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| Old TV with a digital converter. (The rabbit ears are in the window.) |
I haven't had cable TV since the late nineties. I admit it, cutting the cord was tough. In fact, if former cable TV junkies had a 12-step program, I would have been there every night until my hundred-channel withdrawal mellowed.
I had to let cable go. In my low-budget, self-employed life, the $80. it cost to keep entertainment flowing 24/7 was a week of grocery and gas money. Besides, cable wasn't a necessity; so I let it go and I haven't looked back.
Breaking up is hard to do
HBO movies and History Channel documentaries were my friends. I was divorced and often man-less, so commercial-less shows were the sweet background noise to my work-alone life. Letting them go felt like breaking up with yet another boyfriend. But I kicked my cable box to the curb and grieved a little. Then I moved on.
I filled my cable void with work and talk radio (Christian and secular.) I immersed my brain in PBS documentaries. Afternoons I took a break from work and dozed in and out with the semi-sweet dialogue of "All My Children," "One Life to Live," and "General Hospital." I hadn't watched soaps in nearly a decade, but it took only a few episodes to get caught up on years of plot twists.
Talk Radio used to be entertaining
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| Obama and his cronies probably displaced "Clinton and his Cronies" on Right Wing talk radio |
Talk radio shows multiplied during the post Clinton years. I should have been happy for the free entertainment. But all those radio talk jocks had a thing about "...Clinton and his cronies...," and how they were pretty much responsible for everything wrong. Clinton had been an ex-president for a while, so eventually all that fascinating Right Wing political jibber-jabber got to be pretty boring.
Of course, these days it's probably "...Obama and his cronies..." I don't know for sure. I cut the cord on talk radio long before the 2008 Tea Party infusion shook things up.
Free TV is sweet
When the government cut analog signals in 2009, TV became digital broadcast only. It was an inconvenience for non-cable people like me. Free TV signals meant installing a cable connection, buying a new digital television, or locating a converter box plus an old-school "rabbit ears" antenna.
My no-frills life pushed me to the cheapest option-- a $40. government coupon to spend on a converter box. I got a cheapie set of rabbit ears, and witnessed a small miracle. My favorite shows were digital and crystal clear. Plus oldies I'd seen as a kid--"Rifleman," "Gunsmoke"--were back like they'd never gone away.
DTV.GOV calls it "multicasting." Digital signals allow local TV stations to add sub-channels like Memorable Entertainment Television, Bounce TV, and Retro Television, which air old movies and shows I watched as a child.
Online TV is cool
My computer also taught this old girl a few new TV tricks. Some network show sites offer recent episodes on line. If I miss "Scandal," I can see it
And if I need a movie fix
The neighborhood Hollywood and Blockbuster video stores are long gone. But I can still get DVDs from Netflix. They will send my choice of movies by mail or I can watch them online. And Red Box is exactly that-- a big red box outside my grocery store that vends DVDs for a quick movie fix. And when all else fails, I can go for a walk in the park.
Giving up Cable TV wasn't easy, but I did it. If I can survive this long without it, anyone can.
