Old Tv's

[rchance]

I was thinking about my childhood today and the things we used back then. I remember we had a tv with a turn dial on it to change the channel and was wandering if anyone still had one of these. I wander how children would react to having to get off the couch to change the channel the way we did.

 

[Bob R]

Get off the couch?!?!?! That is nothing compared to the shock they would recieve with only getting 3 channels, if you were fortunate. ABC,NBC and CBS, that's it...no more. It seemed everywhere we went, channel 7 was the ABC affiliate. What did ABC do, buy every channel 7?

BTW, I was the remote control.

bob

 

[hiredhand]

Still have the Muntz. But do not watch it much anymore. Newest program it gets is Gun Smoke. Besides, there is just too much cigarette advertising.
Plus the blamed thing stops having programs at 11 PM.

 

[Beaver]

When I was a younger man, My Dad ruled the TV, I mean ruled. We originally started out with one channel, I watched a lot of Huntley/Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. Later, my job was to lay near the tv and change the channel for Dad. I suppose I was an early channel changer. Bugs Bunny and the Flintstones were Friday night primetime.

 

[David LaPell]

Three channels and if the President came on your night was shot! I remember as a kid those 3 channels very well. I was the remote!

 

[RonJ]

We didn't have it too tough. I remember when Dad bought a b&w Zenith that had a sonic remote, basically a clicker. It wouldn't do anything except advance the channels in a linear mode. No power, volume or direct channel entry. My sister could scream at the perfect pitch to change the channel so Dad had strict orders for us not to aggravate her while he was watching TV.
I wonder if that's where the clicker moniker came from.

 

[Onomea]

I had an uncle who taped his fishing rod to the dial and would twist it to change channels. I think that was maybe early '60s or so.

Later inherited our first color TV from my dad's rich aunt when she passed. That had a sonic (?) whistle-type remote. It was like a squeeze toy. The channel would change when you squeezed the remote and made it squeak...

 

[Bullseye 2620]

I remember when my uncle Marv bought one of the first Zenith color console sets. . .complete with some kind of remote control that used an infrared beam to change the channels, adjust the sound and color, etc. This was the mid-50s and I was sure, with this kind of technology so readily available, that personal rocket transportation couldn't be far off.

Bullseye

 

[Chubbs103]

I remember what a big deal it was to stay up until the national anthem came on, and then the test pattern or just static.

Chubbs

 

[jrm53]

You should have heard the the solenoid when you changed the channel, my father-in-law had one where when you change the channel you pushed a button on the set and the round knob made a sound and started rotating, 2 buttons one for up and one for down I cant remember the brand. Jeff

 

[Miami_JBT]

I was thinking about my childhood today and the things we used back then. I remember we had a tv with a turn dial on it to change the channel and was wandering if anyone still had one of these. I wander how children would react to having to get off the couch to change the channel the way we did.

I'm 26 years old and I grew up with one.... in fact I still have it. It's my Hurricane TV. When everything else doesn't work she'd get plugged to the genny and we'd watch the news. But now with digital air; she's been regulated to the garage for storage. Once I move out west (looking to leave Florida), she'll be set up in the basement with my classic game systems.

 

[oldman45]

You guys are too young. I watched my first tv show when the CBS station came on the air in Shreveport, LA. Howdy Doddy was popular as was a few other shows. Most were done in front of live audiences.

Yet the TV we had was a Philco with a screen about the size of the stormscope a plane. This was in 1951. We had rabbit ears for an antenna. On Friday nights, we watched live boxing from NYC. The neighbors came over to watch it with us. Commercials were done live. Tommy Sands was living here then and he advertised cars for a local dealer. He always pounded on the fender to show how tough the cars were. One night a car had been rigged so when he hit the fender, it fell off the car. The station really should have had a delay on the sound as we got to hear some words that were not common for the day.

 

[venomballistics]

You guys are too young. I watched my first tv show when the CBS station came on the air in Shreveport, LA. Howdy Doddy was popular as was a few other shows. Most were done in front of live audiences.

Yet the TV we had was a Philco with a screen about the size of the stormscope a plane. This was in 1951. We had rabbit ears for an antenna. On Friday nights, we watched live boxing from NYC. The neighbors came over to watch it with us. Commercials were done live. Tommy Sands was living here then and he advertised cars for a local dealer. He always pounded on the fender to show how tough the cars were. One night a car had been rigged so when he hit the fender, it fell off the car. The station really should have had a delay on the sound as we got to hear some words that were not common for the day.

aww well that just made for more entertainment

 

[srgvaz]

You should have heard the the solenoid when you changed the channel, my father-in-law had one where when you change the channel you pushed a button on the set and the round knob made a sound and started rotating, 2 buttons one for up and one for down I cant remember the brand. Jeff

We had one like that it was a Toshiba and the four button remote never worked correctly.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

My dad had three remotes-me and my 2 brothers

 

[28Shooter]

We had a Philco when I was a kid and there were three channels -a fourth out of Washington if the weather conditions were right. Big knobs, tubes, B&W, and American made. Funny how I now have a fancy high tech color TV but most of the programming I watch is in black and white.

 

[cowboy117]

In 1961,our first TV had a remote with a cord.You could change the channel and vary the volume also.Very modern!

 

[Iggy]

No problem here. We got one channel.. It was on from 4PM to 10PM.

The rest of the time it was test pattern or pure static.

Din't get more than one channel until I installed a satellite dish in 1997.

30 Channels.. Whoooeeee!!

Now I've got nearly a hundred channels and don't watch but 3.

Spend more time on the computer than TV.

 

[bubbiesdad]

Anyone besides me have a DuMont in their house growing up?

 

[Damn Yankee]

Remember the TV's with the picture tube down in the cabinet and you looked at a mirror that lifted up on top. Aluminum on the rabbit ears for better reception.

 

[mkk41]

When I was a kid , I'd run behind the TV when it was turned on and look inside to watch all the tubes start glowing.

I recall the corded remotes too.

 

[LoadedRound]

Get off the couch?!?!?! That is nothing compared to the shock they would recieve with only getting 3 channels, if you were fortunate. ABC,NBC and CBS, that's it...no more. It seemed everywhere we went, channel 7 was the ABC affiliate. What did ABC do, buy every channel 7?

BTW, I was the remote control.

bob

If you lived out in the country, you had to go outside and turn the antenna to get all three. You'd be out in the cold while someone yelled "good...no...back..that's good...stop there"

 

[bubbiesdad]

If you lived out in the country, you had to go outside and turn the antenna to get all three. You'd be out in the cold while someone yelled "good...no...back..that's good...stop there"

A friend of my parents had two vhf antennas, when he changed channels, he had a switch on the wall to change antennas.

 

[DeadAye]

On Friday nights, we watched live boxing from NYC.

My grandfather had a Philco for JUST that reason - Friday Night Fights, sponsored by Gillette.
He had a modified (by himself) hourglass that had about 55 seconds of sand in it. When the bell rang he turned the TV off and flipped the *hourglass* - When the sand ran out he turned the TV back on and the picture would appear just as the bell rang to start the next round.
He thought he *was saving the TV*

 

[dickttx]

My last semester in college (1960) I quit my 3 jobs and got just 1 (44 hrs week), only took 15 hours, and bought a Philco TV. It was an oblong box on a stand, and the picture tube stood on top and swiveled. Talk about high tech. Saw one on e-bay, or somewhere, a while back and they wanted several times what I paid for mine.

 

[HCD]

We got 3 chan. I remember going outside to turn the tenna from South Bend (Notre Dame) east on Sat. To Chicago (Bears) west on Sunday. If a storm came up you were out of luck the wind would whip the tenna around in circles till the old ladder wire leads would snap. Then it was up on the roof to fix it. The set I remember most was a Sears, dont really know who made it.

 

[Stevie]

Our first TV(that I remember)..was wood and wicker..with a metal bezel around the pic-tube.

Shut the vacume cleaner off too close to the TV...then you had to call the TV repair guy to come de-gausse the thing.

always had 4..or 3.5 channels that I remember.

 

[boykinlp]

Get off the couch?!?!?! That is nothing compared to the shock they would recieve with only getting 3 channels, if you were fortunate. ABC,NBC and CBS, that's it...no more. It seemed everywhere we went, channel 7 was the ABC affiliate. What did ABC do, buy every channel 7?bob

Very true, BTW my current channel 7 is CBS.

I remember what a big deal it was to stay up until the national anthem came on, and then the test pattern or just static.Chubbs

Antbody got any idea when most 24 programming started? I believe that it is much later than most would think.

No problem here. We got one channel.Din't get more than one channel until I installed a satellite dish in 1997.

Dang Iggy, .......1997......you must really be in GOD's country.

 

[Iggy]

Dang Iggy, .......1997......you must really be in GOD's country.

Nope, just down in a hole.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

My grandfather had a Philco for JUST that reason - Friday Night Fights, sponsored by Gillette.
He had a modified (by himself) hourglass that had about 55 seconds of sand in it. When the bell rang he turned the TV off and flipped the *hourglass* - When the sand ran out he turned the TV back on and the picture would appear just as the bell rang to start the next round.
He thought he *was saving the TV*

Same same here. Lived in Rockford Il.; dad was the ONLY one who could turn on the tv. We got a local station (WTVO ch. 39) and to get it we had to have a tech come out and install a chip of some sort. It took him about 5 minutes to put it in, and more than an hour to 'tune it in'. Outside antenna with a remote that sometimes worked. Friday night fights out of Chicago. '51 or early'52.