Let me you tell that I was in an eyelash's width of dropping out of high school.  If it weren't for teacher and guidance counselor Jerry Klein at George Washington High School, who knows where I would have ended up. I don't think I'd be posting on Open Salon, that's for sure. Mr. Klein, this is a much overdue thank you.

In September 1972, I returned home from a prep school in Connecticut, I was attending. The prep school is were I was sent by my parents, after they split up and divorced in 1968. After their break up I went off the rails, academically and emotionally.

I had tested for Bronx High of School of Science and did not do well on the test. While I did well in science, I really struggled with math, and I vividly remembered the teacher giving instructions for the test and realizing I wasn't going to fit in there. Hell in my present state of emotional and academic affairs, I really didn't fit in anywhere.

So I went to the neighborhood high school. This was a tough school. Four different principals in an 18 month period. A school that was 70% non-white. You had to have ID to enter the school, there were security guards, recently returned Viet Nam vets to control outruly crowds in an overcrowded inner city school. Lots of violence, along with the experience of being white and in the minority.

I unemotionally went through the motions and slogged through my junior year. I was ready to drop out, and get a job. I was smart and I hated going to school.  School was a BFWOT(big effing waste of time). I'd get a job.

So fate intervened, or at least Mr. Klein did. He who also ran the radio club, the school had a ham radio license. The call letters were WA2GDL or phonetically spoken, Whiskey Alpha Two, Golf Delta Lima.

Mr. Klein suggested that I apply for a new program call the Executive High School internship program. This program took a student out of school for a semester, and placed him or her in the real world, working with an exective in business, government or non-profit organiziations.

I got to interview at three places, the American Museum of Natural History, The U.S. Department of Education, and office of The Borough President of the Bronx.

While my preference was the Museum of Natural History, I was selected to work of the Executive Assistant of Bronx Borough President. As part of my duties I had to attnd meetings and report back on outcomes.

This put great repsonsibility on me as I had to learn how to take notes and report the content of the meetings and any outcomes. Which leads me to the title of this post. One of the meetings I had to attend was at the Plaza Hotel. the chariman of the FCC, Dean Burch was presenting a seminar on CATV (community antenna television). Cable TV in New York City  was limited to certain neigborhoods and some areas of the city had no cable service at all. The main selling point of cable was clear reception, and where I lived in upper Manhattan the quality of the picture was terrible.

Nineteen seventy two was before, HBO, ESPN, CNN and Fox News. There were the 3 networks, 2 independent stations, and the educational station. Period. Not even a UHF station.

When I was assigned to go to this meeting I was told it was a big deal. I don't remember the chain of events, but somehow, I was riding into Manhattan with the Borough President in his Cadillac Limousine. the License plate was  BB-1. He was dropped off at a meeting near Lincoln Center and I was going to walk to the Plaza from there.

He asked me where I was heading and he instructed his driver to drop me off at the Plaza. For a 17 year old kid, this was a pretty big deal. As we pulled up at the Central Park South entrance the door man open the back door and I stepped out.

I remember seeing passersby gawk at the black limo with the shield on the front with two stars, and this skinny kid wearing an ill fitting suit get out and walk into the lobby. I've had breakfast with a president and had other special moments in my life, but this was probably the coolest thing that ever happened to me.

As went inside and attended the conference I was suprised by some of the prediction that came from the Chairman of FCC. It seemed that cable was going to take over the nation. Burch said within 20 years there would be over 200 channels and cable would be available everywhere.

As I took notes, I'm think "yeah right" there were parts of the Bronx that weren't event wired yet. And 200 channels, come on be serious."

After the meeting I said hello to Morris Tarshis, who was responsible for negotiating the cable franchisees in New York City. Mr. Tarshis looked exactly like actor Edward Arnold, who you've probably seen in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or You Can't Take it With You.   

I had seen him at other meetings and I asked him, "do you really think there'll be 0ver 200 stations?"

He said, "Yes the data supports this happening."

I looked at him and asked, "what are people going to watch on those 200 channels?"

His response, "I'll be damned if I know."

Well, I knew about it then, but I couldn't stop it. It was very hard to get my head around 200 channels when my universe only had 7 channels. The advancement of technology has been amazing. What will it look like 37 years from now? Are we better off with 200 plus channels but "nothing to watch?"

What will the future bring?