My New Smart Phone

One of the cool parts about working at a radio station is that every now and then someone will find an old relic.  This afternoon, our engineer Mario dusted off an old Motorola brick cell phone from about 1995. It's nearly impossible to believe now, but in 1995 cell phones were about as common as Lebron James buzzer beater.  Like a European sports car, cell phones were once a sign of wealth and privilege.

I am 26, so I can still remember a world where everyone didn't have cell phones.  When I was a kid only important looking people in suits talked on telephones that weren't connected to anything.  Pagers were all the rage when I was in grade school.  I immediately became nostalgic when Mario busted out the Motorola brick.  Station vets like Steve Kaplowitz and Scott Ronson started telling stories about phoning in radio bits on these phones that look like they belong in the Smithsonian.

Even though 1995 wasn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things, cell phone technology has improved infinitely.  Today, your basic smart phone is a 5" by 3" supercomputer that can also make phone calls.  In 1995 cell phones resembled something Doc Holliday would have pulled out of his holster at the O.K. Corral.  They are heavy too.  Twenty reps curling this behemoth is a hell of a workout.  Unless you consider a touch pad or an led screen apps, then this phone definitely doesn't have any apps.

Unfortunately this phone is nothing more than a memory now because it can't even execute it's most basic function, making calls!  You see sometime in the early 2000's all cell phone towers were converted from analog to digital, so all I got was a busy signal when I tried to dial out.  Most likely my fascination with this phone will die out.  However, Mario vowed to never throw it away so it will always remain in our hearts at the station.