Wow! I got Color TV...

[davalvideo]

ABC and NBC retain their own videotape archives, as does Fox, CNN and MSNBC. The CBS News Archives is accessible through BBC Motion Gallery. Can't say regarding Mutual Radio. Funny how the networks kept certain things on videotape, but not others. One example, JFK's Inauguration on January 20, 1961. CBS still has its videotapes of that event, all in black and white. NBC, which broadcast the inaugural parade in color, reused all its Inaugural tapes (according to Chet Hagan and Reuven Frank) and so only a black and white kinescope now exists. The JFK Library in boston has a copy of the coverage. ABC also still has its tape of the event, hosted by Ron Cochran and Don Goddard.

 

[vibe]

My father won a 21" console (motorola?) in a church raffle in the mid 60's.
The color was so so/lousy (maybe the TV had been dropped) I nearly wore out the fine tuner trying to get out of market stations late at night with the rotor which mu dad installed since he was ahead of the game already.
Lousy color-good tuner. Great price.

 

[Silkie]

That is probably why people thought martians were green. Lousy color, great tone.

 

[CrankyYankee]

The first color time I saw color TV was at Boston's Museum of Science in the early sixties.
Our first color set was a small Sears that ran quite well for some time.
Just before leaving the Army in 1976, I bought my mother and myself Sony Trinitrons through the PX catalog.

 

[cyberdad]

My grandfather....who died in 1979....never bought a color TV because he said he didn't want to have to watch men wearing lipstick!

Wasn't Berle off TV by then? ;D

Good one!

Actually, he was at a friend's house watching color TV in the mid '60s when he claimed to have seen Roger Miller singing "King of the Road" wearing lipstick.

 

[Tim L]

Part of his thinking lied in the fact that he had a background in electronics and was pretty handy in fixing
radios and televisions. He had acquired eight or nine non-working black and white TV sets which sat in our
basement. He felt that with all that material to work with he'd never have to spend another dime on television
again. To his great disappointment though he eventually learned that there was not one interchangeable part
in any of them.

That puts me in mind of The Late Johnny Cash's hit song of several years back, "One Piece At A Time (And it did'nt cost me a dime)"

 

[Markieo]

My older brother brought home a used color TV back in '67. It worked for about a week before it caught fire. We didn't get another color set until my Dad sprang for an RCA accu-color back in '71. I wasn't allowed to touch the channel for 6 months. :-[

 

[oldiesfan6479]

"Stop changing the channel. You'll break the TV!"

"Don't fiddle with the controls, you'll wear them out."

"He looks too green...aw, now he's purple."

"You sit too close to the TV and you'll get radiation poisoning."

"Leave a light on...if it's too dark you'll go blind."

--Sound familiar to you "older posters"? ;D

 

[landtuna]

You forgot one:

"Don't sit so close. You'll never have kids."

<oh how I wish!>

 

[gregg75]

My dad thought we watched too much tv (in color). One night in a drunken rage he
unplugged the set and cut the power cord!!! Of course, we had it spliced back together
again by the next day......all was forgiven and forgotten. LOVE YA MAN.

 

[FRR]

"Stop changing the channel. You'll break the TV!"

"Don't fiddle with the controls, you'll wear them out."

"He looks too green...aw, now he's purple."

"You sit too close to the TV and you'll get radiation poisoning."

"Leave a light on...if it's too dark you'll go blind."

--Sound familiar to you "older posters"? ;D

Oh yes and those statements bring back a lot of memories..I bought my first color TV in 1970 when I was 25, a 21 in console that cost 10% of my annual salary at that time. My Dad never got one until a couple of years later

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I attended the University of Cincinnati's Radio-TV Dept. in the mid-1960's. The teacher I had for "Color Television Techniques" was Ron Wilson who had directed programs at WLW-T Channel 5 in Cincinnati. Not only had WLW-T carried color shows as an NBC-TV Network affiliate, but it was one of the first stations in the nation to originate color programs both in the studio and in remote telecasts.

In the class, Ron told a story of the first time he had seen color TV. On New Year's Day of 1954, the NBC-TV Network carried the Tournament of Roses Parade coast to coast in color. On that day, Ron operated the elevator at WLW-T as many dignitaries came to the station and then up to a floor to watch a TV that had been set up to view this historic telecast. After many trips up and down, the crowd of V.I.P.'s stopped and Ron went over to take a look at the TV showing the parade. At that moment, the screen showed actor William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy riding down the street. People may remember that Hopalong Cassidy dressed in all black (shirt, pants, boots and cowboy hat) and rode Topper, an all-white horse. Ron saw the cowboy dressed all in black, riding a white horse on a blacktop street with a white line down the middle. That was his first color TV experience.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I attended the University of Cincinnati's Radio-TV Dept. in the mid-1960's. The teacher I had for "Color Television Techniques" was Ron Wilson who had directed programs at WLW-T Channel 5 in Cincinnati. Not only had WLW-T carried color shows as an NBC-TV Network affiliate, but it was one of the first stations in the nation to originate color programs both in the studio and in remote telecasts.

In the class, Ron told a story of the first time he had seen color TV. On New Year's Day of 1954, the NBC-TV Network carried the Tournament of Roses Parade coast to coast in color. On that day, Ron operated the elevator at WLW-T as many dignitaries came to the station and then up to a floor to watch a TV that had been set up to view this historic telecast. After many trips up and down, the crowd of V.I.P.'s stopped and Ron went over to take a look at the TV showing the parade. At that moment, the screen showed actor William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy riding down the street. People may remember that Hopalong Cassidy dressed in all black (shirt, pants, boots and cowboy hat) and rode Topper, an all-white horse. Ron saw the cowboy dressed all in black, riding a white horse on a blacktop street with a white line down the middle. That was his first color TV experience.

LOL. Sounds like the first color broadcast in West Germany where Chancellor Willy Brandt gave a speech which started out in black and white, during which he would press a big red prop button and instantly turn to color. The engineers back in master control apparently missed their cue when he hit the big fake button. Talk about your colorless politician!

 

[FreddyE1977]

My dad thought we watched too much tv (in color). One night in a drunken rage he
unplugged the set and cut the power cord!!! Of course, we had it spliced back together
again by the next day......all was forgiven and forgotten. LOVE YA MAN.

My dad once cut the cord on the TV as a disciplinary tactic, and he was stone sober.
Was highly effective I must say.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Sounds like the first color broadcast in West Germany where Chancellor Willy Brandt gave a speech which started out in black and white, during which he would press a big red prop button and instantly turn to color. The engineers back in master control apparently missed their cue when he hit the big fake button. Talk about your colorless politician!

Didn't Brandt steal that bit from Bobby Sarnoff at the Ike @ WRC-TV ceremony in '58?
Of course it worked for Bobby.

 

[Tim L]

I attended the University of Cincinnati's Radio-TV Dept. in the mid-1960's. The teacher I had for "Color Television Techniques" was Ron Wilson who had directed programs at WLW-T Channel 5 in Cincinnati. Not only had WLW-T carried color shows as an NBC-TV Network affiliate, but it was one of the first stations in the nation to originate color programs both in the studio and in remote telecasts.

In the class, Ron told a story of the first time he had seen color TV. On New Year's Day of 1954, the NBC-TV Network carried the Tournament of Roses Parade coast to coast in color. On that day, Ron operated the elevator at WLW-T as many dignitaries came to the station and then up to a floor to watch a TV that had been set up to view this historic telecast. After many trips up and down, the crowd of V.I.P.'s stopped and Ron went over to take a look at the TV showing the parade. At that moment, the screen showed actor William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy riding down the street. People may remember that Hopalong Cassidy dressed in all black (shirt, pants, boots and cowboy hat) and rode Topper, an all-white horse. Ron saw the cowboy dressed all in black, riding a white horse on a blacktop street with a white line down the middle. That was his first color TV experience.

LOL. Sounds like the first color broadcast in West Germany where Chancellor Willy Brandt gave a speech which started out in black and white, during which he would press a big red prop button and instantly turn to color. The engineers back in master control apparently missed their cue when he hit the big fake button. Talk about your colorless politician!

Chuck Schodowski, Director and host (retired) at WJW-TV 8 in Cleveland, tells the story in his book, "Big Chuck!" about one of the station's first shows they did in Color-"Mass For Shut-Ins"..The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland really wanted to make this a special occasion, so they invited many of the area nuns and priests to be in the audience..The result-The audience and Priest giving the Mass all wore Black and White.. the only color was the Red Mass Book..

 

[FreddyE1977]

I attended the University of Cincinnati's Radio-TV Dept. in the mid-1960's. The teacher I had for "Color Television Techniques" was Ron Wilson who had directed programs at WLW-T Channel 5 in Cincinnati. Not only had WLW-T carried color shows as an NBC-TV Network affiliate, but it was one of the first stations in the nation to originate color programs both in the studio and in remote telecasts.

In the class, Ron told a story of the first time he had seen color TV. On New Year's Day of 1954, the NBC-TV Network carried the Tournament of Roses Parade coast to coast in color. On that day, Ron operated the elevator at WLW-T as many dignitaries came to the station and then up to a floor to watch a TV that had been set up to view this historic telecast. After many trips up and down, the crowd of V.I.P.'s stopped and Ron went over to take a look at the TV showing the parade. At that moment, the screen showed actor William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy riding down the street. People may remember that Hopalong Cassidy dressed in all black (shirt, pants, boots and cowboy hat) and rode Topper, an all-white horse. Ron saw the cowboy dressed all in black, riding a white horse on a blacktop street with a white line down the middle. That was his first color TV experience.

LOL. Sounds like the first color broadcast in West Germany where Chancellor Willy Brandt gave a speech which started out in black and white, during which he would press a big red prop button and instantly turn to color. The engineers back in master control apparently missed their cue when he hit the big fake button. Talk about your colorless politician!

Chuck Schodowski, Director and host (retired) at WJW-TV 8 in Cleveland, tells the story in his book, "Big Chuck!" about one of the station's first shows they did in Color-"Mass For Shut-Ins"..The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland really wanted to make this a special occasion, so they invited many of the area nuns and priests to be in the audience..The result-The audience and Priest giving the Mass all wore Black and White.. the only color was the Red Mass Book..

Q. What's Black and White and Red All Over?
A. The Mass on Channel 8!

 

[Obtuse1]

First presidential appearance on live color TV (NBC, 1958)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83DOHXmzkD8

 

[dave73]

In my own household, my parents didn't get their first color TV until probably 1976, and it was a used TV. I don't remember the brand, but I only know it was a tube TV. My family borrowed TV's from family for a few years and alternated between color & black & white. One color TV we had was a Magnavox Solid State made in 1973 or 1974, my parents bought used. That lasted a couple of years. Don't know what went wrong with it, but it caught on fire in 1985, and we didn't have another color TV again until after my dad's death, & my mom bought a new Sanyo TV from Service Merchandise. So between 1985 & 1991, we had black & white Montgomery Ward tube TV, a Zenith black & white tube TV given to me, and a 9 inch Portland black & white TV my dad used while on the road (he was a truck driver).

My maternal grandmother didn't officially buy a color TV, but my Aunt Nancy bought one for the household, & she bought an RCA 19" Solid State color TV in 1971 or 1972. Since then, she bought a 25" RCA color TV with remote in 1985, and lasted 6 years. Then she got a 25" Mitsubishi TV, and lasted 5 years. Then she got another RCA and lasted I believe 6 years. Then she got a Philips, and only lasted 2 years. She went back to RCA, and so far, it's held up for 6 years. My grandma has had her TV's on a lot. My Aunt Nancy has bought all the color TV's. The only TV's my Grandma bought were the few black & white TV's she owned, including a Panasonic 19" & 12" Zenith she got from the now defunct Mays Family Center. She doesn't have the Panasonic TV, but still has the Zenith one.

My paternal grandmother didn't get her first color TV until 1985, all because my grandpa refused to buy one while he was alive. As long as the TV he had worked, he didn't care. My grandpa sisn't get his first TV with a UHF tuner built-in until 1973, and that was a Sears black & white console. After my grandpa died, my grandma went to Sears & bought a Sears color TV. I don't remember how long that lasted, but it lasted a few years. Then she got an RCA console from Rent-A-Center, and she had that TV repaired a lot. It still worked when she left Indiana in 2000. I have no clue as to what she has now, if she even has one. She lives with my Aunt Brenda & Uncle Vince, and I haven't visited them in Arizona yet.

As for myself, only 36 (37 at the end of this month), my first color TV I bought with my own money was a used GE 15" color TV (1994). That TV was ok, but it didn't last long. I only paid $15 for it. It had a good tuner in it, but the picture squinted after a couple of hours of use. I went to see if it could be fixed, and found out that it would have been difficult to get it fixed. It needed about 5 tubes (TV had 8, which didn't include the picture tube), and 3 of the tubes weren't available at the repair shop, and all tubes were discontinued. So I had to junk that TV. It was too bad because it was otherwise a good TV. The UHF tuner didn't lock, as it was one of the earliest UHF tuners. The rabbit ears & loop antenna were sufficient enough that I didn't need the outdoor antenna with that TV. I later got an RCA 14" color TV, and that was ok, except that there was a problem with the tuner on it. Again, I got that TV in 1994 The picture went all over the place. The repair shop didn't want to order the tuner for it, as it was half the cost of what I paid for the TV. So the repair shop gave me a replacement and got a Philco color TV (made before Philips Electronics bought the company from GTE). That TV I also got in 1994. When I moved, I bought a 20" RCA TV with remote, and that lasted 9 years. While it still worked in 2004, I threw it out after parts of the picture tube broke, and a third of the left side was mostly red, the center thirs was normal, while the right third was mostly green. Since neither Kmart nor Walmart had HDTV's available locally in 2003, I was forced to buy an analog TV, and got a 24" RCA TV. I'm currently using that TV with my Magnavox DTV converter box. While the TV was put on layaway at Kmart in 2003, I got it out an used it for the first time in 2004. Kmart had it on sale, and that was why I got it. It was ironic that Kmart had it cheaper than Walmart. I haven't decided what my first flat panel TV will be. I only know that I won't be getting an RCA, since RCA TV's are hard to find locally. Stores in my area are overall selling a lot of Magnavox, Philips, Vizio, Samsung, LG (this brand practically replaced Zenith in most of the country, after LG bought Zenith), & Sanyo. LED TV's are slowly replacing LCD TV's, & I expect my next TV to be an LED. I just have to decide on brand. I've been used to RCA, but I most likely will have to move onto a different brand, now that RCA is next to impossible to find locally, and not sure I want to buy online.

 

[gr8oldies]

My grandmother didn't like the way color TV looked, so she stuck with the black and white one she bought in 1967 until it gave up the ghost around 1983. I bought her a used color set then.