My grandfather comes from a very poor family, I always knew that he wasn’t well off when he was young but I had no idea it was this bad. The main medium in his house was the AM radio which was made at home from spare parts, most houses did not have radios back then but you could go to the taverns and listen there. There was no television in his house; television did not come to Portugal until the 1960s. There were no restrictions on him as far as when he could go to the tavern and listen to the radio provided that he had the time to do so.

Politics was a forbidden subject where he was from and no political campaigns were made, therefore there was

no information about political campaigns on the radio or newspaper. As far as political events such as rallies and what not, there was none. Except for one which he attended but the rally was broken up by police on horses beating women and children indiscriminately, this was the first time a candidate had ever opposed the government , naturally he didn’t win because very few regular citizens voted or were registered to vote. They were no political ads, just speeches on the radio which everyone ignored, he got most of his news from the older people at work who would talk about it in a secretive manner, and anyone speaking against the government was considered a communist.

I had it like a king compared to my grandfather and father. The most important medium in my household would be the TV with the internet to be a close second. There are eight TVs in my house and whoever is there at the time controls them unlike my dad when the parents controlled the TV. My family is the same as the previous generation family, we all pretty much disperse after dinner and do our own thing. But my parents made it a point that we all had dinner together so that at least we would spend some time together.

My grandfather never attended sporting events in person, except for some soccer games played by amateurs in open dirt fields and barefoot. Balls were an expensive commodity and often made out of any materials available such as old women’s stockings. He couldn’t even afford to go to a lower league game. He followed sports through the AM radio when it was played in a public place that the particular event could air. My grandfather refers to sports as business, because pretty much it is now a days. “Media has made the business grow and turned into profit oriented activity by both players and owners, naturally large audiences are responsible for that phenomenon.” His reaction to the amount of advertising at the games and on TV is simply this “It is a necessary evil in order to transit the games free to large audiences that otherwise would be unable to watch the games.” I agree with him strongly.

The Catholic religion was very closed to the government at that time so they were not any religious programs to listen to on the radio. Back then the religious leaders were considered a part of authority; most people were afraid of them and did not necessarily respect them. He thinks that media has had an influence on religion in the past several decades. “Religion may now be discussed openly with different views. There is a better understanding, and is no longer something you are afraid of.” Religion was a very forbidden subject where he was from it was either Catholic or nothing else.

People during that time usually got information about the political campaigns from the media, new

Some topics in this essay:
Media Usage, Mania” Canada, Trade Center”, Monica Lewinsky, ESPN ESPN2, ED Sullivan, Prime Minister, Florida Ballot, Racing Sports, political campaigns, medium house, sporting events, religious leaders, main medium, religious programs, Trudeau Canadian, main medium house, information political campaigns, attended sporting, house television, home spare, radio home, attended sporting events, radio home spare,