Extras

KEITH AARON DAILY

Thursday February 7, 2013| Your place, Your Voice.

 

 

Remember the Time…

Written by: Keith Caudle

Interviewee: Raymond F. Williams

Background  

Raymond F. Williams was born on Sept. 5, 1941 in St. Petersburg, Fla. to John E. Williams and Minnie Williams. He is now, 71 years old, and has literally gone from large floor model black and white televisions, to flat-screen HD TVs. I expressed to him that I thought of him first when thinking of how technology has changed over a person’s lifetime, because he is a part of the generation that has seen technology and communication change before their eyes. He replied, “I could have never guessed that we would have half of the things we have today as far as technology goes.”

Radio

The first all-inclusive communication system for the home was radio.  Raymond thought back to his childhood to remember his early experiences with radio. “I thought radio was great, it was a good way to find out what was going on in the world, and it also served as our family entertainment.” He talked about how scarce radio was during that time, and how little stations there were compared to how many stations we have today. The radio reception he had was poor because he lived in a very rural area; they also received the signal form Tennessee. His memories of WLAC’s Randy’s Record Shop, and the mysteries that he listened to as a boy seemed to be very vivid.

Television

As a child I remember speaking with my grandfather about television and whether his family owned a one or not, he told me they did and his father purchased it around 1952. He said yesterday, “I felt privileged to have a television in my home during those times, because not many people had them in my town, only the well-to-do.” After that statement I asked him how he felt when he turned on the television for the first time, “I thought the world had exploded (laughing),” he could not wrap his mind around the fact he could now see and hear things at the same time. When television arrived he expressed that there were few channels, and things stopped playing to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner around midnight until about 9 AM the next morning. He liked to watch show Amos & Andy, Howdy Duty, Our Mrs. Brooks, and Zorro. We went on to discuss his experience with color television, he told me that they first had a Technicolor screen that looked like a rainbow that went on top of your black and white screen, that sounded like it did not work very well, “you could not see anything clearly, it was useless (laughing).” Years later his father was able to afford color television, he said it took so long for them to get one because they were very expensive at that time, but his family was the second in the town to get one, “I felt like we were rich when my dad bought that home.”

The Progression of Technology 

After we finished up speaking about how his family moved from radio to television I was intrigued to find out how he feels about the way that technology has progressed over his lifetime. “It’s been so rapid, it all has come so fast, I never thought things would change so rapidly, it’s a lot to take in.” He feels that everything has moved to a new era, and that modern communication has transformed the world, which it most definitely has.

Concerns with Being Left Behind by Technology 

What I found most interesting was how concerned he was about his generation dealing with technology. “It has been somewhat difficult for older people like me to conform to today’s technology.” I understand what he saying, because most people in his generation do not use a lot of technology, and they know very little about it. My grandmother for instance is just starting to embrace more technology and she is 72 years old. When it comes to my generation it has been easier for us to adjust to technology, because we grew up learning it.

We did end on a good note with technology due to the fact the he says, “Technology has made the world very productive due to communication advances.” My grandfather has really embraced communication, he has an iPad, he also has basic knowledge of computers, and he has always has a pretty advanced cellphone. I feel he is a technologically advanced 71 years old.