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Hello friends, If you are a retro geek like me, you likely also have the most erratic and seemingly inconsequential pop cultural artifacts fly into your mind for no reason at all. I was thinking just now about the gameshow, “The Price is Right”. I remember watching Bob Barker host this show in the late morning during the summer as a small child. I also remember watching him as a young adult in college. Bob hosted the show for 35 years! Given that he was one of the television friends I grew up with, it shouldn’t be surprising that I randomly think of Bob every now and again. This time, however, I was thinking specifically about his microphone. Do you remember it? It was long and pencil thin, almost like a magic wand or presentation pointer. It was also wired, and Bob would often work the wire with grace and elegance as we moved around the stage. Did I look into this more, you ask? What do you think? Much of the consensus on the internet speculates that Bob Barker used such an uncanny microphone for the following reasons: Because of the nature of the show, micing up each contestant or using boom mics was nearly impossible. Thus, Bob could use his elongated microphone when talking with contestants on the stage. The microphone could be held lower, as not to obstruct Bob’s handsome face. It was also thin as not to cover his nice suites. It was also light weight as not to cause arm fatigue.
At first, Bob used a Marantz EC-12B by Superscope, and later, a Sony ECM-51. These microphones were telescoping, which means they could be made shorter or longer as needed. In the earlier days of the show, there was no such thing as “wireless”. However, even when wireless microphones became available, Bob refused to use them. He thought the microphone wire was an already established part of his screen presence, and he was right. You can find these vintage microphones for sale online, but they don’t come cheap at $400 - $600. Might be worth it though if you want to walk around the house talking into a Bob Barker wand.
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