Custom essays on The history of media: official history and personal impressions of my distant relative.

Title: The history of media: official history and personal impressions of my distant relative.
Specific purpose: To inform my audience on the differences between official history and real impressions
Introduction
At the beginning of my presentation it is necessary to introduce Sam Halpern, 73. He was born in 1937 in Ohio, changed many places and jobs and now he lives with his son and his family in Texas. He is a distant cousin of my mother so I was lucky to interview him by phone. His answers weren’t full and proper sometimes, but the total interview can give us the clear picture of media history in the textbooks and personal memories.
Body
Radio
When Sam was a little boy, he often listened to radio. He remembers that there were a lot of music on radio and endless radio drama. He says it was too long ago to remember the names of actors and shows, but he remembers his mother and her female friends listening for the regular series of the drama. As it known from the history of media, in the prewar years there were two kinds of radio shows: sponsored and unsponsored. Sponsored shows were always full of advertising, but Sam couldn’t remember any special radio commercial. He also could tell nothing about his favorite radio program: he wasn’t a great radio fan that time. When I asked him was the radio in his childhood like the modern FM-radio, he told that old radio was better because it wasn’t full of stupid tittle-tattle. However it is most probably reflects his attitude to the modern FM-radio.
Television
Thе World War II was the significant locomotive force for the development of the TV broadcasting network in the USA. 525-line broadcast was standardized in 1941, but TV-sets were rather expensive. Sam remembers that he was fourteen when his parents bought the TV-set; it was small and black-white. The reception was rather bad, and sometimes because of the bad weather the picture on the screen were hardly seen, but the family was happy anyway and listened to TV even when it couldn’t watch it. It was the second TV-set in their neighborhood and Sam’s mother was very proud of this. Before almost every family could afford buying TV-set, the same female friends of his mother came to visit them in the time of their favorite series, like “I love Lucy”. TV-set at once became the center of family; when the boy was disobedient; his parents banned the TV for him. The characters of TV series or some news became the themes of discussion between family members. Sam remembers the TV quiz shows scandals very well: he just finishes the school and because his parents had no money for college, he had to go for a work. Like many young boys and girls of his times he spent long hours near the TV-set watching the shows and dreaming about the easy money. When the scandals started and the name of Charles Van Doren, the man who seemed to be the living personification of the success, became dirty, millions of people including Sam weren’t indifferent to this story: there were too disappointed. As for 30-second commercials Sam inherited the skepticism of his father. When the first commercial appeared, Sam’s grumpy father told that this advertising is worth nothing, it is meaningless, the same was commercial on radio. Unlike the FM radio, Sam really loves modern TV, he has cable – he has got it as soon as it was available – and he thinks modern TV is really great thing.
Movie
The child years of my relative were the years of Disney “golden era”. All the classic animated features like Snowhite and Seven Dwarfs or Bambi appeared in that period. The first movie for adults seen by Sam was Sunset Boulevard. He doesn’t remember about Al Jolson, but among the most influential film of his young years he named the famous historical dramas like Cleopatra, Ben-Hur and Spartacus. His parents never forbade him watching some movies: his ironic father always told that real life is crueler than all the existing movies and there is nothing to afraid in the cinema. Sam didn’t like Gone with wind: though he loved historical dramas and battle scenes, the main character of Gone with the Wind, Scarlet, seemed to be disgusting for him. However, he always was fond of Vivien Lee’s beauty and watched this movie again when it became colorful.
Sound recording
It’s amazing but Sam was indifferent to sound recording devices. He likes music, but he hates changing LPs or cassettes every twenty-thirty minutes. He used listening TV or radio like the sound background. FM radio changed the situation: when first FM radio stations appeared, Sam has to drive a lot every day, and radio music helped him to stay in good spirits. As the father of three he knows about the most popular singers and artist, but his parental control is like his father’s: he doesn’t restrict the choice of artists, but he requires making the sound quietly when he wants to get rest.
Conclusion
Perhaps my distant relative Sam Halpern isn’t a specialist in the history of media, but his real memories can supplement the official version with bright and interesting details.