Do you remember when it took 5 minutes for the T.V. to warm up?

Question

The programs were all in black'n'white. The roof top had an atenna that you had to go out side to turn to get the station you want? You only got 3 channels back then. ABC,CBS,NBC. The picture you got depended on the weather conditions?

Answer 1

My older brother had the job of taking a pair of vice grips to turn the antenna. Sometimes you had to slap the TV to stop it from rolling. Most of the programs were western or cop shows. I can even remember before we had TV.

Answer 2

I remember those old TVs well. Then after they came on you had to spend another 30 minutes adjusting all the dials so people's bodies and their legs would line up properly. And the screens were smaller than a dinner plate.

At first, we only had two stations which I think were CBS and NBC. They came on at about 4 in the afternoon and signed off with the national anthem at 10 p.m. Local and national news casts were done locally since anything from the East Coast had to come in on film. And, the news, both local and national took 15 minutes including sports scores and a few words about the weather. Some days for whatever reason, one or both stations may not even be on the air. We never knew why.

About an hour before programming started, the stations would broadcast a test pattern so you could begin adjusting your set.

It was really crummy and we loved it and watched every minute of it. Most of the kids I went to school with didn't have a TV so I was grilled every day as to what happened last night on the TV.

Answer 3

Absolutely, only we had the two Canadian stations up here as well CTV and CBC. Who can forget "Hockey Night in Canada"?!

And when you turned the TV off it first went to a flat line across the middle of the screen, and then gradually down to a dot before disappearing entirely.

Do you also remember that film you could buy in the early sixties that went over the screen, and it would give you "colour" of a sort?...at least red and blue outlines on the figures on the screen.

We had that old black and white set for years after the first colour sets were available though. We didn't pack it in until the late sixties, and then it was only because my father wanted to see his Hockey night in Canada and Don Messer's Jubilee in colour.

Answer 4

WE actually had to go to the TV to change the station (only 2) or the volume. At first we didn't call it a TV. We called it a "Television set".
My mom and dad ran a small community store and gas station. My dad placed a TV on a shelf in the store and sat out cane bottom chairs like a mini-theater. He sold pogie bait each night until the stations signed off.

Answer 5

Yesssss! I think we had 4 stations, WTTG, channel 5. I remember the crackling sound when you turned it off! I also remember us putting aluminum foil on the rabbit ears to help with the reception. If the antenna was broken, you'd use a hanger. I remember hitting the set a few times when things got horizontal or vertical. lol

Answer 6

I do now! Yes but I'd forgotton completely. It was a Philco.

My mother worked diligently twisting and turning the tabletop antenna. At night around 12 o'clock the indian head & pattern would come on with a a siren?

Am I remembering this correctly?

Answer 7

Oh, yes, I remember it well. Before the rooftop antenna, rabbit ears with aluminum wrapped over the tips, for better reception sat on top of our "little tv. There was no such thing as a remote control, but that would have been so nice back then. My parents would ask me get up & change the channel, telling me I was younger than them. ~lol~

Answer 8

I sure do Mabel and the Indians head when the stations were all closed. Plus, that ringing sound it made when they did the emergency tests? That was ear piercing! LOL

I liked the old Tv's though as we could take out the old tubes when they would burn out and go to the store and purchase a new tube! Instead of today's throw away society, we fixed things then!

Answer 9

Yes, all the above, and, touching the wrong tube before they cooled down would give you an instant blister and pain for days. Real cloth over the speakers, and the horzontal and vertical hold, which you could experiment with to see just how bad you could screw the picture up. If you did it delicately you could have everything on the screen slightly bent and leaning to one side. Mom never appreciated the talent.

Answer 10

Yes and I also remember that sometimes the tv would make a ringing sound and we would hit it on the side of the cabinet to make it stop.