before everything was microcircuitry , when radios and televisions were made with transistors or vacuum tubes and wires and resistors and capacitors like cans and diodes and everything inside a cabinet so you did n't see the guts but they were there , and took up a substantial amount of space so you could see or hear your precious product-sponsored entertainment , laugh cry learn or burl with outrage at the faces and voices of people you really did not know but felt familiar with , they fixed things .