Place: Burger King
Lunch: 6-pack BK Burger Shots, fries, Dr Pepper
SIGNS YOUR LOCAL BK LETS THE FOOD SIT AROUND TOO LONG: My order of fries had a hash round at the bottom of it. You know...those mini tater tots they sell at breakfast?
These Burger Shots are pretty good. But I still wish they'd bring back the BK Tacos here.
On February 17, some of the broadcast television stations across the country shut down their analog transmitters and became full-time digital stations. This was supposed to happen with ALL stations, but the government decided not enough poor people were ready for the transition and asked (in some cases forced) stations to delay the transition to June 12.
My argument against the delay was simple...There's a certain level of the marketplace who are never going to switch until they absolutely have to. Make the switch. They'll suddenly find the $40 it takes to get a converter box if they haven't already gotten the coupon.
But I digress...
Two of our local stations converted on the original date. This morning, I overheard a conversation at the office about this. Co-worker #1 was telling Co-worker #2 that she couldn't listen to our NBC affiliate anymore because of the digital switch.
Notice that I said "listen", right?
Because she's not talking about watching the channel at home...she's talking about listening to the channel on a radio with a TV tuner at work during the day.
Some of you may have not even known such a radio existed. But it's true...There's companies out there who make real radios with AM, FM, and TV bands so you can listen to TV stations just like you would a radio station. They've been available for years.
That got me thinking. Is anybody making a portable radio with an ATSC tuner that can hear high definition TV broadcasts yet?
So I scanned the web. I Googled, I checked Amazon, I checked C Crane.
Nope.
Nobody.
Nada.
The market is wide open for somebody to take advantage.
I am genuinely surprised nobody thought about this.
So note to the electronics industry...Get your act together.
And note to the local television stations...Get YOUR act together and start broadcasting local HD news, commercials, and graphics. We have ONE station in the market with HD switching and full graphic insert capability...and it's our CW affiliate.
You cheap lazy bastards.
