UHF

I often hear people joke that there were only three T.V. channels when they were growing up. As I recall, there were slightly more than that when I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, but not too many more. For the most part, there were three networks, ABC, NBC and CBS, so it was for most of us like watching only three stations. It seemed to me that there was more than enough programming. In fact, there was probably too much. We had to make some hard choices about which programs to tune in, since there were no DVR’s or VCR’s and very few shows made it to syndication.

One day, I discovered a whole new world of television broadcasting thanks to my childhood best friend. One fateful afternoon, I was introduced to ultra high frequency television signals more popularly known as UHF. I can’t exactly recall why I had not viewed any of these channels at home. Perhaps we did not have a roof antenna to help bring in the signal or our television set did not work well. These UHF stations wer, for the most part, small independent operations that relied on either in house programming, sports or syndicated offerings.

The first shows I remember watching after school at his house were “Kimba The White Lion” and “Speed Racer” which aired back to back each day.

My first "Anime" experience.

Rather than explain “Kimba”, I’ll just refer you to Disney’s ‘The Lion King”. They are pretty much the same story except that Kimba was a…anyone? anyone? Right! A white lion.  As for “Speed Racer”, he needs no introduction as I’m sure everyone has heard of him. I did not know it at the time, but both were originally Japanese cartoons or Anime as these kids today like to call it. Since I loved anything animated or in comic form(coincidentally, both of these originated as Japanese comic books, or Manga as it is referred to by all us hip people).

Not knowing their origins did not prevent me from noticing the huge stylistic differences from the cartoons to which I had become accustomed. The animation itself was quite limited, not unlike the style pioneered by Hanna-Barbera studios for television, but the drawing style and sound track were very distinctive. Whatever the reason, I was hooked and we would race home from school everyday to watch those two shows before we got down to the serious business of goofing off, uh, I meant doing homework!

Eventually, I was able to watch UHF at home. I’m not sure if it was the newer television or that I noticed that you had to turn the top dial to “U” and then you could tune the higher numbered UHF stations with the bottom dial. Either way, the important thing was that I discovered something new, thanks to my friend. That’s the way the best stuff in life comes to fruition. It starts with one person telling another. The delivery method may have become more sophisticated, but the result is the same. With cable and satellite television homogenizing the networks and blurring the distinction between large and small, it doesn’t feel like you can discover that cool little niche of programming. Perhaps You Tube is the new UHF. He’s no Kimba, but that kitten playing piano is awfully darn cute!