1. A Techno-Biography By Richard B. Toms

2. Table of Contents Introduction The Telephone The Telephone Television and Radio Television and Radio The Phonograph The Phonograph Tape Recorders and Players Tape Recorders and Players Home Movies Home Movies Music Now

3. Introduction  Born in August of 1959, technology was seeing a major boost in development.  Lived in a small suburb of Miami Florida.  Parents were both working. My mom was an elementary school teacher and my father was an aircraft mechanic.  Two other children, one brother and one sister, both older than I.  We had several forms of technology within our household.

4. The Telephone  The telephone of the 50’s and 60’s was a basic rotary dial hard plastic shell.  Party lines  Live operators  Came in three basic styles, the desk top the wall type, and the trim line.

5. Television and Radio  Picture was small easily affected by interference  Black and White small picture tubes, vacuum tubes to operate.  Color advances came about the time I started pre- school.  Radio was only found on AM stations. FM was not available to the public for use.  Stations were mostly Country, easy listening and classical.  The transistor radio was the only portable radio available. radio available.

6. The Phonograph  Played vinyl record disks.  Three speeds 78, 45, and 33.  Speeds were in revolutions per minute.  Most were portable. No longer required a megaphone type horn to hear what was being played as in the early styles.

7. Tape Recorders  8 Tracks were the players of the 70’s could not record.  Cassettes came in around the late 70’s and replaced the 8 track. Recordable  Recorded voice or music on thin metal type tapes.  Large reel to reel. Used in recording large amounts of music for preservation or duplication.

8. Home movies  8 millimeter film.  First in black and white, then color.  Required a projector and screen.  High maintenance.

9. Music  The Accordion  The player Piano  The Magnus Organ  Sound Equipment

10. Now  CD players  DVD Players  Digital Cameras  Cell phones  Computers