Old and New Technologies Merge....And The Grand Ole Opry

I'm still an analog guy and I'm being dragged, kicking and screaming into the digital world.  But sometimes, there is a glimmer of interesting stuff that makes it through all the dust I kick up....

Like last night: my daughter was at the Grand Ole Opry last night with a friend of hers who just graduated (and this is her graduation trip).  I told her that I have listened to the show on AM radio at night and she seemed very interested.  "Daddy, will you hear us when we go there?", she asked, before the trip.  I told her that with WSM's signal, it should be almost as good as a local station.  That's the old technology....

...enter the new technology: she texted (sp?) my wife/her mom to tell me to be sure and listen!  Yes, that was what I was about to do, as we worked out in the yard.  You see, I don't have a cell phone...don't want one, don't need one, have no desire to get one.  Ham radio has all I need.  The only time I carry a cell phone is for when I'm on duty for work, every third week...but that's a rabbit trail of no worth....

Needless to say, we sat and listened to AM 650, WSM; the signal was climbing up at 8:10 PM Central, just before dusk (kind of like what KAAY did!) and gave full bars on my DX-440 in just a few more minutes.  We listened to Little Jimmy Dickens, Tricia Yearwood and finally, Carrie Underwood.  All the while, the girls were texting my wife and she texted our comments back.  I told her to tell them that I could hear them screaming over the air and they believed I could!  They and we had a great time and texts were flying back and forth as we listened to AM radio from Nashville, TN.

Old and new technologies....they mix and merge and compliment each other.  Yet, not quite an "old fart", I still resist some things, in lieu of the nostalgic.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

(By the way, a demonstration was held on The Tonight Show awhile back, where it was demonstrated that Morse Code beat texting, hands-down [pun intended!]...there are several other references to it on the web, as well. bs)