HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
Music by Alison Krauss…
A question from India about television …
But first, get ready for a ride!
Hybrid Vehicles
Hybrid vehicles are increasingly popular in the United States.Hybrids combine the usual internal combustion engine with abattery-operated electric motor. These automobiles produce their ownelectrical energy to keep the battery charged. Hybrids use lessgasoline, so they save oil. And they pollute less, so they arefriendlier to the environment. More from Gwen Outen.
GWEN OUTEN: Hybrids are still a very small part of the market.But the most popular hybrid in the United States currently is theToyota Prius [PRE-us]. Motor Trend magazine named the Prius its twothousand four car of the year. The Prius can run either on gasolineor electric power, or both together. Toyota says the Prius cantravel more than twenty kilometers on a liter of gasoline.
Other popular hybrids in the United States are the Honda Insightand the Honda Civic Hybrid. Their design is a little different fromthe Prius. Their electric motor cannot run the car alone.
Higher gasoline prices might be helping to fuel the interest inhybrid vehicles, but most are small cars. Many Americans want biggersport utility vehicles.
Last year, Ford Motor Company came out with a hybrid version ofan S.U.V. Like the Prius, the Ford Escape can run on eitherelectricity or gasoline or both. The Escape is a small S.U.V. But itis much larger than the Prius and sits higher off the ground.
However, both vehicles are built for only a driver and fourpassengers. That is not enough space for some people. So biggerhybrids are coming. In early two thousand five, Toyota is expectedto have a full-size hybrid S.U.V. The Highlander will have threerows of seats and hold seven people. Lexus, the luxury car divisionof Toyota, plans to begin selling a hybrid S.U.V. next year also.
And General Motors sells a full-size hybrid pickup truck, theSierra, in several markets around the country.
History of Television
DOUG JOHNSON: Our listener question this week comes from India.K.M.V. Shenoy asks about the history of television, and thedifferences among broadcast, cable and satellite TV.
A twenty-one-year-old American named Philo Farnsworth built thefirst working television receiver in nineteen twenty-seven. Manyscientists around the world had made important discoveries that ledto the development of television. But Philo Farnsworth hadrecognized as a boy that electrons could capture a picture sent aslight and sound waves through the air.
Over the years, the technology has changed and improved. But theidea behind broadcast television is still the same. TV stations senda powerful signal from a transmitting antenna. An antenna connectedto a television set receives the signal.
The problem with this system is that the receiver antenna has tobe in line with the transmitting antenna. Mountains or tallbuildings can interfere. One solution is cable television.
This system began in the nineteen forties in Pennsylvania. Only afew television stations existed then, and they were in large cities.People in small towns could not receive the signals. So a storeowner put an antenna on top of a pole and placed it on a nearbymountain. This antenna received the television signal. Wires ledfrom the antenna to the store. The cable brought clear pictures tothe television sets inside. Later, the idea of cable televisionspread to cities, to provide people with more stations to watch.
Today, people can watch hundreds of stations. And another way toreceive them is with a satellite dish antenna. A small round devicethe size of a pizza can receive signals from satellites high abovethe Earth. The antenna is connected to a special receiver whichconnects to the television set. Some broadcasts over satellite canbe watched free of charge. But the others cost money, just likecable service.
Engineers continue to develop new technologies to send andreceive television. People who go to buy a TV now have more choices.Too many, some would say. It can be difficult to know thedifference.
But some people know they are not happy with a traditionaltelevision. So they choose a set that can receive high-definitionTV. This produces clearer, larger pictures. This way, even if a showis not very good, at least you can see it better.
Alison Krauss
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HOST:
That was some fiddle music played by Alison Krauss with UnionStation, her band. Together they produce some of the best bluegrass,folk and country music recorded today. And they have a new albumout. Faith Lapidus has our story.
ANNCR:
Alison Krauss got her start playing fiddle with Union Station.One day, another member of the band asked if she could sing. So shedid.
Here is a song called “Wouldn’t Be So Bad.”
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Alison Krauss and Union Station have just released an albumcalled “Lonely Runs Both Ways.” The name of this song is “Restless.”
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Alison Krauss and Union Station have been collecting a lot ofmusic awards in the past few years. In February, Allison Krauss wonthree more Grammys. She now has seventeen Grammy awards. That ismore than any other female artist ever honored by the NationalAcademy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
We leave you with another song from “Lonely Runs Both Ways.” Thisone is called “Unionhouse Branch.” It shows just how much funbluegrass music can be.
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DOUG JOHNSON: This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed AMERICANMOSAIC.
This program was written by Nancy Steinbach, Caty Weaver and PaulThompson, who was also our producer. And our engineer was EfeemDrucker.
Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazinein Special English.