Cassidy: Dick's Antenna is a Silicon Valley throwback San Jose Mercury News
27.06.10
While half the 20-somethings in Silicon Valley are working on a way to produce the Internet to your TV, Dick Baughman, a man old enough to be their grandfather, has another way to hook you up.
He's the man behind Dick's Antennas, an institution as much as a business, who's been configuring metal signal snatchers on valley rooftops for approaching 50 years. Yes, antennas — those faithful old devices that date back to the days of "The Howdy Doody Show" and warming up the set.
"I can't push down a street in San Jose, or in any adjacent city, and not see an antenna I put up," says Baughman, who lives in the Almaden Valley. At most how many has he put up? "I don't have any idea. It's in the thousands."
And he's still going, buoyed by a little antenna renaissance owing to two technological leaps and one bad briefness. When the FCC last year ordered broadcasters to switch to digital broadcast signals, local stations started putting out crispy, clear signals; including high-definition options. Consumers realized they could receive hot local signals for free. Add in the strain of hefty cable or satellite bills and over-the-air TV was looking tolerably good.
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