40 years later

The new year marks the start of this writer’s 40th year as a broadcaster and journalist.

- By BILL VELASCO

Wow, four decades is a lifetime, but in my case, it has been several. Our batch graduated a month after EDSA. Since then, we have seen the world go by, or in this particular case, sat in the front row, as history was being made. We've been around for so long, we have to qualify our jokes with “please explain to people below 40,” just in case they don’t get the references.

Imagine a world without mobile phones, the internet, or even elevated trains and flyovers. People read newspapers and watched bulky television sets. You had to go to a library to do any kind of research, or photocopy an entire book when needed. Any foreign sports like the NBA, Major League Baseball, and the NFL were only available if you had an antenna that could receive Far East Network from Clark Airbase. Other than that, you had to directly call up people or have them fax you information that you needed. Such challenging times. How did we manage?