One of the best Super Bowl commercials (in my opinion) was the Radio Shack one featuring a throwback to the ’80s. Brilliant I think because in this day and age of Best Buy I haven’t heard anyone talk about going to Radio Shack since the ’80s.

The ad reminded me of how fast technology has come. When I first started at WFSB in 1992 covering stories like the Foxwoods grand opening above, I wore a beeper, and really couldn’t carry a cell phone because it looked like this:

And by the mid to late 90s, phones were a little bit smaller but still cumbersome:

For those too young to remember beepers, well, they would beep and a number would show up to call. We would then have to find a pay phone, or break out the clunky cell phone that was unreliable and expensive to use. There used to be beeper stores everywhere, but they went the way of Nobody Beats the Wiz, remember them?

I checked around and was surprised to find that beepers are still being used…by doctors. They apparently work better in hospitals than modern smart phones.

Here’s that Radio Shack ad: