media

I used to believe…

Whenever the TV broadcasters had problems, a standard message would go up saying "technical difficulties, please stand by." I thought I had to get up and go stand by the TV. :-)

I used to believe that when a song came on the radio that the band was actually playing the song in the studio at the radio station.

I used to believe that the people broadcasting TV programs were really lazy, and turned it off when you blinked. I used to sit there for ages, eyes wide open and streaming, trying to catch 'em out in the act. I never managed it.
I guess this means that at the age of six I was roughly on a par with Schroedinger.

I used to believe…

that when the radio played it was really coming from the roof where all the bands lived.

I used to believe…

At one time, I believed that there were tiny people inside the radio that sang all the songs. When my Mom told me that the music came from a radio station, I wondered (1) how they all fit in there at once, and (2) how they got from station to station so fast!

I used to believe…

When my dad and me drove past the Crystal Palace tv transmitter tower. He told me 'thats where you get your telly from' and for years after I believed getting a telly involved climbing up the tower and asking a nice man at the top for a TV who would provide you with one. Risking you life for the luxury of owning a TV.

I used to believe that People on TV could actually see me. If I pinched my younger brother or tore my dad's favourite book in front of the TV, the person in it would tell my Ma. So, I was careful that the TV was not on when I wanted to do really naughty stuff,

I used to believe…

When I was little I thought people had black outlines just like cartoon characters. I would watch everyone and try to see their "black line" and sometimes I would swear up and down I actually saw one.

I used to think that as movies "got older" they turned to black and white, like the color all faded out with time or something. Before this I thought that "the olden days" were really black and white. Like I asked my dad, "wasn't it boring to live in black & white?"

I used to believe…

That every time you heard a song on the radio, the band was in the studio playing it live. I couldn't figure out how they got to the all the radio stations so fast!

I used to believe…

When ever I would see a commercial for music sets featuring music by Mozart and Chopin on TV- I thought it was actually them playing it. Until I was about 11..

I used to believe…

When I was small I remember watching the Cosby show and not understanding that he was black, I just thought he was dirty.

I was 5 when the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" was released, and my parents took us to see it at the drive-in. I remember thinking for a long time that it was a documentary. (I didn't know what a "documentary" was, but I thought the film was real, unscripted, and just a bunch of cameras following them around)

I used to think that, while cartoon characters were fictional, they were actors in costumes, and that cartoons were made in the same way live action movies are.

I used to believe that when you heard a song on the radio, the singer or group was AT the radio station, right then, performing the song "live". After their song was over, they had to hurry up and get out of the way so the next singer or group could sing their song. During the commercials they all took a break!

I used to beleive that there were little people in the radio. So one night I sat up all night waiting for the little people to come out so I could can't them and put them in my doll house. My sister ask me what was I doing and I told her, she told me that there were no people in there and to go to sleep. I went to bed, still defiantly believing that there were people in there, and having a good time to.