TV and memory
Ahmed Al-Maghlouth
My memory came back to many years with the beginning of TV broadcasting in the Kingdom through Dhahran TV «Aramco TV» and it was considered in its days the second TV after Iraqi TV. My uncle, the engineer “Abd al-Latif,” may God have mercy on him, has a TV, which made his council full of attendance from the elite of the people. You find some directors of government departments, notables, some family members, and even neighbors, entrenching themselves in the full assembly after the evening prayer in order to be able to watch the amazing and wondrous silver screen in At that time, and in order not to deprive the people of his house from watching, he devised a way to watch by placing “more than one mirror” that reflects what is broadcast on television, one in the majlis and the other inside the room next to him, which allows those sitting inside it to watch television, but in silence and without lighting. . And if a sound occurred, then the broadcast of the “mirrors” would stop, as the door to the room would be closed..! And for fear of being deprived of watching and following, everyone sitting inside adheres to the instructions and directions, so darkness and silence mix together to form a strange veil that is penetrated by the broadcast lights that reach it, like the light that reaches us through a small window.
In the hall of the Great Council, which is a large room with a high ceiling and several upper windows, glazed and colored, in addition to an opening for ventilation. And crosswise to form a beautiful view on the ceiling that gives the Majlis a distinction.
The television used to present daily and weekly programmes, Arab and American movies and series, sports shows, cultural competitions, and other things that the station offered during its years of broadcasting in Arabic.
One of the most popular programs that attracted attention was the American series (Bonanza), which documented an aspect of the life of an American "Cowboy" family. Likewise, the “Attorney” series “Perry Mason”, which used to make the council’s pioneers challenge each other to discover solutions to those issues that the famous series hero was defending.
The soap operas are only rivaled by the free wrestling program and their heroes, each of whom had his fans, lovers and fans, but sometimes the voices of the fans of this or that wrestler become louder so that the voices mix with the echo of laughter at the comments of the famous Bahraini broadcaster Issa Al-Jowder in his beloved Bahraini dialect, who was one of the great broadcasters On Dhahran TV, with Baba Hattab, presenter of the children's program, lawyer Ismail Al-Nazir, presenter of the World of Literature program, and Mr. Yacoub Salam, presenter of the Tonight Evening program, and I had participated in the program during adolescence.
May God have mercy on those famous people in that unforgettable time, especially when the world celebrates the day of (television), this device that shone on the whole world with its information, culture, news coverage and entertainment, so it brings people back in different decades to their memories with him and how he was a means of family gathering , and even a wide source of livelihood in cafes or clubs and even in schools by employing it for broad educational aspects, especially in countries and places where there are no schools.
Dhahran TV has been able to gather members of the same family, and even from other families, relatives and neighbors, and their gathering around this magical jazz has become a lived phenomenon in various societies in the world.
