Before cable, before streaming, before a TV just worked, there was the antenna. And the antenna had one job: find the signal.
Sometimes that meant going up on the roof. Sometimes it meant wrapping it in foil. And sometimes, on the best nights, it meant Dad standing by the TV, holding the antenna with one hand, while everybody else yelled instructions from the couch.
“A little to the left! No, back! Right there — don’t move!”
And Dad didn’t move. He stood there, frozen, arm out, so we could watch our show. If he moved, the picture went snowy. If he sneezed, it was gone. He was basically part of the TV for twenty minutes.
Did your dad — or mom, or big brother — ever have to hold the antenna, or were you lucky enough to have cable before everybody else?
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