The Clicker

I have two in the living room – one for the rarely used DVD player and the other for the Roku tv which is constantly misplaced.   Most of the televisions and media devices I’ve purchased as an adult all came with remote controls.   The remote that came with our sound system had a remote that could be programmed for other devices.  I have an app on my phone for the Roku.  But my grandparents  had a clicker. 

Well – it’s Tesla’s fault. He created the first wireless remote and introduced it at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1898. It controlled a boat with one antenna  receiving signals from a box equipped with a lever and a telegraph key (originally designed to send Morse code signals). Of course it was for the military, who didn’t use it. 

The clicker, to my great surprise, actually used the click to operate the TV. The Zenith Space Command controller employed high-frequency ultrasonic sound. It had tiny hammers in it that struck aluminum rods, creating different sounds used only by the TV’s receiver. Robert Adler created the device in 1956. Zenith was an Illinois company back then, which was another reason my grandparents had one. Granddad was a buy American- state of Illinois product even better- sort of guy.

Clickers slowly crept into American homes. While over 95 percent of U.S. households had televisions by 1969, ten years later only 17 percent of U.S. television households were using a remote control. A remote added 30% to the price of the tv. It was flashy and posh. I’m not surprised my grandparents had one. Granddad was a big man in town. He liked the flash. 

I have vague fuzzy memories of a two button remote from the late 70s. It was a big deal when I was allowed to use it. We never watched a lot of TV at their house, so there weren’t many opportunities to use it. We most likely fetched it for them to turn on the Cubs game.

I remember the six button remote much clearer. The tv sat oin a corner shelf about three feet off the ground. The clicker lived on a side table close to Ggranddad’s recliner. Eventually it was just used to turn the tv on and to the proper channel so you could turn on the cable box.

Ultrasonic remotes were popular for around twenty years. The tech was supplanted by infrared lasers. Remotes got more complex as media devices spawned in the 80s and were so much easier to misplace. I don’t remember ever losing the space command one between couch cushions.