My Story 19.1

Hey, Winnipeggers, some of you may remember this:

In 1957 not many people had a television. And the television did not have many channels. CBC, of course with an English channel (2) and a French channel (3). None of us spoke French. Our Dutch solution for the French problem? Well, instead of making the country bi-lingual, send all those Frenchmen back to school for free lessons in English. That would save money and open up enormous international business opportunities for them as well.

A new station was about to come on the air in Winnipeg. They announced themselves with this cute jingle:

"This is the new TV station

it's gonna be the finest in the nation,

Just wait and see,

and you will all agree

when you're watching, watching channel seven".

They started broadcasting as CJAY. Later that became CKY. If you don't remember this, maybe you will remember the cute weather girl Sylvia Kuzyk. She is still there.

Enough reasons for me to buy my first TV. It was a 14 inch GE with a sturdy metal case. During that time I had made friends with a number of Dutch families in the city. We would get together every Saturday and we had a great time. And now I started to bring my portable TV, so we could watch Hockey and Wrestling, as well as some other less interesting programs. All in Black-and-white. I did this for a number of years, until gradually, everybody had purchased their own TV.

The "rabbit ears" were replaced by rooftop antennas, mainly so you could get cannel 12, KCND, broadcasting from the US side of the border near Pembina. They later moved to Winnipeg as CKND.

I also made several camping trips with the same Dutch friends, when I was still single. I preferred to sleep in my Buick. I had taken the backseat out, which revealed an opening to the trunk. I sawed out a supporting post, levelled the surface the best I could and put a mattress in. I slept OK with my feet in the trunk. Later on when Trudy and I were married we went on several trips with the Buick sleeping that way.