Mountain Cowgirl
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2021
- Messages
- 1,212
9 PM - I had been asleep since 6:30 PM. The phone rings and then the message-taking chip records the message as I lay irritated and groggy. A young man's happy-go-lucky sing-songy voice brings visions of a ballerina prancing tiptoed across the floor in pink slippers.
"Hello, this is Neilsons. We are not selling anything, we take surveys concerning radio, TV, and the internet. We have been taking these surveys for 90 years."
Ok, that last line woke me up wide-eyed but not bushy-tailed. 90 years? We all know that the internet was invented in 1965, but was nothing but a primitive way of a few select computers sharing messages. It wasn't until 1993 that Al Gore reinvented it into the amazing thing it is today.
Now while TV was invented around 1927 it wasn't in commercial use until the late 30s and then only on a very limited basis.
Now the radio was invented in 1896, but let's discuss the radios in use in 1932 which is 90 years from today, and my last evening landline intrusion by Mr. Happy. I can't imagine Neilson calling on the old rotary phone to thousands of households inquiring about how many and what stations the interrogated were receiving on their homemade crystal set or what radio programs gathered the family around the tube set and gave their children bad dreams. How long did it take their set to warm up and what was their set, cathedral, tombstone, or console? The first bakelite radio was made in 1932 in Australia so any table model would have been wood or metal cabinet or case and probably not a hot survey topic.
Chances are the family was gathered around the console, with big William dad wanting to hear "Just Plain Bill," mama Jane wanting to catch the latest broadcast of "Tarzan," young Andrew trying to change the dial to "Amos and Andy" while big sister Ann shoved him aside to tweak the dial and get the premiere of "Little Orphan Annie."
So was Neilsen really taking surveys in 1932 about radio broadcast? How did they get through all the party lines? I doubt it and certainly no reason to rudely awake an old lady from her slumber. Was it the legitimate Neilson or a scammer posing as the real original historical nuisance?
"Hello, this is Neilsons. We are not selling anything, we take surveys concerning radio, TV, and the internet. We have been taking these surveys for 90 years."
Ok, that last line woke me up wide-eyed but not bushy-tailed. 90 years? We all know that the internet was invented in 1965, but was nothing but a primitive way of a few select computers sharing messages. It wasn't until 1993 that Al Gore reinvented it into the amazing thing it is today.
Now while TV was invented around 1927 it wasn't in commercial use until the late 30s and then only on a very limited basis.
Now the radio was invented in 1896, but let's discuss the radios in use in 1932 which is 90 years from today, and my last evening landline intrusion by Mr. Happy. I can't imagine Neilson calling on the old rotary phone to thousands of households inquiring about how many and what stations the interrogated were receiving on their homemade crystal set or what radio programs gathered the family around the tube set and gave their children bad dreams. How long did it take their set to warm up and what was their set, cathedral, tombstone, or console? The first bakelite radio was made in 1932 in Australia so any table model would have been wood or metal cabinet or case and probably not a hot survey topic.
Chances are the family was gathered around the console, with big William dad wanting to hear "Just Plain Bill," mama Jane wanting to catch the latest broadcast of "Tarzan," young Andrew trying to change the dial to "Amos and Andy" while big sister Ann shoved him aside to tweak the dial and get the premiere of "Little Orphan Annie."
So was Neilsen really taking surveys in 1932 about radio broadcast? How did they get through all the party lines? I doubt it and certainly no reason to rudely awake an old lady from her slumber. Was it the legitimate Neilson or a scammer posing as the real original historical nuisance?
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