Every once in a while I amuse myself.  You guys know I cut the cord a while back, and that I’ve been learning to juggle the Roku box I got instead.  Now I like Roku just fine and I can set it up to scroll through past news segments, but getting real-time news was a head scratcher.  I found that I missed being able to watch live, local news on TV and I missed weather reports, particularly when we had a storm system bearing down on us.

So I got Sling TV.  Not really impressed.  I find that it’s not well organized for my taste, too cumbersom to navigate through, to me.  I’m just not in love with it. I aim high.  I’m not going to keep Sling TV  because I got this great gadget called an antenna!  It’s called SLIVR and it comes with a booster, which I am sure you need.  Easy to hook up, good for receiving signals from within a 55 mile radius.  RADIUS.  That’s a long way.  And, there’s an app (oh big surprise) for finding all of the broadcast towers WITHIN that 55 mile radius, so you know which way to aim the antenna.  Well why not.  And you can effect the channels you receive by which way you aim the antenna.  Only one direction picks up QVC so guess which way I turn it.

Installation instructions looked too easy, which immediately made me suspicious because I didn’t need an allen wrench or washers or pegs, like most self-builds do. But it really was that easy.  Boom!  Local TV.  Clear as a bell.  AND…there’s a channel that broadcasts a TON of the really old shows, like Lariat, Wagon Train, Bewitched, F-Troop, a channel that’s all crime shows. Heaven, really.  OH, and also weather and news, which was the whole point to begin with.  I got mine hooked up just in time for “the great blizzard of 2017” (one inch ice/one inch snow).  I know.

Now the ‘amusing’ part.  I was telling someone how great this antenna is, and it’s FREE to watch these channels.  I’m not even sure how many there are but it’s more than three.  You get where I’m going with this.  While I was talking about how I LOVE my antenna, I had to stop and laugh.  Yeah, antenna, like EVERYONE used before the advent of cable, those wretched grinches.  So yeah, antenna use is nothing new; it’s just coming around again.  And of course I HIGHLY recommend it.  Amusing, isn’t it, that we completely forgot about antennae, that there were free broadcasts out there?  I feel like a mule on the cart path, really. I’ve been duped!

But now, I get to watch commercials again (nothing is perfect) and above all I get the Bosley Hair Replacement commercials. How did I live without THEM?  If I hear “This is MY hair, I can wash this hair” one more time I’m going to scream.  You guys know:  I scream at my TV all the time.  But NOW I scream at NO CHARGE.  Life is good.

So I think the best combo is just Netflix, Amazon (apps on smart TVs) and an antenna.  Boom.  Drop the remote.