland’s oldest analog television signal, which first went on-air in 1952, went silent for good. And despite over a year and a half of warnings… undoubtedly some Oregonians were shocked to find their televisions broadcasting the image to our right.
People often ask me why are we converting to a new type of broadcasting signal? And why are they (i.e. the government and TV stations) making us get new TVs and converter boxes all of a sudden? Well, it’s not really “all of a sudden”. In the U.S., you could probably trace this conversion to 1981. That’s when then-President Reagan (a former TV announcer by the way) saw an HDTV demonstration and declared it a matter of “national security” to introduce HDTV to the U.S. I don’t know about national security, but anyone who owns an HDTV can tell you: it makes football look awfully purty.
Anyways, the problem with HDTV is that when you send it out over the air it takes up a whole bunch of space. At least, that’s the case with analog signals. Digital signals (a newer technology) use much less space. By having stations broadcast digitally, the government can pack in more over-the-air channels, and they can also sell those old analog frequencies to other companies (not just TV stations). Uncle Sam can also use those old frequencies for his own purposes (military and government use). And I have now officially told you everything I remember from my college broadcasting classes.
If you have cable or satellite this won’t affect you in the slightest. The only affected parties are people who get their TV via those old “rabbit ear” antennae . As you hopefully know by now, you can get a digital conversion box that will make those old school TVs work just fine- get more info here.
While I have cable now, I have vivid memories of the 1980s when my family was still wrestling with the rabbit ears (we were one of the last families on our block to get cable, which killed me because I wanted to watch Michael Jackson on MTV). This was a familiar conversation in the Vithayathil house, as we all gathered around to watch reruns of Diff’rent Strokes: “OK, move the antenna to the right… no, try left… it’s a little better… now back… oh- you had it! It’s gone… go left again… it’s there! DON’T MOVE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T MOVE!”
Thankfully, those “family bonding” moments have gone the way of the 8-track. Digital TV means no more rabbit ear wrangling when you tune in to your favorite programs. And just think, some day I’ll be telling my daughter how we used to wrap this household product around our antenna:

That’s a Wrap!