Re: First Family Color TV:

[SactoTeddyBear]

What was the approx or exact year that your Families got their first Color TV and what was the very first Show viewed on it?

My Parent's got their first Color TV in 1962. It was a huge Zenith Oval-Screen and it had a large Channel Selector Knob, with a Frosted Lens in the Middle that would show the Channels. They went from Ch-2 to Ch-13 and UHF, which was our areas KTXL Ch-40. It also has a smaller Knob that was a Push/Pull On/Off Volumn Control.

The Cabinet was about 42-inches wide, 32-inches high and about 28-inches deep. It sat on 4-Legs that were about 6-inches long and it had an overhang Top part of the Cabinet. It was a very nice looking Walnut {real wood} Cabinet. It had to have the Color Degaused several times while we owned it, but it never had any other Repairs, as far as I can remember.

The first Show that we watched on it after it was delivered and set-up, was of all shows, "The Flintstones" and it was actually the very first time that I had even seen the Flintstones at all.

Peace and Fun Times, down Memory Lane, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[pulsatron]

Rank Arena 34cm

Our first family colour television was a 34 cm Rank Arena(which later on here became N.E.C.),and I think the first show we watched was an episode of Flipper I think.
Funny thing that T.V. lasted us some 20 odd years if only things were made that well these days.
Cheers.
Steve.

 

[tolivac]

My stepfather bought his first color set in the late 60's probably '68 or 69.It was an RCA.the first programs I remember watching were Redskin football games-late night BW programs such as Perry Mason and Outer Limits.the TV was bought from Woodward Lothrup in the Wash DC area-The games ran on Ch7 and the shows I watched-after My Mom and stepdad went to bed-were On Ch#5.Ch7 was ABC and Ch#5 was independent.-now part of Fox.Later in life in DC toured these stations-saw their studios and transmitters.
And the first transmitter I operated and serviced was an RCA TT5EH unit owned by PBS-Ch#9 in Rapid City S.DAK.the RCA Tx was purchased in 1967-still in use today!!They are going to replace it soon with a new digital unit.that about corresponded with my stepdads TV.At my dads house he got his first color set after I went to college.It was a Sony.My first color set was an RCA CTC-25 I bought for $75 from one of my moms neighbors in 1973.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Generation gap

I was born in a generation where families had at least 2 colour televisions and a VCR... in fact when I was born my mum and dad had 3 colour televisions. I guess it is a sign of the times!

Jon

 

[Burpalator]

Ours was a Sylvania color console in 1966. I'm thinking it was a 23-inch. I remember that the cabinet was not real wood. If memory serves, it was more like a simulated wood contact paper, only heavier. Cheap cabinet aside, it had a beautiful picture, but true to the times, required constant adjustment of the fine tuning control.

The first thing I clearly remember watching is The Wizard of Oz. My dad had forgotten that the movie began in black and white and I remember him cursing a blue streak while making all kinds of adjustments that didn't help. Needless to say, when Dorothy landed in Oz, the picture was a mess!

Strangely, although we had little money then, my dad always found a way to get certain things that I guess were important to him for us to have. Thinking back, he probably worked ungodly amounts of overtime to pay for them. But we had a color TV, a dishwasher and air conditioning (window unit) when most of our neighbors did not.

Another memory of that TV is in late '68 when Motown had its first network special: TCB starring Diana Ross and The Supremes with the Temptations. All of the neighbors came to our house to watch it because none of them had color. Thinking back, it strikes me as strange that they were all so anxious to see it because this was the South and there were of course many racially motivated comments made by the adults during the show. I, on the other hand, absolutely loved it because I wanted to be Mary Wilson from the time I was old enough to walk!

 

[retromom]

Those were the days!

Ours was a mid-sixties Zenith console with a metal cabinet. I remember that thing shocking the #*&$ out of us when we would touch it! Do you think it had a short? ;-) It was later replaced with an RCA console (wood cabinet, thank heavens).

Venus

 

[ironrite]

1968, two Sylvania TVs. A 23" console, in cherrywood French Provincial for the living room. It also had remote control. Then a 20" portable, metal cabinet covered in wood grain vinyl for my parent's bedroom. My parents saw my Aunt's Sylvania and liked the picture. My father was also looking at the Quasar, until the salesman pointed out they were having a lot of troubles with those "works in a drawer" feature.

The first major show I recall watching was the 1968 Presidential election. After that, you'd scan the TV Guide for shows in color.

During the search for the flat screen TV, the same shopping process, which set had the best color, best picture, etc. I thought geez, didn't think I'd see people go through this process all over again.

 

[hoover1060]

1968 I think

A "Magnetbox" 19" quasi-console on a swivel stand. As soon as the warranty was up that TV was always out for one reason or another.
The Magnavox was replaced in 1974 with an RCA 25" console that was much better.
The RCA was replaced in 1983 with a Panasonic that my parents still have today.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Our first was in 1974: a Sears Silvertone table model that replaced a Silvertone BW portable.

First show I remember seeing on it was "Ironside". It really had a very nice picture.

It was replaced in 1984 when I bought my parents a Zenith table model with remote control. That set is still in operation, though it doesn't get used much these days.

veg

 

[MikeS]

Ty Pennington's Favorite Store

We were the first family on the block to own a color TV.
It was 1965--23-inch Sears Silvertone console in contemporary styling, with "Chromix" control.
Anything in color we watched--for a time, I was the most popular kid in school because friends would come to see "Batman"--IN COLOR! ON ABC!

 

[maytagbear]

Our first colour tv--

was a Sylvania 25 inch console, in "Early American."

It was in 1967. I don't remember the first program we watched on it.

We were not the first family on the block to have colour, but we were the second.

It had a good picture, when it worked right. Oh, that mechanical tuner broke down with regularity.

I loved "Bewitched" in colour.

We bought it from a local dealer, who did their own service.....them days is long gone.

Our first colour with remote was from the mid 80s, a Montgomery Ward's badged Sharp.

This unit, which I am using as a monitor for my web connection, dvd, and vcr, is a 13 inch Sanyo. I like it a lot.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[frontaloadotmy]

1970 I think

My first employment started as "sixth period" work
experience at the "Montgomery Ward Catalog Store" in 1969.
It was a dark mostly fake wood Mediterranean style with tasteful "wrought iron" fancy work attached to the front legs and bottom of the cabinet. It must have been a 23" diag screen, whatever the largest available was. I'm sure it was selected from a clearance sale catalog, plus of course since it was close to Christmas we got an additional 5% discount on top of the regular employee 10%. Couldn't begin to tell you what the first color broadcast was. It replaced a 1954
"Hoffman Easy Vision" table top 21" all wood cabinet job. Sometime during the late eighties my dad removed the innards
from the shot Airline and slipped a Zenith table model in.
Fit near perfect, still in use.

 

[southernmdgeguy]

We had the 63 Zenith

Just as you described, which after it was replaced as the main color tv, was used as my mother's plant stand in the formal living room for years. Nice maple cabinet, had tone controls at the base of the speaker, lighted channel controls, one for VHF and one for UHF, and a door next to them for the color controls. Replaced in 1973 with another Zenith with "Space Command" remote (tuning fork) and a set of lights down the right hand side for channels, you tuned with thumb turns. Funny thing on that TV, the dog's id and vaccination tags would change channels, turn off the sound, etc. when she walked or scratched.. That TV was sold with the house in 98, still going strong. We had a TV in the kitchen, each bedroom, living room (the non functional plant stand) and the rec room.. Dad loved his TV's.. Still have the old RCA small color one from the kitchen and the 71 Sony Trinitron from their bedroom, both still work.

Scott

 

[Cybrvanr]

I was born into a family that already had color TV, being 30 years old. It was an Old Quasar/Mororola "works in a drawer" 27 inch console television. Just like you Burpilator, I remember my father constantly tweaking that TV. It also had a habit of going out of vertical sync frequently. The black vertical blanking bar would start rolling up the screen as the top of the picture ended up at the bottom. Since the TV was of course not remote control, someone had to get up to turn the vert hold knob. To this day, I still remember my mom saying "turn the big knob" when the signal would get a bit snowy or ghosty. We had it hooked up to a rooftop antenna, an it had to be turned every so often to clear up the picture.

Dad went big-time on TV technology in about 1982, and bought a fancy RCA colortrak. He also indulged himself with a VCR at the same time. One all the new video gadgets were home, the only thing left to do was get cable! I got to be very popular in the neighborhood, as the other kids wanted to come over and watch a videotape on the VCR, or watch CATV. It was amazing being able to watch cartoons in the afternoon after school! Or, if you did it right, get the VCR to record a show that ran during the day, and watch it back that afternoon!

 

[wiskybill]

1965 Zenith..

with the rectangular picture tube. I think that was pretty new at the time. I do recall that it went thru 3 picture tubes in the first 6 months and then played for many years trouble free.

Don't recall which program we watched first but, Grandma lived with us at the time and noone and nothing interupted her Saturday night dates with Lawerence Welk in Living Color. I think at the time many programs were just switching to color.

Bill

 

[cleanfresh]

Very early 70's to be exact

and haven't missed black and white since!!! I believe Panasonic was the brand.

 

[jasonl]

Color

I was born in 1970 so my parents had color television in a 19" or so Sears color TV. Then in about 75 or 76, they bought an RCA console with metal cabinet.

My grandparents on the other hand kept their 50s B&W tv until about the same time (74) and bought their CTC-48. I loved that TV and it's one of my dream tv's.

My aunt and uncle had a Works in The Drawer Quasar TV. I always admired that one because of all the buttons (my gadget loving side always comes out)

 

[cycla-fabric]

The first color tv we had was a Motorola console with a rectangular 23" picture tube. I remember it had a red light that would come on when the show was broadcasting in color. I also remember the repairman came to clean the tuner and he told us to spin the channel changer really fast to keep it clean. My dad almost died when he did that, and I started to laugh since my dad told us to turn the knob slowly so we wouldn't break it. When that set died, we got an RCA XL-100 25" console on a swivel base with a black glass top. That was a cool set as you could turn the set according to where you were setting in the room. Those were the days.....

 

[whirlcool]

We were middle of the roaders...

My parents got their first color television in 1964, when Zenith first released the rectanglar screen. My Mother wanted a set earlier as my aunts and uncles had already gotten a few of the "fish bowl" shaped sets, but my Dad said we'll wait until the square screens arrive.
The first set we got was a Zenith 25", just like the one that the Stephens in Bewitched had! Speakers on both sides of the screen, tone controls at the bottom of the set below the right speaker. It even had a separate treble and bass control. Real wood walnut cabinet too.
It was relatively trouble free, a few tuner cleanings and a couple of rectifier tubes. That set lasted all the way up to 1982 when it was replaced with another Zenith System III that had a telephone built into it. You could turn off the program sound and answer the phone by pressing a button on the remote. You could also dial out using the remote control. The speakers would act as a speakerphone. Kinda weird. One of those things that the concept sounds better than it actually works.
In 1970 we got a Zenith 17" color set with "Zoom". You could actually hit a button and the picture would "zoom" in. That set got a really sharp picture, much better than the 25" we had. But when in ZOOM the pixels were so far apart you could drive an 18 wheeler through them. I think the very first show we saw was "Bozos Circus" it came on when power was applied to the set for the first time.
Now here is a funny story for you. When we first got our first color set, the installer told my parents that they will need to get an outside antenna as Colour televisions are more demanding of signal stregnth that B&W televisions are. In other words the rabbit ears you are using may be good enough to get a great picture on your black & white set, but not good enough for a color set. The picture actually was quite snowy and VERY ghosty. My Mom just told the installer he'd tell my Dad. When he got home from his trip he really hit the roof! He said that he's not going to spend another $100 bucks for an antenna when he just got finished paying $700 for this &@@$&*#@* television.
So for several months we had a terrible picture. He was ok with it and nobody dared to explain it to him. So with my part time job (I was in high school) I saved up for a Winegard antenna and installed it all by myself and the picture turned out fantastic. My Dad never said a word to me about it, either .Kinda pissd me off, but at least he didn't complain. He could have at least said "thank you".
Now that you have read this whole thing here is a link that is very much related to this subject. Last year we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of color television broadcasting.
Here is a website that most certainly bring back memories for many of us, and could be very interesting to our younger members!

http://www.ev1.pair.com/colorTV/colorTVlogos.html