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11 Sounds your kids probally don't recognize

Retro_GI_Jane

One of the Regulars
Messages
289
Location
Midwest US
My mother still has her stereo (looks like a huge oak hope chest) with her record player and 8-track player in it. I remember her brother always coming over and messing with the needle taping either a penny or dime on it so that it would balance right! And I'll never forget sneaking up in the middle of the night and turning on the tv once and seeing the test pattern and hearing the loud beep...it scared me enough to wonder if a monster was in the tv and I listened to my folks and stayed in bed after that! A lot of local stations around here still conclude their broadcast day the same way and the test pattern never fails to give me the heebie jeebies after all these years. ;)
 
Messages
13,469
Location
Orange County, CA
Geesh, I remember ALL those sounds! :eeek:

8. TV Station Sign-Off

Before infomercials were invented, television stations actually went off the air for a few hours each night. Some of us TV-holics experienced physical withdrawal symptoms when we heard the announcer intone, “We now conclude our broadcast day…” around 2AM or so. The format varied little from station to station across the country; first a few technical details were announced (broadcast frequency, physical address of the station, etc.), then a reading of “High Flight” followed by the National Anthem, and then the steady beeeeeeeeeeeeeep tone of the test pattern.

Now there's a familiar voice when I was growing up! Though I never knew his name until now.

[video=youtube;NBkateT20kg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBkateT20kg&feature=player_embedded#![/video]
 
Last edited:
Messages
13,469
Location
Orange County, CA
9. Cash Register

Those chunka-chunka push buttons were clumsy, but (unlike the fellow in this video) veteran cashiers could check you out just as fast with these old-style machines as their modern counterparts do with today’s scanners.

As a kid I was always fascinated by the different colored buttons on those old cash registers. Years later when I worked at an electronics surplus store we had one of those machines sitting in the back room which we used to play with. I should have offered to buy it even though it weighed a ton.
 

Gene

Practically Family
Messages
963
Location
New Orleans, La.
At the service station right by my house, you drive up and hear a "ding ding" and someone comes out to ask if you want your oil and tire pressure checked. They wash your windows while they pump your gas too. I used to work there a couple summers ago, and it's still in full operation today!
 

Talbot

One Too Many
Messages
1,855
Location
Melbourne Australia
The bakelite rotary dial phones here would briefly 'bell' when you picked up the reciever. It was the first thing you heard when you called one and they picked up.
 

Connery

One Too Many
Messages
1,125
Location
Crab Key
The sounds of the seltzer-man and the fizz of the bottle

seltzer.jpg
E313B120-B2B8-45E9-A1CA-F23F50DD6044.jpg.jpg




Seltzer Man Is Out of Action, and Brooklyn Thirsts~~~A nice story with a great video, "The Last of the Fizz Business"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/nyregion/26seltzer.html

I can go for an Egg Cream right now!
4553522964_5df246d423_z.jpg
 

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
THe sound of the endless food trucks rolling down my block. Mr Softee, Freezer Fresh, Bungalow Bar, , Ruby the Knish Man, Chow Chow Cup, Pizza Truck. The ride trucks - The Whip, King Kong . . . The smell of the diesel. The roar of the large motors in the rear of these vehicles as they powered the devices that kept ice cream cold, and pizza and Chinese food hot, and moved mechanical rides.
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
I've heard...

1. My parents used to have one.
2. I grew up learning how to type on a typewriter (not exactly like that one, but the sounds were similar).
3. Oh yes. I remember this one. Gran happened to be a big coffee-drinker.
4. Yes. I remember this from my parents' old cameras.
5. I don't think I ever heard this.
6. See above. Dad did have a record-player, but it broke before I was around.
7. No.
8. No.
9. Yes.
10. No. At least, I don't remember it.
11. No. See #6 for why.
 

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