Radio to the Rescue
The United Nations has declared today World Radio Day in celebration of radio's unique status as a "simple and inexpensive"technology with the power to reach even the most remote, marginalized communities. We don't quite fit into that category, even though we can't get USA Today in Nappanee any longer.
It is fitting that last night we wisely chose to forgo driving in the cold to Elkhart Northside Gym to see NorthWood High School's boys' basketball team play Elkhart Memorial in the final conference game of the year. So in the warmth of our television room with its 55 inch TV hooked up to Netfix, armed with two laptops, our Ipad, Kindle and two smart phones, we set out to watch the game on broadcastsports.net. But no matter which device or method of maneuvering the website, we could not connect with the broadcast. Finally we brought the alarm clock radio from the bedroom, with its single wire antenna, to join our electronics store of devices and attempted to dial in 1340 AM.
It was all static and only two stations came in, both Christian stations, the only ones who any longer invest in signal strength. Susie suggested we try the built-in "stereo" receiver we haven't depended on for years. Finally we made contact, not the clear signal we expect today, but the one that vacillates between intelligible and non. We were able to discern our team was down 13 points heading into the fourth quarter. With only one conference loss and a chance to tie for the league title, this was not good news. Within half of the final quarter NW had pulled within 5 points. The announcer were so excited they nearly blew out the microphone with every ensuing every basket.
A minute to go, down two junior point guard Braxton Linville hit a three pointer from the left wing, to take the lead only to lose it on the next possession, then regained it again on another Linville three pointer from the right wing only to lose the lead on the answer bucket. 4.8 seconds to go, down two, Braxton sees two seconds on the game clock, lets fly from the top of the key, hitting his third three point shot in a row in less than a minute. Game over. So? We realized it was more exiting on the radio than if we were there, more exciting that watching it streaming through our computer. Through our imagination we have a more vivid memory of this outstanding effort than if we had been there. We've seen most of the games this year and this was the best one we heard. Radio still has its place and should be required listening.
It is fitting that last night we wisely chose to forgo driving in the cold to Elkhart Northside Gym to see NorthWood High School's boys' basketball team play Elkhart Memorial in the final conference game of the year. So in the warmth of our television room with its 55 inch TV hooked up to Netfix, armed with two laptops, our Ipad, Kindle and two smart phones, we set out to watch the game on broadcastsports.net. But no matter which device or method of maneuvering the website, we could not connect with the broadcast. Finally we brought the alarm clock radio from the bedroom, with its single wire antenna, to join our electronics store of devices and attempted to dial in 1340 AM.It was all static and only two stations came in, both Christian stations, the only ones who any longer invest in signal strength. Susie suggested we try the built-in "stereo" receiver we haven't depended on for years. Finally we made contact, not the clear signal we expect today, but the one that vacillates between intelligible and non. We were able to discern our team was down 13 points heading into the fourth quarter. With only one conference loss and a chance to tie for the league title, this was not good news. Within half of the final quarter NW had pulled within 5 points. The announcer were so excited they nearly blew out the microphone with every ensuing every basket.
A minute to go, down two junior point guard Braxton Linville hit a three pointer from the left wing, to take the lead only to lose it on the next possession, then regained it again on another Linville three pointer from the right wing only to lose the lead on the answer bucket. 4.8 seconds to go, down two, Braxton sees two seconds on the game clock, lets fly from the top of the key, hitting his third three point shot in a row in less than a minute. Game over. So? We realized it was more exiting on the radio than if we were there, more exciting that watching it streaming through our computer. Through our imagination we have a more vivid memory of this outstanding effort than if we had been there. We've seen most of the games this year and this was the best one we heard. Radio still has its place and should be required listening.
posted by Richard Pletcher | 4:20 PM
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