television in boar good or bad thing?

looking through my 1977 copy of sixth sense i noticed the bfbs telly section.does anybody agree with me when i say the introduction of english telly changed things in germany and not for the good.i didnt come across it till i moved to soest at the end of 1980.before then i thought the social side of things was great after tv arrived it all changed.when you went to a mates pad you had a few drinks,played cards,board games etc.but after telly came it all changed,telly seemed to rule the roost.you just sat there in silence with a drink in your hand staring at the box.graham.

Certainly some of the most formative years of my life (1959-62 or ages 5-1/2 to 8 and 1969-72 or ages 15-1/2 to 18, the 1973-74, ages 20 and 21) were when we were in Germany and without television.

We listened to BFBS on this large, and nicely toned, German- made mantle radio (Telefunkton or something...Mom had it for years and it sounded fantastic) and read.

As Graham points out, we all socialized differently because we had to. One would go insane (and the jury is still out on whether many of us did LOL) living out in some of these small farm villages so many Canadian families lived in (I don't know if British families lived on 'the economy' to the extent we did) was, in many ways, very isolated. Certainly we all felt various degrees of homesickness and of being "The Other" without other Canadian families around. I suspect it is a common phenomenon for any foreign family in a country not their own, which is why -- I'd like to think -- I've grown up with a certain sympathy if not outright empathy for any immigrant family coping with a new society and ways of doing things.

Television is great, don't get me wrong, but absolutely it changes social dynamics and I can well believe one would sit perched in front of the idiot box for an entire evening. Hell, one could do that back home anytime!

As I look back at my time in Germany, especially my teen years and the year I returned to work there, I see it as one of the most social times of my life. It certainly fostered my love and appreciation for books.

I tend to be somewhat introverted by nature (although I never appear so having made myself be outgoing and social) and it is far too easy for me to "just stay in." Not having access to a telly over there, and easy access to gasthofs and other social outlets, really REALLY helped me to avail myself of social networks I might otherwise never have experienced.

So, yeah, my vote is to telly negatively changing the social climate.

i forgot about books,they were passed round like dvds are today.still read a lot today,a good habit to get into.and the odd trip to the ssvc in deilinghofen or the kino in iserlohn.i remember watching jaws(der weise hai)in the kino.didnt speak any german at the time but had read the book a few times.graham.

I agree with Graham in a way. I feel that before BFBS TV we did socialise more. Having grown up mainly in Germany I pretty much learned German from the German TV and playing with local German kids in the '50's.

When I was there TV hadn't been invented so I wouldn't know what difference it made. I would agree however that we socialised, Which was not confined to meeting in the nearest bar but even getting invited to meals, party's etc in the pads. I and a couple of mates were regulars at a local German bowling/drinking club where we would be the only Brits. WE made friends and were invited to their houses. Of course everyone read, The small square war comics usually referred to as training pamphlets, or the real training manuals which were any book by Sven Hassel and another author who's name escapes me. There was I suppose a fair amount of porn floating around too although I hasten to add that I can't confirm that for I was a good boy and I never would have looked at or read anything like that.

wrinkles wrote:

There was I suppose a fair amount of porn floating around too although I hasten to add that I can't confirm that for I was a good boy and I never would have looked at or read anything like that.

Beg your pardon!! Does this mean there were two Wrinkles in the Battalion?

Well duh! there must have been if there was one who read porn. I certainly didn't, I was a fine upstanding young man and a credit to my religion which was C of R, or was it R of E, no it was 'er, no, don't tell me, it will come, it was that lot with the Cross .. Christmasses, yes them. Anyway I went to the Mosque every Sunday, (it was quieter then every one else was there on Friday). I said my prayers every night (in the hope that the bird I was with would answer them and allow us to do as the scriptures commanded, "Go forth and multiply", I liked the second bit best.)
I even wrote to my mother on a regular basis. So you see I would never be the type of pervert who read porn. In fact I doubt I even knew what it was. Mind you I had a different name then. At that time I was known as Billy Liar :-)

I would agree that social life in the Army at least was better before TV.I remember Saturday night when the Messes were full and everyboby knew everybody else,there was much more socializing then.With the advent of TV this slowly eroded,as I left the service in 1971 I don't know how things are now,but sadly I know many families who switch on the Tele at breakfast and it goes till lights out!
Maybe sex has gone the same way,and thats why its plastered all over the TVs?
----
Don

No tele when I first went out to BAOR, then arrived in Berlin and was exposed to AFN, the US Forces tele. Wasn't bad, mind you it was the first time I'd ever watched US tele.

Didn't see BFBS ubtil I was sent back to the zone in early 80's, didn't care much for it. Still liked the wireless and record player.

Mike

When did BFBS TV start in BAOR then? Anyone remember

I think BFBS TV started in the mid 70's. I remember the Dutch were in raptures 'cos some of them could get it too. We personally didn't start viewing until about 1980. It didn't make a great impact on us 'cos with a young family we were often too busy to watch.

When BFBS telly started, there was less 'incidents' in the home of married pads.

I remember they used to charge something like 7p a month or something like that, but one bloke took them to task about it for it was illegal to charge and it was scrapped.

One thing that was different about BFBS trqansmissions was that the sound transmission was on a different frequency.
So if you had a local German TV already, you may have received a picture but no sound. I believe this was to stop Germans initially from receiving the transmissions. I think the frequency for sound was specially selected for short distances and not within the tweakable range on German TVs?

I believe that the purchase of a TV from SKC was the only way to initially receive BFBS sound and picture transmissions. I asked a techie at SKC what was required to modify a TV I bought for BFBS in Germany for use in UK. He sold me a transistor or similar to solder in lieu of the original supplied with the TV, which worked ok fine.

no tv in 1969 when i got to lippstadt. just radio luxemburg or J.T.Edson........remember those books?
reg

reg wrote:

no tv in 1969 when i got to lippstadt. just radio luxemburg or J.T.Edson........remember those books?
reg

Sure do Cowboy!! living in Germany in the 70s as a kid hardly ever watched tv but every Saturday morning all the kids would go to the cinema on camp to watch John Wayne,or Jimmy Stewart ,James Cagney(you dirty rat) some good old movie and we were happy we all knew right from wrong.Kids in to day society dont give a monkey,no respect,no morals nothing,so TV today has got a lot to answer for.As kids we even stood up for the national anthem at the end of the film now that was respect.At what point did it all change though...? let us
know guys because Im dammed if I know

No one can argue against the premise that in many ways we socialized better before TV, and that goes for everywhere in the world.

I left Germany long before BFBS brought in TV. However a few of the local pubs had one and you could on occasion sit and enjoy the German variety shows (Chris Howland's show, for one) where language was sort of secondary to the talent on stage. I seem to remember we had one in the WVS lounge as well.

Personally, I have fond memories of Sunday afternoons listening to Hancock's Half Hour, The Navy Lark, Beyond Our Ken, and Two-Way Family Favourites (...and this one is going out to Simon in BFPO 16 from Mum, Dad, and Auntie Edna on his 20th birthday...) among others on BFN. My weekends were usually spent in Herford MQs with my good friend Hugh McCabe from 7 Sigs and his wife Betty. The odd Herforder was often seen to pass my lips on these occasions.

Happy Days!!!

reg wrote:

no tv in 1969 when i got to lippstadt. just radio luxemburg or J.T.Edson........remember those books?
reg

I certainly remember those books, a prolific author at the time. The "Waco" kid was a main stay. With reference to the TV starting, it did some-what curtail Mess life. People just couldn't be bothered to go out. I got to Herford in 1971. A young bloke,first time out of the UK, I soon got to experience the joys of German life, in truth being a "Singely". Herforder Pils on "Tap", the "Chez Suzzane" near the Bahnhof and purely in the interests of artistic merit, the "Madeleine Club" in Vlotho. Towards the end of my time, TV was everywhere and as a result, mess life did suffer.

JT Edson was, at one time, a member of the RAVC. His Sgt Major was Bill Day who ran a Pub in Sennelager, he allegedly dedicated one of his books to him. Bit of useless information that you can slip in to the conversation when it goes quiet in the Snug.

He was indeed a former member of the RAVC, although that was not his real name. I met him once in NI. He came out to visit the Dog Section in Longkesh when I was attached to them, that would have been 1972-1973.

Well when I arrived in 1967 I initially listened to BFBS it was really good and they had lots of short stories as well as the music, however that changed when the wife joined me, I then got a German television because from Dusseldorf I could pick up 3 German and 2 Dutch channels, and of course the Dutch would show episodes of Coronation Street, and a few films, all in English with Dutch subtitles, this enabled a little peace and quiet from the nagging
Les

The radio was great, we did have a TV, but of course only german programmes, which were fine and helped improve language skills.

reg wrote:

no tv in 1969 when i got to lippstadt. just radio luxemburg or J.T.Edson........remember those books?
reg

Ahhhh.....Radio Luxembourg! Every teenager worth his salt listened to it, certainly amongst the Canadians! Great music, good programs (don't remember any now, just remember they were good or I thought so at the time!). I seem to recall it even being on in our Teen Hut in Soest, across from the heating plant, in behind the Milch Bar (now gone of course as the Belgiques tore down the quonset hut and built an annex to the old Soest Sr. High they inherited from us...never sure why the British didn't take it over for use rather than transporting everyone to Dortmund's Cornwall School...).

steve jones wrote:

The radio was great, we did have a TV, but of course only german programmes, which were fine and helped improve language skills.

We listed to WDR when stationed in Dortmund, the Hor Zu published the Playlists for each programme so that you could tape it on your Cassette Recorder (we made our own entertainment in those days)!!

Yes! agree with Radio Luxembourg, excellent along with all the others on Radio, Workers Playtime, Family Favourites etc but only really listened to that into the early 60s. by the time I got to BADR in 67 there was plenty on TV and quite a few in English

Les