The Night He Brought HitCLips to the Starlite Drive-in
Written By joejoefashosho

FADE IN

ON A NEON SIGN READING 'STARLITE'.

EXT. DRIVE-IN THEATER

          NARRATOR

      (Rod Serling)

While traveling State Highway 22 In Meeker County, Minnesota, you may just happen upon a place frozen in time. 75 years ago, rows of cars lined a field, cars which all pointed toward a giant movie screen. Here they remain frozen behind a neon sign reading "Starlite". A marquee glowing with incandescent warmth, sporting a mosaic of acrylic letters that spell out tonight's features. Two screens, each offering a double feature, only these movies weren't around in 1956, these movies belong to a distant future when drive-ins will become a rarity. The cars have all changed shape over time, erosion from decades spent in wind tunnels. The prices have also morphed as inflation also seems to have penetrated the forcefield that surrounds the Starlite Drive-In, but so much else appears to have averted entropy and survived into a world that has totally changed around it.

Drive-in theaters are truly one of my favorite experiences, especially ones that lean heavily into the 1950s style. It's been years now since our local drive-in (Vali-Hi) closed its doors, seemingly for good. Vali-Hi's closure is still a sore spot for our family, so my wife decided to plan a trip out to the closest remaining drive-in: Starlite. This place did not disappoint. It is very well preserved to maintain that 50s vibe, while still being a functional modern drive-in.

The Starlite originally opened on June 28th, 1956. The very same day 20th Century Fox's The King and I was released. Could it have played opening night? I don't know, because I couldn't find the showtimes. If anyone has any sources of information regarding the grand opening of the Starlite Drive-In, I would love to know. Originally the drive-in used speakers on poles that audience members could hang in their window to hear the movie. At some point the Starlite began broadcasting a low power FM signal to broadcast the audio track directly to your car radio. The poles remain to help with spacing of vehicles, but the speakers have long since been removed.


I certainly am nostalgic for the 1950s, a time I wasn't alive for, but is heavily romanticized in US media. A time I have actual first hand nostalgia for is the new millennium, Y2K! In the year 2000 I was 9 years old, the first Scary Movie had been out for a month, and on August 11th, 2000 Tiger Electronics released HitClips to the world. The tiniest audio players you had ever seen, with interchangeable audio clips on keychains. You were supposed to clip them to your backpack and take your songs with you EVERYWHERE! It was the coolest thing in the world to a 9 year old joejoe. It was also expensive, impractical, and much more toy than media player. The songs were only 1 minute clips, showcasing more memorable moments from their respective singles. They were encoded at an extremely low bitrate and were not even stereo, as most (if not all) of the players only had one speaker. After years of waiting for a good cheap lot of HitClips to come up locally, it finally happened, and I became the proud owner of a small HitClips collection. After this I researched HitClips a bit more to see if my collection lacked anything essential, and that's when I found it... The HitClips FM Radio Cartridge, turn any HitClips player into an FM radio! With our trip to the drive-in fast approaching I knew I had to order this accessory ASAP, because in 2026 I was going to watch a movie at the drive-in, while listening to it on a HitClips player baby!

On June 13th 2026 I accomplished maybe my most millennial hipster achievement ever. I watched Obsession (maybe the most 2026 movie ever) at the drive-in (maybe the most 1956 way to watch a movie ever) and got the audio broadcast over FM radio to a HitClips player (maybe the most Y2K way of listening to audio ever). This was a really fun experience in many ways, but the novelty of listening on a HitClips really elevated the night. I first tried listening on the boombox which proved too quiet. I think the signal volume was pretty low, to begin with and then these HitClips players just have these low power amplifiers and tiny speakers. I could really only hear it when I held it up to my ear. Next I tried the HitClips Carabiner Style Music Player and a pair of green Panasonic ErgoFit earbuds, with great success! Firstly, let me say, I think the FM radio cartridge is just an FM tuner with scan, reset, an on/off switch, and a tiny antenna. It is so small. It gets power from the player and sends unamplified audio over to the player to be amplified. If you remember these little FM radios from back in the day, it's basically one of those but without power, amplification circuitry, or a volume control. These FM radios used AAA batteries, while most HitClips players (including the Carabiner Style Player) just use 3 tiny LR44 watch batteries. All that being said here is my review for going to see Obsession in 2026 at the drive-in and using a HitClips Carabiner Style Player for audio:

The HitClips player lasted the entire movie. And the audio fidelity was surprisingly high over headphones. 10/10 would recommend hitclips at the drive in.

Seriously, the sound in this movie was great, and I am so surprised I was able to tell how good it was, being broadcast at a low volume, over low power FM, to a goddamn toy powered by coin cell batteries. IDK how, but this was a great success!

We got Jumbo popcorn, that we spilled all over the van. We also got mini donuts. They had a special drink called the Jaws Shark Bite. It was a blue soda with a splash of grenadine, and red popping boba. There were gummy sharks in the drink and light-up ice cubes. It was fun and tasty!

I really hope this wasn't my last trip to the Starlite. I can't wait til next time, and you can bet your sweet ass I'm bringing my HitClips!