Dumbing things down...

[Centurion40]

And, if you were the youngest, you had to stand on an orange box holding the ariel to get a signal....

...and you try tellin' the kids of today than, and they won't beleive you >:(

When I was kid, we had 4 channels (in Montreal), then 2 when we moved to Nova Scotia; the CBC and an independent CTV affiliate.  Then CBC French appeared, but people (except for Habs fans) only watched it on Saturday nights for the racy movies. Then, around the time that I was 9, a new independent appeared, a Global affiliate, and it was wonderful.  About a year later, cable TV arrived, bringing a whopping 13 channels (including 4 US networks: ABC, CBS, NBC & PBS)!!  It was TV heaven!  After that, I've lost count. 

[LongBlade]

My grandmother had cable in her small town. We lived in a larger town with only three channels. It blew my mind when I found an episode of Space 1999 on her TV. I still don't think I ever got a proper explanation as to why her smaller town had better channels than us.

[Gusington]

Took on both the Irish and Scots at the same time :)

[Longdan]

I remember when the TV was delivered in 1958.  Until then I thought the only TV was at Grampa's house.
I could never figure out how there could be the same TV show on at both houses!  Then we moved to
The States for a while and we had eleven channels!!  WTF!!  Saturday morning cartoons!!
Life was never the same.  Until French CBC and adult fare as Cent remembered.  At one in the afternoon!
Not goin to work today!!  Kids these days.

[Martok]

Took on both the Irish and Scots at the same time :)

You, sir, are nuts!  Well done.  8) 

[bob48]

Gus - you know no fear!

[Longdan]

^^Think I'll play that for a while now.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

six? six? you should be so lucky - when i were a lad all we had to watch was 1 channel, in the middle of the road!

Hah. When I was a lad, all we had was endless Punch and Judy reruns. In the rain.

[Longdan]

We had to act it out ourselves before the TV.
In the snow.

[undercovergeek]

over to the professionals:-

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
    I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
    House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
    Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
    Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
    Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
    We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
    You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.

[Staggerwing]

^
"Luxury!"

[MetalDog]

I've had cable tv since 1978.  At least thirty channels since then.

[undercovergeek]

its a beautiful thing, and as a Yorkshireman so, so true

On a side note i feel cheated, on that link is another link to meet Rebecca, a buxom over fifty year old who wants me to join mature dating .com and she is ready for a shag tonight and only lives 3 miles away - thing is at work this morning (40 miles away) she was on another site and still only lived 3 miles away - and i thought i was special!!!

unless theres two:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZhQpyr2FBw

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

over to the professionals:-

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
    I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
    House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
    Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
    Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
    Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
    We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
    You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.

Shoebox! They were LUCKY to have a shoebox. Our whole town lived in a coal heap in the middle of a bog.

[Gusington]

The Welsh needed some respect you know? It was kind of awesome seeing 2/3 the map of the UK a briny green under Welsh rule. But satisfying.