Yesterday, I posted this meme about television, back in the day before there was all night cable news, unless, you were like our home and didn’t have cable until after the eldest child went off to college.

I thought we were doing great with ABC, CBS, and NBC, plus channel 40 which was PBS out of Muncie, and channel 4 that was a local Indianapolis station. I wasn’t into PBS at a young age but loved channel 4 that offered Janie and Cowboy Bob, two central Indiana kids’ celebrities and the Friday night ultimate, Sammy Terry, the ghoulish host of scary movies. These three celebrities were at many, many events throughout central Indiana, and Janie’s replacement even came to my Washington Elementary School’s skating party. I hold her hand and skated several rounds.

It depended on whether you were watching the late movie or the late-late movie as to when the station retired for the evening. At that time, the seemingly ominous announcer’s voice slid through the living room’s silence after the movie or a commercial ended, to give information about the broadcast station that seemed of little importance.

Then, those dreaded words of departure, the station taking its break, promising to resume at _____ AM.

“And, now, our national anthem.”

VIDEO: Television night sign off with National Anthem

Now, despite hating the cold, solitary stillness of nighttime, I loved watching the national anthem because most stations included an accompanying montage with photos or film clips from Washington DC or other historic sites across the country. That was a temporary salve for me!

And. Then. STATIC!

VIDEO: The Static Screen

How often did I wake to the static after having fallen asleep during the late movie?

Yesterday, I felt as though my non-teaching time was pure static. I’m sure I could have changed the channel to improve my overplayed static but for some reason I kept falling asleep and waking me to it.

Change. The. Channel.

Make it a great day and don’t allow yourself to put up with unnecessary static.