There was a time when a lot of people didn’t have cable or satellite. We all watched the same four or five channels, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, eventually Fox, and an independent station.

We’d be deeply engrossed in some television show when this happened:

This was back in time, before everything was “breaking news.” When you saw “SPECIAL REPORT” on the screen, your heart would sink. You knew that when they interrupted a show, it was important news — and in that split-second, some part of you prepared for word that the Soviets had launched the missiles and you wouldn’t make it to dinner.