Remember when there were only THREE channels?

Got our first huge box/small screen (9-10") TV in 1949 and all I remember was WRESTLING!! ... every night ! ... men, women, midgets ... nothing during the daytime as I recall.
That's how I remember it, but according to the following, there were some programs: and there were 4 channels.
And Ed Sullivan was on Sunday night even that far back. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948–49_United_States_network_television_schedule
 

I can remember when we got our first color TV. I could not quite understand why ALL the shows were not in color, some were still Black and White. I did not understand the concept that programs that were filmed in black and white would not magically turn color on a color TV.
 
hollydolly said:
Unfortunately TV has never been free to watch in the UK , we pay an annual TV licence to watch TV, and risk imprisonment if we don't have a licence. This is a very real threat, people do go to prison for it.. It's disgraceful, and appalling , but it's the law of the land!!

So..now we pay a TV licence still, but on top of that we have to pay to receive satellite channels as well... so we get hit twice now...

However, we at least have 3 Channels ( BBC).. which are commercial free.. basically that's what the TV Licence is supposed to pay for as well as radio ..not all the commercial TV channels. However even if somehow we could choose not to watch the non commercial channels.. we would still have to pay for a TV licence...
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Prison! That's nuts! :confused:
 
I grew up in a logging camp in the Cascade foothills. We received two channels from Seattle. In winter then when snow covered the surrounding mountains, we got a third channel. We got the tv in 1953. Two men from the store where we purchased it drove a van about 60 miles to deliver it. They set the receiver up in the house and spent the rest of the day assembling our new antenna and moving it around the yard for the best signal. Now days, you can't even get a clerk to help carry a new tv out to your car.
 
CeeCee said:
Yes, I remember and still don’t know what they were.
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TV is broadcast on different frequencies allocated to them.

Over the air channels. Low frequencies- Channels 2 to 6.

VHF channels 7 to 13.

UHF which means ultra high frequencies is anything above VHF.

And also the FM frequencies are between channels 6 to 7.

If you want to find out which t.v. stations are in your area, google tvfool.
 
I also remember travelling and going to a motel.

The t.v. had a coin box and you had to pay to watch t.v. So if you went out and came back the time was expired. So you had to pay again.

Well I figured out the coin box was on a timer. So when I went out I would just pull the timer plug out of the wall which would stop it. And then plug it back in when I came back.

If you tell your kids about episodes like that they will laugh at you, thinking you are pulling their leg.
 
TV's weren't around 'til I was in my middle teens. I think I was 17 when we got our first set in 1951. They were pretty basic by later standards but fascinating back then. The idea of anything (besides an 8 mm. projector) projecting a moving picture in our living room seemed incredible at the time.
 
I remember that and barely being able to get the UHF channel 45 with adjusting the Rabbit Ears. Then I remember much later when Cable first came and the Remote had a wire with it that was attached to the box so you couldn't walk all over the place with it like you can today.
 
...Way back... 1948 when I was 12 years old... WBZ TV Boston. Test pattern only, except for Sunday afternoon when there was an hour show called "Community Auditions".
At the time, I don't think TV's were even sold in stores.
My whole extended family... maybe 18 of us, would go to Uncle Otto's house... third floor. One room was for his electronics hobby... ( don't think we called it "electronics" then) we would crowd in taking turns watching his home made TV... a six inch face cathode tube about 12 inches long, on a vacuum tube base.. antenna on the telephone pole in the back yard.
A real thrill, because none of my friends even got to watch a TV until months later, when some of the downtown stores, would put one in the front window.
 
68736474_796898487421897_4141791616715194368_n.jpg
 
What fun I had going through the pages of this thread!

One thing I vividly remember, is how loud the channel changing dial was on our television, so when one of us kids would go to turn the channel, mom would hear the dial being turned and holler out... "quit playing with the TV"!

Through experimenting, I happened across a method of operating the dial silently, and what a treat that was to sit there in front of the TV, going back and forth through the few channels that we had.
 
I remember holding a wire hanger with tin foil wrapped around it, and waving it around the top of the TV until someone yelled,"That's it, Don't move!" "We almost have a picture!"
Remember listening to "Checkerboard Square"in the morning while you WATCH the radio? "My friend Irma" was on after school. (This might be before your time.)
 
Tommy said:
Oh my! Each of those could almost be a thread unto itself.

We had three channels, all out of Detroit. Local stories were the sole province of the local radio stations and newspapers.

With only 15 minutes, the news programs focused on broadcasting actual news. No big emphasis on telling the viewer what they should THINK about it as is the case today.

My first recollections of the Tonight Show featured Jack Parr as the host. I'm sure some here recall when it was hosted by Steve Allen! That program died for me when Carson left.

On another thread, someone here mentioned having once met William Boyd. His character, Hopalong Cassidy, was my earliest TV cowboy hero. I even had a Hopalong Cassidy bedspread.

Rabbit ears didn't work where I lived. Most houses had an antenna on the roof. The well to do had them on towers.

Waiting for the television to "warm up"? Yup. Haha, I still have to do that with my Panasonic 50" flat screen. So much for progress.

I don't think I ever saw a TV repairman. My dad was good with electronics and was able to troubleshoot and fix any TV problems.

An uncle had one of the first TV remotes. IIRC, it had three buttons that made a "ding" sound when pushed. It used sound to change channels and turn the set on and off.

Yes, it seemed like every adult smoked ... actors, politicians, teachers, doctors, and most kids' parents. Television carried a LOT of advertising for tobacco and alcohol products in those days.

Although I wasn't a big Flintstones fan, those three channels did broadcast a great number of really good programs. Somehow I don't think today's "reality TV" dreck would have fared well back then.
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Yes sound operated remotes. I remember going to my sisters house and jangling my keys outside and it would change the channels and they knew when I was coming.
C'est Moi said:
I remember my dad glued to "The Cavalcade of Sports."


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Do you remember, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat," playing as an intro and a guy going off the side of the ski jump. ?
 
Bonnie said wrestles
wrestlers, midgets who growled throughout their match, the evil Duke Kamuka, who would tear the T-shirt of hapless referee (6ft of skin and bone) Otto Kusa. Yes, there will be a grudge match next week.
Wrestling was family affair, parent's enthralled, kids-'yea,'...
One tv camera, far, far away
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Remember when the President was on ALL three channels.
Remember when TV news programs were 15 minutes long.
Remember when TV stations shut down after Johnny Carson.
Remember Saturday morning westerns.
Remember rabbit ears.
Remember waiting for the TV set to "warm up".
Remember when there was such a thing as a TV repairman.
Remember when having kids was the forerunner of channel changing remote.
Remember your father always adjusting the "vertical hold".
Remember when people on TV smoked.
Remember when the Flintstones were #1 TV program.
Now YOU do some remembering.
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Remember when watching TV at night was a family affair?
 
Good grief, I was 6 yrs. old and we went to the NY World's Fair in 1939 where I saw FDR on TV for the first time. I thought is was a movie and not too clear. Then my mom won a T.V. on New Year's day in 1946 from a raffle ticket she bought from the VFW. Well, it was a large piece of furniture with a small oval screen and I recall the Dumont channel in NY. There were a couple of others, but not much to see. Roller Derby, wrestling, Paul Whiteman and orchestra, some brief news and weather. At best, the screen was often snowy and my parents were doing all that was mentioned above to clear it up. Grew bored with it very quickly.
 
jerry old said:
Bonnie said wrestles
wrestlers, midgets who growled throughout their match, the evil Duke Kamuka, who would tear the T-shirt of hapless referee (6ft of skin and bone) Otto Kusa. Yes, there will be a grudge match next week.
Wrestling was family affair, parent's enthralled, kids-'yea,'...
One tv camera, far, far away
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Remember Gorgeous George? What a hoot.
 
My Dad was a boxer (fighting in a ring)….So when he was home to see the "fights" as he called them, me and my older brother went to another room cause my Dad had to see the fights....Marciano...(I think) I cant remember many that my Dad watched...So sometimes I would watch with him...Only because he was hysterical while his arms and hands were making a pounding noise cause he was hurting his 2 hands
The best of all this was my Mom....She was hysterical when Dad put on the fights on (Black and White) TV....Everytime my Dad would start
with his hands my Mom would tell him to stop, You are going to get hurt...(He never got hurt) only when he was a boxer in the real ring)
My Dad was a little guy, but tough....He won some fights but lost some....(I was a little girl, I wasn't allowed to go to boxing fights)….
Anyway, finally Dad gave up boxing...By the way, my Dad had only 1 good eye....He was also in the National Guard and also took care of
the Armory....Then my young brother came along....Moma Mia....But I love him dearly....He was the only one in our family to go to college
and become a Lawyer....
 
Lewkat said:
Good grief, I was 6 yrs. old and we went to the NY World's Fair in 1939 where I saw FDR on TV for the first time. I thought is was a movie and not too clear. Then my mom won a T.V. on New Year's day in 1946 from a raffle ticket she bought from the VFW. Well, it was a large piece of furniture with a small oval screen and I recall the Dumont channel in NY. There were a couple of others, but not much to see. Roller Derby, wrestling, Paul Whiteman and orchestra, some brief news and weather. At best, the screen was often snowy and my parents were doing all that was mentioned above to clear it up. Grew bored with it very quickly.
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I remember roller derby. That was a hoot!
 


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