I had bought a number of singles in the 70s but never albums because my folks never had a proper stereo, just something I would charitably describe as a portable record player.

By 1980 I had scraped enough together to buy a very cheap second hand Viking stereo with a vinyl destroying turntable and an AM/FM tuner, but it was a real step up for me.

The first album I bought was Max Webster's "Universal Juveniles," followed quickly by Bruce Springsteen's "The River."

I still have them.

newsguy1 wrote:

Donald Trump is taking credit for the eclipse... he says, and I quote, "The eclipse... it's the best eclipse in history...It's an omen of my next term in office... I had very smart people cause this eclipse.  No eclipse has ever been planned so well.  Biden doesn't like this eclipse, so sad... if it were up to him there would be no eclipse, he'd stop America from seeing it.  And don't worry about staring up at the eclipse.. just one injection of bleach will cure you, don't listen to Fauci. he hates eclipses.."

 
Newsguy1, you get an A for capturing the tone and language of The Orange That Walks Like A Man. Nicely done.

Mace, great thread. And thanks for mentioning the evil Richard Hillman from Coronation Street. Pat Phelan comes to mind as another Street baddie. On the lighter side of Corrie, I always loved Jack Duckworth.

Most of my favourite characters are the recurring ones that didn't always appear, but when they did they were very memorable:

Floyd The Barber and Briscoe Darling from The Andy Griffith Show.
Millie Helper from The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Any number from Seinfeld: Frank and Estelle Costanza, Jackie Chiles, Mickey Abbott, Uncle Leo, Izzy Mandelbaum, and of course David Puddy "high five ... 🤚"

This morning I tuned into the trivia show on Montreal's CJAD with my old pal Ken Connors and he paid tribute to his regular co-host Dan Laxer, who was one of the victims of this week's Bell purge. Apparently Laxer had been doing the show for 25 years. Ken is scheduled to retire next month. I expect he's pretty happy to get out.

Thanks for the heads up RA. I've added TV Themes and Super 70s to my bookmarks. I already do 60s, 70s and 80s Number Ones on a daily basis. These, along with Wordle and Quordle help to keep my old brain functioning reasonably well.

As a poker enthusiast, my favourite Jewison film is The Cincinatti Kid.
The cast alone is spectacular:
Steve McQueen
Edward G. Robinson
Karl Malden
Ann-Margret
Tuesday Weld
Rip Torn
Cab Calloway
Jack Weston
Plus a host of other familiar faces. Also, like In The Heat Of The Night, a theme sung by Ray Charles.

RadioActive wrote:

Don't remember Sick, but there was only one Mad.

I was a pretty faithful Mad and Cracked reader back in the 70s. I don’t remember Sick, but I did occasionally pick up Crazy magazine. It was a pretty pale imitation of Mad and Cracked.




 

The Weed wrote:

Red Barn had great fries.

 
Yes they did. My memories are hazy as I was very young the last time I had them, but I seem to remember they were kind of like McDonald's fries.

Incidentally, there is still a Red Barn building in Mississauga.  It's on Dundas about halfway between the 427 and Dixie Road. It has been a Mr. Sub for decades.

I have Bell Fibe and I've been pretty impressed with how the guide updates.
While I haven't done a deep dive into the guide's accuracy, I have noticed it must update daily, likely overnight. For instance, when the Blue Jays were swept from the playoffs, they had game three listed, but following the game two loss, the game three listing was removed. Granted, it was replaced by "to be announced." I've also noticed they will often update the info on playoff games with things like "the Blue Jays hope to bounce back after a game one loss to the Twins."

RadioAaron wrote:

Tq345 wrote:

I noticed The Weather Network was down yesterday and figured it was a glitch.
I checked back this morning and it's back, but still buggy. It looks like they tried to update the look of the site and are having trouble.
As usual, this "upgrade" looks to be much worse and harder to navigate than the original. I hope they get their act together.

Looks like the website is just rendering the app, which would be a temporary fix while they restore the site.

The site seems to be working this morning. But as I said, the upgrade is a downgrade as far as I'm concerned. I visit the site daily for the seven day forecast (I know, it's futile as meteorologists don't really know what's coming beyond the next 24 hours)
The seven day used to be on the home page nicely set out horizontally so you could see the whole week at a glance.
Now it's on a separate page and listed vertically so you have to scroll and scroll and scroll through the week and through multiple ads of course.
The navigation is a real pain, so it looks like I'll have to find a new weather information source.

paterson1 wrote:

Another product line that is almost impossible to get at the store is anything from Welch's.  I used to pick up Welch's grape juice in the bottle but nobody seems to carry it anymore. Also the clear grape juice or frozen concentrate doesn't seem to be around either. I am not sure if their grape jam is available or not. 

Welch's has been going through some things and working through a few lawsuits.  Welch's products are available in the US but even there can be hard to find in various parts of the country apparently.  Welch's had a plant in St. Catherine's that was closed around 2008 and in the day they bought a lot of concord grapes from the Niagara region. 

 

That explains why I have been unable to find Welch's products. It's a shame because I love their grape juice, both purple and white. It's very difficult to find 100% grape juice, it’s usually some sort of sweetened mixture or "grape drink." Walmart offers their store brand unsweetened grape juice. It's pretty good.

"Parky" as he was known, was the king of British talk shows for decades. As you said, there are plenty of great clips from the show on YouTube.

What many people may not know is that Parkinson was a pal of Paul McCartney, which led him to be one of the escapees caught in the spotlight on the cover of Band On The Run, along with James Coburn, Christopher Lee, and others.

haydenmatthews14 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

The latest radio commercial for Bell contains a serious false flaw. It's the one in which this overly excited woman says she's calling Bell to give them a piece of her mind - and then thanks them profusely and gushingly for their wonderful app. 

The problem? She dials the phone number and a guy comes on the line and says "Thank you for calling Bell. How can I help you?"

Has anyone - even one person - ever called Bell on the phone and had a real, live person answer? In reality, you get a 15-minute menu (which advises you to listen carefully because "all of our options have changed" even though they're the same ones that are always there.) The system then connects you to yet another menu of choices, that puts you on hold for 10 minutes, that then finally, if you're lucky, gets you to an actual human being.

If they really wanted to make it accurate, though, after waiting all that time and explaining your issue in painstaking detail, they would disconnect you from the call, forcing you to start all over again. 

Now THAT would be an honest radio ad! But it would have to run at least half an hour!

I agree that Bell has misleading ads and products that work properly. I am glad that I don’t have Bell’s Fibe internet or TV. I

 

I can only share my experience with Bell Fibe and it has been quite positive.
I've had Fibe for my TV and Internet for three years now and am very pleased with it.

The PVR is fantastic with the ability to record 4 shows at once, which amazingly I've actually done a couple times.
My only quibble with it is if there is a momentary power hit, the router/PVR often takes well over five minutes to get back online.

The mobile app is also excellent. It gives you access to all your live TV channels and the PVR while on the go.

Granted, the service is expensive, but for me it's worth it. As far as the hoop-jumping you have to go though to contact them, I don't think it's any worse than

RadioActive wrote:

When I was a kid and looked forward to the Wednesday mail delivery of our weekly TV Guide, one of my favourite parts of the magazine was the crossword puzzle at the end. Anything that incorporated television shows into the grid was OK with me, and while they were only semi-challenging, they were fun.

Now TV Insider, the online site owned by the current publishers of TV Guide (and yes, it still exists in the U.S.) has put a host of topic themed crosswords online, done by theme. There's one dedicated to Westerns, another to M*A*S*H, while a third devotes itself to famous boob tube talk show hosts. Not to mention the Gilligan's Island one. And that's just a small list. 

I find the interface a bit clunky, but on a lazy summertime Sunday, it's a nice distraction if you're into this stuff. 

Find them here. 

Did you try any of the puzzles RA?
Using my tablet, I clicked on a couple and the puzzle and clues appeared with no problem, but there seemed to be no way to actually fill in the answers. I figured some sort of keyboard would appear, a la Wordle, but no.

I must be missing something. If not this is a pretty pointless puzzle site.

BTW, I'm loving Wordle, Canuckle and Quordle and the audio pop music version Heardle. I look forward to playing them every day. I guess you become easily amused when you get to be 60. 🙂
 

Peter the K wrote:

I always thought it was "Broadcast" in both the past and present tence. 

 
Agreed. The same thing goes for forecast.