Merv and I have lived in the most astonishing time span of history.
As a little boy, Merv's grandfather listened to news of the Great War on one of the first radios.
As a teenager Merv got a short wave radio and listened "live" to nightclub entertainment from New York City.
A disk jockey at a radio station, he was actually part of the whole "record" industry. Completely smitten by broadcasting and technology. he used to say "After you've worked in broadcasting, everything else seems boring".
A "record" was a vinyl disk about 12 inches round. You put it on a revolving table, gently placed the needle arm on it and music filled the air! Eventually we all had "record players" in our homes with our own collections of "78's" as they were called. Girlfriends at our house listened over and over to Mel Torme singing "The Little White Cloud That Cried". At the back of the local drug store, we'd go into a little booth and listen to the record that we wanted to buy. It became a gathering place for the high school crowd.
The "stereo" era was phenomenal. The very word was everyone's favorite topic of conversation. The stereo was the most important piece of furniture in the house. It played "LP's". Huge disks with music from a whole movie or many songs from one artist. I clearly remember "Jesus Christ Superstar". Don't know how our kids ever slept through a party at our house.


We were young marrieds when television appeared. It was frustrating at the start. The signal was so "here one minute and gone the next" that many an evening we would just get a few minutes of a show, and then the screen would go snowy. And then "Hurry, it's on again!" Everyone ran.
Saturday night and "The Honeymooners" was perfect bliss.


By the time our kids were watching, TV was well under way, and many an evening was spent with the Moms and Dads and all the kids in front of the black and white TV set. For some reason it was a "rec room/basement" item at first, and we would all troop down there and cuddle together under blankets.
When we bought our first computer it cost $8000! Merv bought it so that he could file his flight plans and they would go straight to the airport terminal. I remember spending hours and hours on this computer, feeling absolutely exhilarated - not quite sure what I accomplished except that I couldn't stay away from it! No one could. And I don't think it's really changed!
And what can I say about the internet! Of all the things I have mentioned in this post, the Internet has to be the most phenomenal. The growing conversation that humanity is having with each other is the seminal event of the planet.
This script couldn't have been dreamed up by anyone. And it's all been on our watch. I don't know what'll happen tomorrow!