Spark

A tangle of tech and memories

Journalist David Kattenburg's Winnipeg home is filled with obsolete audio recording equipment. And it's time to get rid of it all.

Measuring a career in obsolete equipment

A vintage 1967 reel-to-reel Nagra III. (David Kattenburg)

Some tech, like the fax machine, are workplace relics most people don't miss, but other tools of the trade are more intimately connected with the trade itself and parting with them may be harder. That's something broadcast journalist David Kattenburg knows all too well.

A vintage 1967 reel-to-reel Nagra III. (David Kattenburg)

With several decades of globe-trotting work under his belt, Kattenburg has had to face facts—for years, his Winnipeg home was brimming with obsolete audio recording equipment and the memories stored in them. 

Just bake your damaged old quarter-inch tape on low for two hours (or finally get rid of it) (David Kattenburg)

Recently, he decided to sort through and dispose of all the devices responsible for his storied career. 

To trash old tech or not to trash? That was the question. (David Kattenburg)

In an audio piece for Spark, Kattenburg takes us through a tangle of tech and memories from his decades-spanning career.