[00:00:00] Speaker A: On this episode of the Local Click, we welcome Paula Todd and Abby Jones with Woodbury Medical center in Woodbury, of course. And we also say hello to Mr. Josh Hoot, our outside plant supervisor at DTC. Of course, Justin is back with us. As always, we may talk esim just a little bit, so stay with us. It's gonna be a fun show.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Learn more about fun local events and interesting people throughout the heart of Middle Tennessee. With a dash of everyday tech talk thrown in for good measure. The local clique start
[00:00:33] Speaker A: and welcome to the Local Click. The Local Click is the technology based podcast brought to you by DTC Communications each and every month where we talk all things technology and local people.
And of course, always my sidekick is here with me like he is every month. Justin Malden. Hello, Justin. How are you doing today?
[00:00:53] Speaker C: I couldn't be better. How are you doing?
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Well, that's great. Hey, I like it when someone says I couldn't be better. I mean, where do you go from there? You're at the top, right?
[00:01:01] Speaker C: That's a pinnacle at the peak.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: That's it. That's it.
Well, it's hard to believe that October is here. You know, Christmas will be here before we know it.
Although as hot as it has been, it doesn't really feel correct to even talk about Christmas time just yet. But are you ready to wrap this year up?
[00:01:20] Speaker C: I mean, you talk about not talking about Christmas time yet. If you start going into stores, guess what? You see every.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Oh, I know, I know.
[00:01:27] Speaker D: It's.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: It seems like they, they put the Christmas items out earlier every year.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: You know, there's, there's other holidays and events happening between now and Christmas, but we skip those.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: And we gotta, we gotta go straight into to the holiday season.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true, that's true.
[00:01:42] Speaker C: That Christmas cheer.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: Well, speaking of Christmas, I think a lot of people probably use the Christmas holiday season, maybe as a time at least families to maybe give some Christmas gifts of technology, maybe a lot of new phones purchased for Christmas and that sort of thing.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: Hey, listen, listen. We just finished with Tech Timber and we're going into Techtober, so.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: That's right. That's a good way of putting it.
I wanted to ask your opinion before we go too much down that road though. One thing I always look forward to, when I get a new phone or even somebody in the immediate family get a phone, I want to say I want to see the camera because that seems like that's always one of the biggest parts of the new phones that gets improved upon.
What are Your thoughts on the use of these cameras and how much easier it is, I guess, to always have a camera on you compared to the way it used to be.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: I don't want to go too much because a little bit later we're going to give some updates and there's a first in the tech news roundup for an iPhone in what they did to update their camera.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: But I mean, the best camera is the one that you have on you.
[00:02:48] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:02:48] Speaker C: And the one that you have to use.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: And it is amazing to me how far things have come because, you know, I mentioned the iPhone on the first iPhone when it first came out, it couldn't do video, it could only do stills. And actually a lot of people don't remember that. It couldn't even do multimedia messaging.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:03:08] Speaker C: On the very. On the first iteration of the iPhone. So it could, it could take the photo, but you really weren't able to. To send it to the photo easily.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:17] Speaker C: And so we, we went from those old pixelated, even flip phones and brick phones that had, you know, we took the photo.
I've seen some of those and I don't know how many megapixels they were like, you know, point point two maybe.
[00:03:32] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:03:33] Speaker C: You know, 0.2 megapixels. And now there's not a moment that goes by that you're not able to capture.
But to capture it in, the fidelity that you can capture it in is what is amazing.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: It is amazing.
[00:03:47] Speaker C: I mean, the. The most used camera in the world. Do you know what the most used camera in the world is? It's the iPhone.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: I would.
[00:03:54] Speaker C: Yeah, the iPhone is the most used
[00:03:56] Speaker A: because everyone has one.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: Everyone has it.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Everyone that has an iPhone.
[00:03:59] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: So the, the most used camera again, because it's a device that you. You have on you and it's amazing.
The high quality photos that you can do now. It's amazing with computational photography and the enhancements of being able to process not only on your device, but they can send things to the cloud to fix mistakes. Not necessarily artificial intelligence is adding to or taking away from the photo.
But hey, let's fix the exposure and let's fix the saturation and let's fix those shadows. Make it as perfect as it can be or used to. You had to be a photo editor and you had to know how to do all these things. And not only can you just take the photo, but it can go in and be doing that editing for you on the fly and give you a photo edited, picture perfect quality version.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: It never Leaves your phone from the moment it's captured.
All of that happens on device without grabbing a computer, a laptop, or anything or sending it somewhere.
It's pretty amazing.
[00:05:05] Speaker C: You know, we don't have photo albums the way that we used to, but do you have shared photos?
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Some.
[00:05:10] Speaker C: Do you have a shared photo album?
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Some not.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: We have them with our family.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I have a few, but not as many as I kind of wish that we did.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: It makes it easy because as things happen, our family just starts throwing the stuff in there and we can see, oh, this event happened, or this happened, or this happened. So it makes things like that nice, too. Cause if you miss a family moment, somebody else may have captured it and you see it, it's like you're. Oh, well, I didn't really miss this. Right. I still get to be a part of it. I'm about to help a group out with archiving some old VHS tapes.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: And the problem with VHS tapes is they degrade over time.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:05:48] Speaker C: You know, your photos, those old photos that you have will have chemical reactions to the air and different things like that. And so they will degrade.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: Over time as well. Those digital photos are not subject to that same degradation.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: That's true.
[00:06:03] Speaker C: Over time.
And so that is. Yeah.
[00:06:05] Speaker E: The.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: The storage medium makes a difference in being able to preserve it forever.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:10] Speaker C: Archival storage, you can preserve. You can preserve that photo forever.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: That's amazing to me.
[00:06:16] Speaker C: And everything that's on there is so easy now. Right. So we. If you want to take a photo, well, it automatically does the same settings based on your conditions for you. You click the button, you want to edit the photo. Most of the time, there's an auto button to edit the photo. We want to crop this photo. We want. Whatever it is you want to do. Everything is, you know, almost one touch simple.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: Every step of the way.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: That's right.
So really, hey, there's no excuse. Use that phone. Take some. Take some good photos. Because it's never been easier, that's for sure. So we're going to change gears, though. For first, we've got some great guests on this month's episode of the Local Click. Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll be speaking with Mr. Josh Hoot. He's the outside plant supervisor at DTC. And you're talking about a busy DTC employee. I mean, they. All of them are really. But I know he is because there's always something going on when you're. When you're installing fiber and you got crews running all over multiple counties and that sort of thing. So Josh has a really important role. He's going to share some of the things, things he does here at DTC to keep our customers connected. But first, we're going to talk about some things in the medical field with two professionals that will keep us updated and informed on what they do to help people stay healthy. And that would be Ms. Paula Todd and Ms. Abby Jones with Woodbury Medical Center.
And for this segment of the local clique, we're very lucky to have, Straight from Woodbury Medical center, just across the road from the Studios, here is Ms. Paula Todd and Ms. Abby Jones. Hello. And how are y' all doing today?
[00:07:53] Speaker D: Thanks for having us.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: Hey, no problem. We appreciate you being here with us. It's always great to talk to experts in their field. And when it comes to medical experts, that is something I definitely am not. So I'm glad you guys are here and can kind of keep us straight a little bit on some of these topics. But before we get started and talk about all things medical, let's get to know you both a little bit better. Paula, would you like, start us off?
[00:08:16] Speaker D: I'm Paula Todd, and I've been in Cannon county here for about 22, 23 years. I'm married to Dr. Jeff Todd over there at the clinic. We have three sons that are grown, and he brought me to the county.
Their family's been here for years as farmers and business owners in Cannon County.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Okay, but now you're basically a Cannon county, and you've been here long enough. Yeah, that's right.
[00:08:33] Speaker D: Pretty much.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: What about you, Abby?
[00:08:36] Speaker E: Well, I was born and raised in Murfreesboro, so I don't really have too much connection with Canning County.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: But you're not far.
[00:08:42] Speaker E: We did play Canning county high school and high school. In high school.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:46] Speaker E: Because I went to Central Magnet. Apparently, that was a big rivalry.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Rivalry there.
[00:08:51] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker E: Yeah. And then I am married, and we're expecting our first child in January.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Oh, well, congratulations. That's awesome. What inspired you both to kind of go into family medicine? And also any details you might have about how Woodbury Medical center got started?
[00:09:06] Speaker D: I had an advisor at Lipscomb University, Dr. Linda Roberson, who was really instrumental in encouraging women to go into healthcare.
[00:09:12] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:09:13] Speaker D: And then Woodbury Medical center got started in the 70s from Dr. Ruland and Dr. Wolf. They built that building that we're in, and it opened in 1979, serving birth to death.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: What about you, Abby?
[00:09:25] Speaker E: So when I was in college, my parents, like, they encouraged me to volunteer and they would never let me have a job, but I volunteered at a free medical clinic in college and it really sparked me to want to provide care to all ages.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:43] Speaker E: And be somewhere, someone that people could go to that's not a specialist.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: You're there to help people with their problems. They don't have to even know what the problem is and find that. But sometimes you have a problem, you don't need you, you don't know you need a specialist for sure. That's, that's good to know. So I'm sure you see, because you kind of hinted at it, you see patients from all stages of life. Right.
[00:10:06] Speaker D: We do a wide range of preventative medicine. Chronic disease management, heart disease, acute care, injury needs, pretty much anything can walk through the door.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Wow, that's great.
[00:10:15] Speaker D: Catch all. Catch a catch all.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: What is that like though, when you wake up in the morning, is it kind of exciting knowing that you really never know what you're going to run into or what's the kind of cases you'll see?
[00:10:25] Speaker D: That is one word, exciting.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: It's never boring.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: It's never boring. Is it true? How much, how much energy does it take to, to. And I'm being serious because it's such a fast pace. Right. We in a, as a society in general, we live at a fast pace, but with what you guys both are doing, you're seeing so many people in a standard day and you have to know so much about so many wide different topics from a medical aspect. Is that overwhelming sometimes?
[00:10:52] Speaker E: Just.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Or do you.
[00:10:54] Speaker E: It's kind of interesting.
[00:10:55] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:56] Speaker E: It honestly that, to me that provides more energy because you're not doing the same thing all day every day.
[00:11:00] Speaker D: I agree.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Do you ever sometimes get stumped and you're like, oh yeah, I've got to phone a friend. I've got to phone a friend.
[00:11:06] Speaker D: Yeah, that's on some friends over the years for sure.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Well, Woodbury is such a close knit community, I think as a lot of small towns, rural places are.
What do you love most about caring for your, your friends and your neighbors? I mean, a lot of these people you've known for a long time and you know, you really are sometimes literally neighbors, some of these people. What is that like?
[00:11:30] Speaker D: It provided a sense of belonging to a community and we get to grow old with each other. They watch my boys grow up on ball fields, vacation Bible school. They're watching her family grow up and expand and they share gifts with you and they share in the joy with you.
[00:11:43] Speaker E: I mean, yeah, it's truly, it's just very encouraging.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:47] Speaker E: It reminds you that there are good people out in the world.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that.
[00:11:51] Speaker E: That. It's just nice to know that there's a small community and that they're rooting for you as much as we're rooting for them.
[00:11:58] Speaker D: We know we could call on anyone here in the community and they would show up for us. I know they would.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: Yeah. If you would, kind of recap again, some of your range of services that you offer there.
[00:12:07] Speaker D: Yeah. Acute care, chronic care, maternal health, elderly health, injury. He's. Lots of prevention, diet. We focus on a lot.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Well, a lot of times in smaller towns, you don't have access to a lot of individual specialists, like a dietitian per se, easily or things like that. So do you find yourself having to wear a lot of hats because of the location that you're in?
[00:12:30] Speaker D: Most patients are really receptive to it, though.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a great resource to have here too.
[00:12:34] Speaker E: And then the Internet, honestly, telehealth, like dietitians are like on the Internet now. And mental health, and that's been great help too.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: It's changed a lot in that aspect, for sure. Well, as we feed into the month of October, for a lot of people, unfortunately, that means only one thing that could be seasonal allergies. Now, do you see a lot of patients for those needs?
[00:12:57] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, for sure. Especially in hay cutting season.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah.
[00:13:01] Speaker D: Which is now.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Which is right now. That's right. Is it a one size fits all solution for people, or do you sometimes have to specialize your response and medication requests and stuff based on that specific person's allergies and things like that?
[00:13:16] Speaker D: That's primary care in general is. There's not a cookie cutter answer. Everybody's gonna respond differently to treatments and medications. So, yeah, you definitely have to tailor it per patient.
[00:13:25] Speaker E: Yeah. And then their background, their history, their
[00:13:27] Speaker A: medical history, it's all about helping people, really.
[00:13:30] Speaker H: What's.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Is that the most rewarding part of what you do or some other aspects of what you do that you find rewarding?
[00:13:36] Speaker E: No, that's probably. That's why I come to work every day.
[00:13:39] Speaker D: Yeah. Resolution of medical problems, watching them become healthier, able to get off a lot of their medications.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:44] Speaker D: Watching them get their weight at goal, watching them feel better, having more energy to say yes to the kids and the grandkids on the ball field. And that's very rewarding.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: Talk about how close you have to get with your patients, because we're talking about. This is a small town, everybody knows everybody. I Mean, let's be honest here. We really did.
[00:14:01] Speaker E: That's why I like being from Murfreesboro.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: You're not that far away. That's right.
But you know what I'm saying. I mean in a small town, it really is a big deal. I think having a medical practice the way you guys do is different in a town like Woodbury than it would be in Hermitage.
[00:14:18] Speaker D: They invite you to their kids ball games, they invite you to their parties, their church gatherings and, and you show up and.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:25] Speaker E: It provides a sense of trust.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Do you also build a lot of friendships through this?
[00:14:30] Speaker D: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:31] Speaker E: I enjoy going to work and talking to every single patient.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Well, as far as technology goes, I'm sure you, you, you both have to use technology every single day in what you do. How has maybe some of the technology from DTC helped you be more efficient or more complete in what you do?
[00:14:46] Speaker D: We use them for our medical record system. Our EMR goes through the, the Internet and we use telehealth. They're our security system for the office. They help us get our labs in. Patient portals are in there. We import stuff from the national registries. Tennessee Registry for vaccines.
We import stuff from the national registry for medical examiners for our DOT drivers. So we couldn't do it without dtc. Their it helps us build lots of firewalls to keep us safe, which is important. It's huge. And I know those guys and gals like the back of my hand and I can call them anytime and they keep a watch on my security for me. They tell me when it goes down and I know, I don't think I would have that everywhere, but I know two or three of them personally on my cell phone. I can call them and they'll do the same for me at night.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Well, you know, we talked about those close relationships with patients. It's also the same with business to business help too.
[00:15:34] Speaker D: We couldn't do it without dtc.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome. We're glad to play a small part in hopefully helping you be successful.
[00:15:40] Speaker E: Big part. Yeah.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Now how has technology changed your efficiency as a. Just as generally speaking. Do you think it makes you more efficient?
[00:15:49] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:15:49] Speaker D: Oh yes.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Get answers quicker and yeah, before you
[00:15:53] Speaker D: would have to dig through paper charts back in the 90s and now everything's just a click like a virtual folder and a chart. It's game changer.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:01] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Which also helps the patient, right?
[00:16:04] Speaker D: Oh yeah. You don't miss things and you're not waiting on things to come back for weeks. You Usually get it within a couple hours.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:10] Speaker E: You can look at things that people did years ago rather than searching in the back closet.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Right?
[00:16:15] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: One thing we talk about a lot on our program is AI and how it has changed the world in so many different ways. Now are you guys also seeing that
[00:16:25] Speaker D: it helps with our dictations, our notes, we're more efficient with our noting, more thorough with our noting.
[00:16:31] Speaker E: It picks up like they have scribes now and they pick up things that we don't remember to write down in our charts.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Oh, that's neat.
[00:16:38] Speaker E: Makes you more efficient and more thorough
[00:16:41] Speaker D: when you're treating patients. And insurance can see that you're doing a good job for their patients.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Now do you see that continuing to grow in the future to the use of AI?
[00:16:48] Speaker D: We're seeing it now. I mean it's kind of doing overread on mammograms. We're seeing it overread on a lot of different radiology. Yeah, a lot of radiology.
[00:16:55] Speaker A: Really?
[00:16:56] Speaker D: Yeah. It's much more accurate sometimes. Okay, sometimes. Sometimes.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Sometimes. I like the way you said that sometimes. And it. But it's getting better too, right?
[00:17:04] Speaker D: It is.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: The more it analyzes, it's probably like most things technology, the. The more it's fine tuned and tweaked, the better it gets.
[00:17:11] Speaker D: Correct.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Are there any new services that you're getting ready to offer, any wellness type initiatives or things like that that are kind of in the works that you'd like to talk about?
[00:17:20] Speaker D: Flu season.
We both had our vaccines in the last week, so we're very into prevention because nobody needs the flu wind up in the hospital and diseases lead to a lot of inflammation and problems down the road.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:31] Speaker D: And a simple vaccine would prevent dementia down the road. So I am very pro not getting sick if I can help that and
[00:17:38] Speaker E: then just encouraging people to maximize their health and lifestyle choices.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Do you have any suggestions on maybe just one simple thing that people could do that they don't think about that would really make them a healthier person and live longer?
[00:17:52] Speaker E: My go to right now is a 10 minute walk after you eat.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: So just stay active.
[00:17:56] Speaker E: Something simple and something easy to start.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: But it's kind of different from just being like, well I'm going to help myself versus they really care, they want me to do better and plus I don't want to disappoint them. Do you ever get that?
[00:18:09] Speaker D: Yeah. And I try to encourage them. Like I'm not here to be your, you know, your priest or your parent. I'm Here. I'm here to walk the journey with you, you know.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, for anyone looking to switch to you guys for their primary care, where you're at and where you're located and. And how to get ahold of you, can you share that information with us?
[00:18:27] Speaker D: Right by the Farm Bureau, right by DTC, right by McDonald's, and we're woodburymedicalcenter.org
[00:18:32] Speaker A: it's really great to hear that our services are hopefully making a small and what you do, and we just wish you all the best in your business.
[00:18:40] Speaker D: Thank you for having us.
[00:18:41] Speaker E: Thanks for having us.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Thanks for being on the program. Everybody. Stay tuned. We got more of the podcast coming up in just a moment.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: Do you know what room the router's in? I can't get onto my Zoom meeting.
[00:18:51] Speaker D: Try it in our spacious new family room.
[00:18:54] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Still not working.
[00:19:00] Speaker D: Try it in our beautiful backyard.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: Still nothing.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Your new home checked everything off your list except for Internet from DTC.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: Oh, come on.
Sign
[email protected] for fast and reliable Internet.
[00:19:17] Speaker I: You know that DTC provides great products and services to your home, and you can get the same great value for your business with DTC Business Solutions. Whether you're making sales over the phone or online to customers around the world.
We deliver the reliable business solutions you need at a competitive price, and we do it all with uncompromising service.
Let's talk about what matters to your business, called DTC Business Solutions today.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: And welcome back to the Local Click. You know, technology always speaks a lot of languages, and today we're here to translate it into yours with our segment called the Tech Translator.
[00:20:02] Speaker C: So, Nick, I am sure that you have heard the word that I'm about to talk about. You have probably even held one of the cards in your hand for what I'm going to talk about at some point in the past.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: And everybody, if you've got a mobile phone, you have utilized this technology in some form or fashion. Whether you realized you were doing it or not, you have. But what I want to talk about today is esim. E S I M E sim esim.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: Now, if you want to get really technical, it means embedded subscriber identity module.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: I like esim. Let's go with esim.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: We'll keep it simple. Easier to say what some people may remember if you hear esam. Well, I've heard something similar. Maybe you've heard SIM card.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:48] Speaker C: Is what a lot of people will think of is a SIM card. Because that used to be. If you look on the side of your cell phone, you may have a little slot with a little tiny hole that you can take a paperclip in and you can push it in and it'll pop out.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:01] Speaker C: And there may or may not actually be a SIM card in there right. Now, if you go to do this, if you've got a device, or you may look and be like, well, there's not one there at all. And there's a reason for that. And that's what we're going to talk about today. So used to a physical SIM was a physical card, and they've gotten smaller over the years. We've got micro and Nano SIM cards now. So they've gotten smaller and smaller. But it was a physical chip that would go inside of your phone and what it would do was kind of like your phone's ID card.
It is what told your phone what carrier you were on, what your phone number is, you know, what your plan is, what you have access to everything.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: It's very important.
[00:21:43] Speaker C: Everything that made your phone run was on that card. If you took that card out and you tried to use your phone, no success, Put that card back in and it would work.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker C: And used to the old way was, you know, you could. You could swap that. You could take that SIM card out, put a different SIM card in, and maybe change your phone number or swap carriers, whatever it may be. And that was the process to swap your phone.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:22:06] Speaker C: I remember doing that years and years ago when I changed carriers. The problem was I had to have them ship me a new SIM card. So I had to wait for the thing to come in the mail, then I had to do it myself.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: And you have to physically handle it. It can become damaged, you can lose it. There's lots of things that that can happen.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: And like you said, also, I remember it was always a big deal, make sure you get the correct size SIM card. Because there were times when I would have a phone and I'd get a new phone and the old SIM card would no longer fit in the new phone. So.
[00:22:39] Speaker C: So I did that one time.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Did you do that as well?
[00:22:41] Speaker C: And I bought a tool to chop
[00:22:44] Speaker A: down my new card to physically cut
[00:22:46] Speaker C: it, and it worked. It actually worked.
It didn't damage the components. I would not have recommended that back in the day, but I did like, oh, wait, it's not going to work anyway. What's going. Let me just try this. And it worked.
[00:22:58] Speaker A: Yeah, that's pretty neat.
[00:23:00] Speaker C: So what has happened now, though, is we have started to see a transition into esim okay? And esim, instead of it being a physical card, the E stands for embedded.
It is an embedded chip on your phone that stays on your phone all the time. And so it's a little tiny chip, but it's permanently soldered inside your phone, so you can't remove it like old school SIM cards. There's no removing stays there. But what happens with this is, is that the data on it can be changed and it can be programmed. And so carriers can. Can change that by giving you a new ECM is what they will say. They'll say, hey, we're going to give you a new ecm. And what they're doing is they're giving you a QR code or they're giving you a link or something that will allow your phone to program that ECM with the information that the carrier's providing you. So the carrier is still providing the information.
It's just programmable instead of embedded in a card. So it's much easier to change and transition, you know, and it's really. There's a lot of ways that it's safer, too.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: And you don't have to trim that ecm.
[00:24:10] Speaker C: No, you don't have to trim that ecm. Yeah, you don't have to wait for it to arrive in the mail or anything either. And so it's, it's pretty, it's pretty interesting to see this. There's a lot of advantages to it, but you're seeing a transition. All iPhones, since 2022, all they have is ECM. They actually have two ECMs, so you can actually run two different plans. You could run two different carriers, you could run two same carrier, two different numbers, all kinds of things that you can do right with it.
Now, Android phones, for the most part, they have an ecm, and most, if you buy a new Android phone, it's going to be programmed through the ecm, but there is still a physical SIM card slot as well. It's usually just not used anymore. So it's still on the device. It's just not used for an ecm, though. I'll tell you, man, there's so many things that are positive about it, and travel is going to be the first thing. Okay, we'll talk about easy use in a second. But travel, if you have a plan that does not have the capability of doing international travel or international data, or you just don't want to pay for whatever your carrier is going to charge you, you have the option that you could activate another ESIM and through another carrier utilize potentially Another phone number or data. For instance, this year when I went on a family vacation, it happened to be a cruise. I can tell you no carrier provides data on a cruise ship for free.
Does not happen. Doesn't matter who you have, it's going to cost you. It ain't. It is not free on a cruise ship because they use the wireless maritime network. It's what it's called wms. And so all the carriers have to pay to access it. I did. I was too cheap. I did not want to pay for the WI FI on the cruise ship and I did not want to pay daily for, for the access to through my carrier. I didn't feel like it was worth it. So what I did is I found a provider that did data only, did not provide a phone number, but did data only. And they did. Specifically it was for international travel and cruise ships so they could access the wireless maritime network. And I was able to go in and literally like 90 seconds. I had an ECM programmed. So when I hopped on the cruise ship, I turned off my cellular for my primary carrier and turned that on when we got out to sea. Got to do it when you were actually in international waters.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: And it worked flawlessly.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: I didn't have any, any issues whatsoever.
Finished with the vacation, got back home, turned it off, turned my primary ones back on. That ECM actually is still in. It is still in my phone. If I ever want to go on another trip, I don't have to reinstall. I can reactivate and do the stuff again and just turn it back.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: That's pretty neat. Yeah.
[00:26:57] Speaker C: And so, so that's an option. I was able, and I didn't have to have a physical SIM card. It's. It's not in use right now, but it's still on my phone if I ever want to turn it on.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:27:07] Speaker C: I actually have the ability to do that. And, and I'm. I'm an individual that already I run two separate numbers for. For, for different reasons on my device. But I can turn one of them off and turn this other one back on if I ever want. Want to in the future.
And so that's an option. Security is one of the big things too. Back in the day, somebody could physically steal your SIM card and, you know, move it. They could. If they got access to your phone, they could take the SIM card out. They can move that SIM card to another device and activate it. Now there's some other things that have happened since then where it's tied to the phone. The SIM card is that have changed since then, so that's not as big of an issue. But it is more secure because it's a lot harder.
You can't pull an ESIM out of a phone and stick it into another phone. It does not work the same way. But simplicity is probably the biggest reason.
And it helps you a ton because if you want to switch plans or you want to switch carriers with esim, it is so simple to do and you can do it oftentimes over the phone, you know, with just a click of a few buttons. It is a very simple and seamless process now.
And I will tell you with ecm, it's made Trilot Mobile.
You know, it makes it very easy to switch the Trilot Mobile with dtc.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:28:30] Speaker C: If you, if you're interested in that and want to learn more information, reach out to us or visit dtccom.net for that. But utilizing an ECM as part of that process to help make it very easy and very simple is one of the reasons to be able to do that.
You know, some other things that, why you've seen ESIMs happen is it's less stuff in a phone takes up less space, means the phone can use that space for storage or for a battery or for, for other things as well. And again, this isn't new. You know, Apple has transitioned completely to ecm. But I think in the future you will see everybody transition over to using an ESIM in their devices. And it's gonna. It already is the default. Your device may have a SIM card when you buy a new device, but it does not have a SIM card in it by default. Yeah, everybody's using ESIM as the default technology and the default function for all those various reasons.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: Well, it's good to know that I don't have to grab the scissors or whatever cutting tool now to make one physical SIM card fit another phone. It sounds like it's a lot simpler.
[00:29:43] Speaker C: It is much. It is much, much, much simpler. And again, this is a piece of technology that you are utilizing in your life right now. You just don't realize, you just don't think about it. And if you have ever thought to yourself, man, I would love to to swap my carrier and I've heard about Trilot Mobile and it sounds great and it's an awesome price point, but I was just going to be so hard to swap.
I promise you it's a lot easier than you think it will be.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:30:12] Speaker C: And our customer experience representatives with DTC Communications will Make that process as simple as they can for you.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: Make sure you check it out if you haven't already. And not only is it simple and a great process could save you a lot of money too. So, I mean, you've got nothing to lose. I would definitely recommend checking it out.
And for this segment of the local click, we're very lucky to have Mr. Josh Hoot. He is the outside plant supervisor with DTC. How's it going today, Josh?
[00:30:41] Speaker G: Going good. How about you, Nick?
[00:30:42] Speaker A: I'm doing great. We're very lucky to have you here because I know personally just how busy you are. You are always involved in so many different projects. You're a very busy man. So thank you for taking the time to be here, sir.
[00:30:53] Speaker G: Thank you for having me.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Before we get to talking more about some of the technical sides of what you do with DTC and helping customers, let's get to know you a little bit better. First, tell us about yourself and your family and your background.
[00:31:05] Speaker G: Lived in Middle Tennessee for almost 22 years now.
Before that, being the oldest of nine children in a missionary family. Have lived everywhere from Texas to Oklahoma to Tennessee to Dominican Republic.
[00:31:18] Speaker E: Oh, wow.
[00:31:18] Speaker G: A little bit of everywhere.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Well, you really have been around.
[00:31:21] Speaker G: We have, yes.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Yeah. So you got to. You've gotten to see a lot of the world.
[00:31:25] Speaker G: I have, yeah. Yep.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: And. And yet you chose us here in middle Tennessee.
[00:31:29] Speaker G: We did, yeah. My. My family ended up joining a church here in middle Tennessee, so.
Been here since 2004.
Met my wife in 2010 and happily married for 15 years with two beautiful children.
[00:31:45] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, congrats on that. So, well, tell us, how long have you been at dtc? And then also kind of tell us more about what does an outside plant supervisor really do in layman's terms, I
[00:31:56] Speaker G: guess I've been with DTC for 10 wonderful years.
Outside plant supervisor.
I oversee 17 technicians. We do everything from installing fiber, splicing, IT running trouble tickets, and we also. I'm also over the security team here at dtc.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Oh, okay. That's a lot of hats.
[00:32:18] Speaker G: It is, yeah.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Is it hard to remember which hat you're wearing any one time? It can be one to the other.
[00:32:24] Speaker G: I have a great team that work with me, and we all keep everything running smoothly.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: That's what it takes is how do you keep such a big crew organized and working together like that? Because everyone's got their fire to put out, so to speak. Right. Every. Every crew, every team member, that sort of thing. And yet you're kind of in charge of overseeing all of that and shifting gears a lot. How do you approach doing that?
[00:32:51] Speaker G: Well, it starts with, like I said, a good team.
My guys, they're very good at what they do makes. Which makes my job a lot easier.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:01] Speaker G: But I'm. I'm there whenever there's something they can't figure out to, to help them with it.
As far as keeping them coordinated.
It can be a little chaotic at times because you really never know in this job. When you come in in the morning, you think you know what your day is going to look like, but you really don't. Because at dtc, we're not. Like a lot of other places where somebody calls in without service, it's not going to be the next day.
[00:33:25] Speaker F: Right.
[00:33:25] Speaker G: We're going to be there that day.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:26] Speaker G: We're going to get you back working.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: And that can change too, like during the day. Right. You may start your morning with one task in mind to complete for the day. But if something comes up, could be a weather situation or something, whatever, you
[00:33:39] Speaker G: know, it could be a right of way, crew cuts, a mainline fiber, could be somebody digging in their front yard and cut a fiber, it could be a little bit of everything.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: Now, do you find that stressful sometimes? Because I can imagine on your shoulders you almost feel like, you know, these people are depending on me and my team to get this back up running again because they need their service and stuff. How do you deal with that? Stress? Part of it. Do you ever. Does that ever get to you? You just try to put it in perspective or.
[00:34:04] Speaker G: I've always felt like in the past jobs that I've had before dtc, I did the same thing every day. It got boring. I kind of like the mystery of it all and knowing I'm not going to be in the same place every day at the same time.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: That's a good way to approach it. Yeah. Of course. DTC is celebrating 75 years this year. So what are your thoughts on working for a cooperative that has been so crucial to the community for so long?
[00:34:33] Speaker G: It's something I really take pride in, being with dtc, knowing that they've served this community for that long. And just in my 10 years, how much things have changed with technology and how DTC has been able to adapt with that and stay.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: Stay current with everything, stay relevant that. That long.
[00:34:52] Speaker G: It is. And I feel like we wouldn't have been here for 75 years if it wasn't for the people before us instilling, you know, the qualities that we hold true today is we're not just an Internet provider. We are a part of the community. You know, everybody here is local and you know, go to church with school, church ball games, whatever, with the customers that we serve.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: That's true.
[00:35:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: It's almost like the customers and the cooperative are a team in a lot of ways.
[00:35:20] Speaker G: It is.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: If you had to pick a typical day in the life for an outside plant supervisor, is there, is there a certain kind of normal day maybe for, for when you come in, things you might do or things you might see or not really.
[00:35:34] Speaker G: I mean, the first thing I'm going to do when I come in in the morning is look at our schedule, see what our guys have at that particular time, if there's something maybe we had missed in the scheduling that they need help with or something like that. But generally we, we don't really know what that day is going to look like. It's. It's a play it by ear kind of job.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And I guess that means your team has to be pretty flexible too then.
[00:35:57] Speaker G: They do, yes.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: They be willing to change at a moment's notice, right?
[00:36:01] Speaker G: Yes. Happens all the time.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: Yeah. It's just part of the, part of the deal.
[00:36:05] Speaker G: It is, yeah.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: Well, let's talk a little bit about weather because it's the one thing honestly we cannot control.
Right.
Talk about what it means to, to always have that up against, against you all the time. How do you approach that as far as dealing with weather and your crews and stuff? I mean, I assume no matter what, you guys pretty much have to respond even if the sometimes, if those weather situations are still ongoing, Right?
[00:36:33] Speaker G: Yes. I mean, of course safety is always first. We have lightning in the area. We're not going to.
[00:36:38] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:38] Speaker G: Touch anything depending on where it's at in traffic. But you know, in the, in the past, like, you know, we've had the tornado in red Evil in 23, we've had one in Gornsville. I can't remember exactly which year, but being able to respond to that in the way we did and as fast as, you know, when it hit Readyville that Saturday morning, we were out here pretty quick.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:03] Speaker G: And had almost everybody service that we could get back working that had a place where we could physically connect the drop to. We had them back up by most of them that afternoon and we came back in Sunday morning and got some more back working. But it, it's a testament to the teamwork that DTC had that in those occasions where it starts with our central dispatch team, you know, and technical support in the office that they take the calls and hey, they organize that and push it out to the guys. And then our construction crews and outside plant technicians, they're on the spot, ready to go as soon as we get the all clear to start working.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: It takes a team effort.
[00:37:45] Speaker G: It does. It's not just my department. It's, it's a little bit of everything from in the office to out in the field. Everybody works together.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Yeah. I've noticed too, a lot of cooperatives, not just in communications, but in general. You know, if there's a problem, sometimes even out of state, if there's a problem, really big issue, you might get called in to assist and help with that. Have. Is there times when DTC has also been called in to assist in other states in different places when things like that happen?
[00:38:13] Speaker G: Yes. The recent hurricane in North Carolina.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:16] Speaker G: We actually went up there and helped another cooperative on two occasions.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:38:21] Speaker G: Over a couple of weeks. Help them get their infrastructure back up and get customers back, back in service.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: That's. To me that just, that shows so much class, if I can, for lack of a better way to say it. And I know I work at DTC too. I'm not trying to over brag on us, but I mean, you know, you're kind of putting yourself and your team out there to help people you don't know that aren't your customers.
[00:38:46] Speaker G: That's it.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: And that's to me, it's just, it's really classy. So it's just like it's a pretty stand up thing to do. I'm sure they had to be very appreciative, right?
[00:38:53] Speaker G: Oh, they were. Yeah. And I know they would help us
[00:38:56] Speaker A: if we call it the other way around. Yeah.
[00:38:59] Speaker G: Almost like, you know, everybody's on the same team.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:01] Speaker G: Deal.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:03] Speaker G: And it kind of goes back to what I was told when I interviewed it DTC the first time they, my boss told me, he said, now you might be fixing somebody's Internet this day, but the next day you may go to an elderly lady's house and she needs her gutters cleared out. Hey, let's, let's help her out.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: We're here to make a difference in lives one way.
[00:39:24] Speaker G: And that's, that's what our teams, they all live by is we're all about the customer first.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: That's right. Absolutely. If you look at all the different tools that you and your guys and crew work with on a day to day basis, is there like one tool specifically? You're like, we could not do our job without this tool or if we did, it would surely make it a lot harder. Is there something that comes to mind when you think about that?
[00:39:46] Speaker G: There is. It's. It's called an otdr, so.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: Otdr.
[00:39:50] Speaker G: OTDR Optical Time Domain Reflector.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: Sounds technical.
[00:39:54] Speaker G: It does. And it's.
It's the best tool we have in our bag.
Basically, with fiber optic, we can plug this plug of fiber into this device.
And whether it's a hard bend or a cut, it tells us down to the foot, exactly where it's at.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: So it tells you the. Where the problem is. So when you say down to the foot, what if it's like miles? Does it still?
[00:40:20] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: Really?
[00:40:21] Speaker G: We read one the other night that showed 45, 000ft and it was spot on.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:40:27] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: Now that's got to save a lot of time.
[00:40:30] Speaker G: It does. A whole lot of time. Now in the copper days, we had something similar, but it wasn't as accurate and as easy to. To use.
[00:40:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that would definitely probably rank in the. One of the top things I can imagine that. Saving a whole lot of time.
[00:40:46] Speaker G: So.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: Well, looking back at all of your time at DTC, I mean, 10 years is quite a while. I mean, that's a decade of service. So is there a challenging time or moment that you can remember, maybe a project you've worked on where you really feel like you're proud of, that you and your team were really able to make a difference? I guess, yeah.
[00:41:04] Speaker G: I feel like for the most recent one is about the biggest one I've. I've helped with so far is the Wilson County Fairgrounds. The WI FI project.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
Now tell everybody a little bit about what that was.
[00:41:16] Speaker G: So basically we supplied the Wilson County Fairgrounds, the whole property with WI fi, whether anywhere from out on the grounds to the parking lot to inside each one of the buildings.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: Now that's, that's a big fairgrounds, right?
[00:41:33] Speaker G: Yes, it's state fair, so it's. It's huge.
[00:41:38] Speaker F: How do you.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: How in the world would you tackle a project that scope and size?
[00:41:41] Speaker G: Takes a lot of. A lot of planning and preparation.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:45] Speaker G: But it went off pretty much without a hitch.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: And that's a lot of people too.
[00:41:50] Speaker G: It is, yep. Yeah, I think they. I can't remember exactly, but it was hundreds of thousands of people, you know, that visit.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:41:57] Speaker G: Every day.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: That's pretty amazing.
[00:41:58] Speaker G: It is. It's a cool, cool thing to be a part of.
[00:42:01] Speaker A: Is that the, the first of a project of that magnitude that DTC is
[00:42:06] Speaker G: tackled WI FI wise? Yes, that's.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: That's pretty neat.
[00:42:10] Speaker G: That's pretty cool.
[00:42:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that is cool. So. Well, one thing about it, when you. When you start tackling a project of that scope, any smaller projects that come up should be dropping the bucket, right?
[00:42:21] Speaker G: It is, yes.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:22] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: And you learn a lot, probably from doing something like that.
[00:42:25] Speaker G: You do, yes. You learn different processes because it. It's not our traditional way of supplying, providing WI fi to customers, you know.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:35] Speaker G: A lot of these were poles we had set and, you know, we had to mount a box on them, supply power to the pole and, you know, mount these access points up 30ft in the air.
And it was really neat.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: That's impressive. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So. Well, as much as I love talking about fiber and WI fi and all things DTC wise, but there's gotta be some times when you're ready to get away for a moment, maybe unwind a little bit and not maybe, I don't know, maybe not think about work for an hour or two. Right. So what do you. Do you have any things you like to do in your spare time, like hobbies or things like that? Just to unwind a little bit.
[00:43:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:43:12] Speaker G: If I'm not spending time with my kids or my wonderful wife, I like to golf and I love watching football.
So I can spend way too much time watching football.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Yep. Well, what you need to do is figure out a way to combine them.
[00:43:25] Speaker G: Yeah. Yeah. If there is a way we could do that.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Kill two birds with one stone. Right.
[00:43:30] Speaker G: Be awesome. That's enough time to do it.
[00:43:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:33] Speaker G: Put it that way.
[00:43:33] Speaker A: Well, I'm not a golfer, Josh, so I'm afraid I can't join you on the golf course. Your day would be very long if
[00:43:38] Speaker G: you're not much one of one either, but I enjoy it.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. Well, looking at how fast technology moves. Right. What's the most exciting thing, in your opinion, about the future of fiber? Broadband, really. Specifically in middle Tennessee.
[00:43:54] Speaker G: We never really know what's coming. It changes all the time. There's always something new. But the most exciting thing for me is knowing our customers.
We're future proof. Now we have the fiber here. We can build on that as far as we want to go. AI or virtual reality, whatever new gaming device that comes out.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: That's right. I like how you put it. No matter what, what technology changes, that pipe is ready, really, honestly, for just about anything.
[00:44:23] Speaker G: Yeah. That's.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: That bandwidth is there. Right.
[00:44:26] Speaker G: We're ready to go.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: Ready to go. Hey. That's what we like to hear.
[00:44:29] Speaker G: Yes.
[00:44:29] Speaker A: Sir, and we're, we appreciate you being with us today. Josh, thanks for all you do. You've helped me and, and our church and different people out on a lot of different projects too. And everybody always appreciates you going above and beyond to help whenever there's a problem. So thanks for all you do.
[00:44:42] Speaker G: Yes, sir. Thank you.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Thanks for being with us and thank you for being with us. We've got more coming up of the program in just a moment.
[00:44:54] Speaker F: In 1951, rural Tennessee was at a crossroads.
The big companies wouldn't come here and a massive ice storm had just left its mark on our communities.
But where others saw umbrella, profitable hills and hollows, our founders saw home.
They didn't just want a phone company, they wanted a cooperative.
An organization built by the community, for the community.
For 75 years, DTC Communications has been more than a utility.
We've been a neighbor.
We've grown from basic party lines to a world class fiber network that spans across Middle Tennessee.
Our roots as a cooperative mean our priority isn't Wall street, it's the people we serve.
Whether you live in our original footprint or our newest service areas, our mission is the same. To provide the best technology with a local heart.
Because people matter.
[00:46:07] Speaker C: We're not just connecting wires, we're connecting neighbors.
[00:46:12] Speaker A: We're bringing world class technology to the places we call home.
[00:46:18] Speaker D: Because here you aren't just an account.
[00:46:21] Speaker B: You're part of the DTC family and
[00:46:25] Speaker E: we're proud to serve you.
[00:46:28] Speaker F: Technology has changed a lot since 1951.
We've gone from copper to glass and from dial up to gigabit speeds.
But the heart of DTC remains exactly the same.
We are a local company driven by service and built on 75 years of trust.
[00:46:51] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:46:52] Speaker F: For 75 years, DTC Communications making meaningful connections.
[00:47:04] Speaker H: At dtc, we connect you throughout your home, powering how you live every day.
And now that connection doesn't stop at your front door. With Trilight Mobile, you stay connected. Wherever life takes you, at home or on the go, it all works together.
Because today connection isn't just something you have, it's something you rely on.
Dtc, Internet and Trilight Mobile stay connected wherever you go.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: Now let's kind of stop for just a moment. Maybe take a walk down memory lane. Think about what things may have been like before technology was so easy, easy and accessible. Let's think about how things were before the wi fi.
[00:47:54] Speaker C: In 1888, a catalog was launched that initially started out as a small jewelry mailer that then became what was going in and being shipped out 50 million times a year to American households. And what would become very well known as the Big Book.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
[00:48:23] Speaker A: Is that Sears.
[00:48:24] Speaker C: It is the Sears catalog.
[00:48:26] Speaker A: Sears robot catalog.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: Sears robot catalog. Or the consumer's Bible as some people refer to it. Yes, yes. Launched in 1888, and it was the first time that individuals in their homes were able to do home shopping.
So today we're going to talk about how home shopping is different now than what it was before the WI Fi.
[00:48:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:53] Speaker C: Sears ran this catalog from the end of the 1800s and discontinued it in 1993. So for over a hundred years, they were mailing out.
[00:49:05] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:49:06] Speaker C: A mailer straight to consumers. And it's very interesting because I. I was obviously too young to remember a Sears robot robot catalog and how you ordered from it.
Fun fact, though. I worked for Sears in college. Really, I did. So I'm talking about this that I didn't get to experience, but I worked for Sears back in the day.
[00:49:27] Speaker A: You're pretty qualified to speak on this subject then. I think you're definitely the most qualified on this episode. I can promise you that.
[00:49:34] Speaker C: So what would happen is the catalog would be mailed to you and it was filled with all kinds of stuff.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:49:41] Speaker C: I mean, just all kinds of things. I mean, you. I mean, if you wanted to, you know, get a kit house or a kit shed or all kinds, you could buy those from Sears.
[00:49:53] Speaker A: That's true. I've heard that.
[00:49:54] Speaker C: Now what would happen is you would fill this catalog out. Now, this is so radical to the way we do things today.
You would physically fill the form out, you would write the check, and then you would stick it in the mail. And you would wait for weeks and wait and wait. There was no confirmation. There was no tracking the item, knowing when.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: Just a hope and a prayer that your. Your order would be fulfilled.
[00:50:21] Speaker C: You would not get that notification. It's out for delivery or arriving today. You didn't have any of that.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: That's right. Okay.
[00:50:27] Speaker C: You just waited and watched the mailbox. It was, you know, it was going
[00:50:31] Speaker A: to come good times.
[00:50:32] Speaker C: And apparently it was reliable enough because millions upon millions of people did.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:50:36] Speaker C: I mean, on repeat, you know that you think of the trust that you had to have in a company.
[00:50:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:41] Speaker C: To do that versus today.
[00:50:43] Speaker A: And a lot of it, you had no other option because locally you may not could have found these items.
[00:50:48] Speaker C: Right.
[00:50:48] Speaker A: Well.
[00:50:49] Speaker C: And you had a lot of people who were in rural. That was. I think that was a big, big appeal. To a lot of people is they were in rural areas and it's not like it is today where we have access to stores right down the road from us that have all kinds of things for us to pick up and grab.
[00:51:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:05] Speaker C: You know, these rural communities, you know, they relied heavily on this because it was their only option to be able to get it. And it, and it was delivered to you. That was the big, the big thing. You didn't have to go pick it up or figure out the logistics of getting it. They would deliver it to you.
You fast forward though to 1970 and in 1970s the home shopping Network.
[00:51:29] Speaker A: Oh yes.
[00:51:30] Speaker C: Launched. And then in the early 80s QVC launched and these were 24 hour television channels. They still exist today where, where they played programming and all they did was offer up all kinds of, of, of products to be sold live on the air, host, host product after, after product.
And you know, again it's 24 hours. So a lot of times we're going to try to get the person who's staying up late, late at night. There's not something else going on. And you actually have, even still to this day you have paid programming, 30 and 60 minute infomercial programming.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:08] Speaker C: Where people are trying to sell you things. Not live right. These home shopping networks are.
But you would see the product on the screen, they would make the pitch to you. You would call the number. They had call centers that they had built out just for this. I mean we think back to these times before the WI Fi and how we did home shopping. You think now if you go to buy something, what does everybody do no matter what it is? You comparison shop, you check everywhere. I'm getting the best deal. I'm checking multiple websites and vendors, whatever. Well, you couldn't do that back then. You had to have, again, you had to have a lot of trust in who you were buying that product.
[00:52:47] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:52:47] Speaker C: That's why I say there was a lot of trust in Sears and Roebuck. There's a lot of trust in the things that you were buying off those home shopping networks. Which random fun fact to throw in here. Did you know Sears started selling on QVC and QVC had a two year exclusive window to sell Sears products after they launched. Yes.
[00:53:05] Speaker A: Now would you. There was one other company that I know, at least in our area that was really, really big as a child because I used to do all my Christmas shopping in this catalog. Can you think it was a two, two word named company.
[00:53:18] Speaker C: Montgomery Ward was the other one that I could think of that was A
[00:53:22] Speaker A: larger one in this area.
[00:53:24] Speaker F: Service merchandise.
[00:53:25] Speaker C: Service merch.
[00:53:26] Speaker A: Do you remember service merchandise? Yep. They were very big. They had a story in Antioch, I believe, physical store. But they had a catalog and we would do a lot of shopping with that. But they were kind of another type of thing like the Sears catalog. And. And that was the greatest thing about catalogs, Justin. You could pick out your Christmas presents ahead of time and you could circle it. You could even make a little list with the page number and description. You know, that helps Santa.
[00:53:52] Speaker C: Well, that's the thing. You think back then, you circled it, you filled out the form, you mailed it and you waited.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:59] Speaker C: Nowadays it's like click. Same day delivery.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
And what. That took two days. What took so long?
[00:54:06] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, if. If it. Yeah, if it takes beyond two days, people get impatient.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: That's too long now.
[00:54:12] Speaker C: But again, or you know, you filled that out or you called somebody and talked to them.
[00:54:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:54:16] Speaker C: Now, again, you click. You're probably. You may be auto fill in your payment information.
You know, it seems so less personal than it used to be. It is, it's. Yeah, it's a whole. It's a whole different world.
[00:54:29] Speaker A: And now it's time to let Justin take control once more of this program for his segment called Tech News Roundup.
[00:54:37] Speaker C: I'm focusing very heavily on Apple for this because we've had a lot of Apple news that's happened in September, or tech timber, as I like to call it.
So they had their rise and shine event, which is there. They do an annual hardware event, which is where they announced the new iPhone every September. And so they've announced a new iPhone 18 Pro.
No, regular iPhone 18. That was something that was interesting. It was lacking, but they did something that everybody's been thinking about and we've had them for eight years now. They introduced their first foldable phone, so they now have a iPhone duo is what it's called, and it's not available yet, so you still have to wait a little bit. It's not going to be available until October 23rd.
So you can go get the iPhone 18 Pro. Still a little bit of time left on the iPhone.
[00:55:22] Speaker A: I've seen some clips of it. It looks impressive.
[00:55:24] Speaker C: Yes, they've done a very, very good job with it. Of course they announced their new Apple watches as well as a part of the S. They introduced some new airpods. So they've a lot of your wearables and your smaller devices. They announced in September. So they've got Quite a bit iOS27 is out now. And so they've. They've introduced it, but with the introduction of it, if you have a newer iPhone, you can get access to Siri AI. And so this is finally their step forward. They've been promising this for a couple years now.
They have a really good AI agent built into the device and some would say finally. Finally. Yes.
But the interesting thing is the backbone behind it is Google.
[00:56:06] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:56:07] Speaker C: Is the foundation of it.
[00:56:08] Speaker A: That's a strange relationship.
[00:56:10] Speaker C: They've taken some of their AI models to use. They've. Obviously it's not running through Google servers or anything like that for the privacy aspect.
[00:56:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:19] Speaker C: But they, they do, they do have Siri AI now, so it's gonna be interesting to see what that's able to do.
[00:56:24] Speaker A: Now you're saying that's only on certain phones. Right.
[00:56:27] Speaker C: Have the iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
[00:56:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:56:30] Speaker C: Okay. To be able to do it. Okay. I iPhone 15 Pro or the 16 to the 17s or. Or the 18 Pro or the Duo. You can do it. So. And then any.
[00:56:38] Speaker A: Sounds like it's time for an upgrade for.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: And then any. Any mags that have Apple Silicon.
[00:56:44] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:56:45] Speaker C: Will also have access to it as well. So that's interesting. Then the last thing and we'll be doing is this. This one is a very, very interesting one from the AI space.
Anthropic CEO, which Anthropic is the developer of Claude, which is an AI agent, specifically stated that and made. Wrote an essay basically asking the industry to slow down on AI development.
To slow down. Given how fast things have developed and how fast capabilities are booming and advancing. Though not everybody is on board with that. Um, the, the Trump administration came out and said, no, we want this to move as fast as it can because we don't want to cede our edge to any. Any foreign nations or anything. We want to keep moving ahead because we don't want to wind up behind everybody else. While. While some others have said, yes, look at what you know, we need to be ethical about this and think about where AI is going. But that's interesting. It is that the CEO of one of the largest AI models and agents in the world is saying we need to think about where we're headed.
[00:57:52] Speaker A: Kind of concerning, to be honest.
Is that mainly security reasons, you think? Or.
[00:57:58] Speaker C: I think that could be part of it. But if you remember, when Claude Fable came out, there was restrictions placed on it by the US Government because of its capabilities and they restricted its use to the US only.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:58:11] Speaker C: So that no foreign individuals, companies or anything could have access to it. So that may be part of where this is coming too is and they're trying to advance as fast as everybody else is, but the capabilities are becoming mind boggling at what AI is able to do.
[00:58:31] Speaker A: If you're not an early adopter of AI technology yet as far as just trying it out, it's moving quickly and it's probably better to have a somewhat of an understanding of it as we go forward. Even if you're not a big user of it, at least you'll understand it when people talk about it and have a different perspective of it. So but but thanks for that, Justin. I appreciate it. That's pretty interesting stuff. Well, before we wrap up this episode, we do want to always let you know where DTC will be and for the month of October. Our first event will be on October 16th, and that will be the Canon County Senior health fair on October 31st. We have three different places that DTC will be helping out with.
First is Smithville Boo Bash on the Square from 2 to 5pm Fright at the Fairgrounds at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds in Alexandria from 5 to 7pm and the Gordonsville Halloween Bash from 5 until 8pm that's right, Halloween time is and DTC will be there to help celebrate with you. So hope you'll say hello if you're in the neighborhood. And on that note, we'd just like to say so long for the month of October and we will see you again next month.
[00:59:42] Speaker B: Learn more about the show by visiting us
[email protected] Also, be sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast or video platform so you won't miss our next episode of the Local Click. See you next month.
