Movies did, however, fatally impact some parts of live theater. And while TV didn t kill movies, it did kill second-rate pictures, shorts, and cartoons.

　　Nor did TV kill radio. Comedy and drama shows all migrated to television. But because you can t drive a car and watch television at the same time, rush hour became radio s prime, while music, talk, and news radio greatly enlarged their audiences. Radio is today a very different business than in the late 1940s and a much larger one.

　　Sometimes old technology lingers for centuries because of its symbolic power. Mounted cavalry replaced the chariot on the battlefield around 1000 BC. But chariots maintained their place in parades and triumphs right up until the end of the Roman Empire 1,500 years later. The sword hasn t had a military function for a hundred years, but is still part of an officer s full-dress uniform, precisely because a sword always symbolized an officer and a gentleman.

　　Sometimes new technology is a little cranky at first. Television repairman was a common occupation in the 1950s, for instance. And so the old technology remains as a backup. Steamships captured the North Atlantic passenger business from sail in the 1840s because of its much greater speed. But steamships didn t lose their sails until the 1880s, because early marine engines had a nasty habit of breaking down. Until ships became large enough to mount two engines side by side, they needed to keep sails.

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