Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 14, 1995 TAG: 9506140063
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
OK, now that you know where your children are - you do, don't you? - you can concentrate on keeping the TV remote control in hand - and muting those obnoxiously loud commercials.
Remotes have a habit of turning up in the darndest places, according to a survey by Magnavox, which found that in and under furniture is the most likely hiding place for a remote control. However, they also get thrown in the garbage and left in the refrigerator.
Even dogs eat them, said Jeff Stanley, assistant sales manager at Holdren's home theater store opposite Valley View Mall.
Stanley said he sees a fair number of dog-chewed remotes, but most of the time he helps people who need to replace one that has been lost, he said.
Getting a duplicate of the remote control that came with the television set can be pricey - $30 to $100 - so most people go for a universal remote as a replacement, Stanley said. A universal can be bought for $13 to $30.
For a while, Radio Shack sold a "clapper" attachment that would beep if someone clapped their hands, so the remote could generally be located in the crevice of a sofa. But the company doesn't sell it any more, a store worker said.
However, Magnavox offers with one of its more expensive televisions a remote control that will signal if the television is turned on at the set. That way, a lost remote can be tracked by turning on the TV the old fashioned way, getting up off your duff.
I have a love-hate relationship with TV remotes. In the hands of a channel-surfer, they are deadly. The speed at which surfers make channels flash by can produce the same nausea in some people experience while watching microfilm speed through a viewer.
However, handled properly, a remote is a friend. It allows you to mute the sound during screaming commercials that seem endless.
Note, I said SCREAMING. Haven't you noticed how much the volume increases on some stations during some commercials?
Television stations get complaints regularly from viewers who find the added decibels annoying. The high quality of audio production that is done for commercials is one of the problems, but local television stations can modulate the volume.
It requires constant attention to control boards, however, said one television station worker. Because sound can vary greatly from one program or commercial to another, the sound level can't just be set for the day, he said.
The station employee spoke as a TV watcher equally aggravated by the variance in volume."There are some commercials that knock you out of your chair," the worker said. "TV advertisers want that pound-pound-pound."
Cox Cable Roanoke, which delivers all channels to many area homes, can control the volume only on local programming. Cox does get complaints, but if they involve network commercials, the callers are referred to the networks, a spokeswoman said.
If you are interested in getting some relief from one product outscreeching another, one avenue for help might be Norman Goldstein, chief of the media complaints department with the Federal Communications Commission. His phone number at the FCC is 202-418-1430.
In the meantime, try the mute button - if you can find your remote. Commercials are really quite interesting without sound.
by CNB