Seniors: Do you remember the first TV set at home - were you limited to what you could watch?

Question

Seniors: Do you remember the first TV set at home - were you limited to what you could watch?

Answer 1

I was in the UK when we got a television set as it was called back then. Black and white, 2 channels and it was treated with the utmost respect. The queen appeared at close down on a fine horse and did a troup around the grounds of Buck House. This was all very regal and the national anthem was played. The ads were as good as some of the programmes, and very catch tunes and slogans too. Our set had a strange black line across the bottom, i dont know if this was the norm or whether we had some kind of fault. As someone else said on here, when a car or motorized bike went past we got a very snowy picture. However we have to thank John Logie Baird for inventing something we just cant live without.

Answer 2

I must say Gerry you ask some wonderful questions and they always bring back wonderful memories. I was about 10 years old when we had out first TV. I would watch Wagon Train, Wells Fargo, Meet the Huggets, The Appleyards. Dixon of Dock Green, The Lone Ranger. The Range rider. Cisco Kid. Then there were the documentaries, which were fantastic Armaund and Michaela Denis. Hans and Lotti Hass and what I think was the first documentary by David Attenborough - In search of a Dragon. Magicians like David Nixon. Childrens' programmes would be on for an hour and then the telly would close down for an hour. - WONDERFUL.

Answer 3

Due to us being poor mom always seemed to get a duff set from somebody else who was "upgrading" so to speak. Said "upgrading" usually meant their small screen came with 4 poker legs and looked very glam compared to what we were gettin, An elephant of a thing which sat on the sideboard. At the time in the Uk we could hire televisions and if anything broke down, we phoned up the shop and an engineer arrived usually next day, fixed on the premises or took the set away. When the set was away it was like a death had fallen on the family. Us kids were devastated and missing "Francie and Josie" or The London Palledium and its tiller girls was not funny. I should add that i dont recall any smutt or bad talk on tv in those days, although maybe mom sheltered us from that sort of material.

Answer 4

We'd say, Dad, the TV's rolling again, and somehow he'd get rid of those lines that kept rolling down the screen, sometimes by hitting the TV in a special place on the side, a la Fonzie. We had a UHF converter box so that dad could watch the hockey games on the nearest Canadian station, CKLW in Windsor. We kids were not limited in the late afternoons or Saturday mornings, but at night the TV was Dad's. He very rarely watched a comedy, and when he finally decided McHale's Navy was suitably funny enough for his tastes, we were tickled. Saturdays were the best, cartoons in the morning, followed by kid-friendly shows in the afternoon, Fury, My Friend Flicka, Sky King, etc.

Answer 5

I remember the first time I saw television it was in a shop window late one Saturday evening in 1939 and although we only lived 4 miles from Alexandra Palace (the London transmitter) it was lie looking though a london fog Then came the War in September of that year and when television started I was an army conscript but as soon as I could my wife and I bought a set at the local Co-Op I think it was 5shillings a week ,a fortune in those days but we saved the price of the instalment because we did not go to the cinema

Answer 6

We lived in a rural area and didn't have electricity until right before I was born, our tv was black and white & picked up 3 tv channels, one of them had snow on it so we rarely watched it. I do remember watching CBS, Disney shows, Bonanza and many other westerns, Saturday morning cartoons, Sky King, Roy Rogers, 3 Stooges and American Bandstand, Alfred Hitchcock, Twilight Zone (until the Werewolf looked in the plane window, then we were scared, I had nightmares and no more Twilight Zone), Walter Conkrite was our national news source, movies on the weekend nights. Our farm friends would come over on Saturday night and we would watch tv and eat popcorn. My neighbor's wife would always fall alseep, she worked too hard on the farm. I don't remember watching Soap Operas at our house although one neighbor did when we went to play with the kids, she would iron clothes while watching her soaps. I didn't watch tv as much as my sisters, they were glued all Saturday to the set, I always caught Little Lulu but would go do something and come back to see if anything I liked was on.



Come to think of it, there was about as much good programming on those 2 channels back then as there is today with our cable tv lineup, dozens of channels and half the night shows are reality junk and few good programs which may be repeated regularly. TV Land channel replays a few of those great oldie shows.

Answer 7

I can just about remember it Gerry, I know it took an age to come on and I was fascinated when later it was turned off,I just had to watch that little grey dot disappear.

In the early daysI was allowed to watch Andy Pandy and various other kiddy progs on 'Watch with Mother'.

Later on we liked Z Cars and Softly Softly along with Juke box Jury etc.

Do you recall the time when the National Anthem played at the end of the evenings viewing?

It all really does seem such a long time ago.

Answer 8

It was a very small b/w tv set. Stations signed off at midnight with a picture of the American flag and the national anthem being played. This was followed by the American Indian test pattern. As for programs, the highlight of our day was a daytime program which went on for hours starring the young and beautiful Betty White with her co-host Al Jarvis. Now we can see the older and still lovely Betty in living color. We loved her then and we love her now.

Answer 9

Very vaguely, about 1953 in Los Angeles. My family emigrated from England in 1950. It was black and white and signed off the air each night with a test pattern and an Indian head. It sat on the floor as a piece of furniture. I remember watching cowboy movies on Saturday mornings. If people couldn't afford a TV, they used to watch it in a TV store which was turned on facing the street so people could stand at the store window and watch. My uncle in San Francisco with no TV used to walk into CBS TV and watch it at the station.

Answer 10

I was 8 or 9 when we got electricity. REA. I lived in the country. We got a TV a couple of years later. We wasn't allowed to change the channels.

Just Mom and Dad could turn the Tv on too. If the chores were done then You got to sit down and watch TV. My Mother liked watching Queen

for a day. She also loved watching wrestling.I don't know why she liked watching it, but you knew better than to tell her it was fake. She would almost pounce on you for saying anything. Pinky Lee, Whizzo the clown,

Ozzie and harriet, and ED Sullivan to name a few favorites.

Answer 11

I remember 'the Brains Trust' and isobel Barnett and gilbert harding in 'whats my line'

i also remember juke box jury, where they gave a ding if it was going to be a hit.

We didnt watch it much because most of the time was the 'interval' with a little girl with a blackboard.

Sunday always had a religion programme about 7pm before the programmes started.

I was very young at the time so I cant say it was very interesting. I preferred to play ourside on our cobbled street

Answer 12

There was an American Indian with some kinda round graph at sign-off. Nothing was on that had to be limited. Everything was funny or educational. Remember WinkyDink? A clear sheet they mailed you to lay on the screen and follow along drawing? Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Sid Cesar, Superman, Mighty Mouse, Mickey Mouse...



First one was black-and-white. After homework, dinner. After dinner, television. Edward R. Murrow.

Answer 13

Oh yes, there was only BBC and we got one especially to watch the Coronation, (Ive still got Dads HP slips ) we were the only family in our street to have a TV (9" screen) and we set out planks over the chairs to seat more people, Mum made numerous cups of tea, salads and trifles. Us kids had to sit on the floor.



It was black and white of course, took ages to warm up and sometimes the picture 'slipped', went up and down until someone fiddled with the knob at the back.



We were only limited because childrens hour was just that...1 hour.

Answer 14

We got our first telly when I was about 8 I think . Only one channel the BBC , no afternoon shows , except the news at lunchtime followed by watch with mother . Childrens TV at arid 5 pm . Its amazing how things have changed over 50 years or so . However even with all those channels now quite often there is nothing decent to watch and I return to radio

Answer 15

I sure do. There was the forced limit of stations and programs. We had 3 primary stations and PBS which didn't appeal to a youngster back then. The lines,squiggles, the constant playing with the big rabbit ears to get a picture. Yet, it was heaven, all the way up to my 7:00 pm bedtime.

Answer 16

As far back as I can remember, my parents always had a tv set. We were one of the first families in our neighborhood in Conn. back in the mid 50's to have one. Our neighbors and my dad's work buddies would sometimes be at our house watching tv or the Friday night fights.

We kids were very limited as to watching tv. We could watch for a short time after school then it was homework and dinner time. After doing the dishes we could watch a couple of shows as a family but everyone had to be in bed by 8pm.

On weekends we could only watch tv in the evening with our parents ok, a nice sunny day was for playing outside in.

Answer 17

Yes. 1956. It was a gift to my grandmother from her niece. (We didn't get electricity until 1955). Viewing time didn't need to be restricted, there was only one channel.

My first memory was watching Hungarians leaving the country after the Soviet crack down in October 1956. It changed my life! I have always worked for refugees/asylum seekers all over the world.

I also remember watching a programme about childbirth. My grandmother, who had had three children was pretending not to watch it, but I noticed that the fingers of the hand which she had placed over her eyes were not together. She said to my mother, "Do you think *** should be watching this?"

Answer 18

I remember only having 3-4 channels. TV went off the air by midnight even if the movie wasn't over. If the TV went out, you would go buy another tube. You could fit inside the back of your TV. I remember our TV having doors in front and was a blonde color. If a car went by or it was stormy, it messed up the reception. I guess I was lucky as my parents only had the radio. Actually they may have been lucky.

Answer 19

My dad believed ITV was for morons, so we could only watch the single BBC channel when he was in. Viewing 'The Other Side' became a secret vice and we had to be careful not to blurt out those infectious ad- jingles when Dad was around. His strictness paid dividends because my brother and I grew up with a healthy interest in current affairs and culture, whereas some of our mates could only sing the theme tunes to ' Hawaii 5- 0', etc etc

Answer 20

The only things I remember about our first TV:

...the screen was green-tinted

...since Dad was a TV repairman, we were the first to have one



I really don't remember watching TV in the evenings until around 1959 and then I watched every Western ever aired.



Prior to that, the only shows I remember were Garfield Goose, Romper Room, and Captain Kangaroo.

Answer 21

Three networks, 2 UHF stations(with an adapter box that didn't work very well, extremely blurred reception). I remember old movies and game shows in the daytime. Bedtime was 8 o'clock so I didn't see much at night. I remember there was almost no news on TV then. Black and white, no color in those days.

Answer 22

Memories of first or early years TV: neighbors had one antenna on top of hill with wires that got twisted. Each house had sucker rod(oil country)and would walk the line to untangle. Remember sister doing just that in a lightening storm with rollers in her hair. She survived and later a new antenna showed up in our living room on our ceiling(how embarrassing!). Dad knew how to take the mirror off the wall, set on a chair in the front of the TV while he was in the back and play process of elimination with the tubes. We watched in awe. Family has video of me seeing TV first time at relatives house and watching cartoon with my legs kicking the couch with excitement. We could usually get only one channel but would still watch the fuzzy ones just to hear the shows. Anyway, at that time the radio was still king.

Answer 23

We were limited in downstate Illinois. We only had VHF on the set. So there was one close station that we could get. The others were UHF. We didn''t get a UHF TV until 1967. Same for FM on the radio. There weren't a lot of stations until into the 70's.

Answer 24

I remember it. It was a black & white TV set. It had rabbit ears for reception. Sometimes we would put an aluminum square on each pole. We could only get 2 or 3 channels. The picture was sometimes fuzzy or snowy, not very clear. The picture window was not very big. You had to huddle close to watch it.

Answer 25

I was in 7th grade when my cousin gifted my mother with our first TV. B & W, I think it was 17". Had the Indian Head test pattern. It went off the air around midnight or so. We had one, channel, CBS. The choice was watch it or don't.

It was placed into the dining room. Mom or my aunt would sit in a high backed rocker. My little brother and I would either sit on the floor, or at the dining room table, as we all watched.

I remember my aunt watching wrestling, and making nasty suggestions on what her favorite wrestlers should do to their opponents. And, I remember her making us be very quiet as she watched the Eddy Arnold show. She had a crush on him.

Answer 26

Yes,a black and white one.After watching the children,s programmes, transmission went off at 6-0 pm until (I think) 7-0 pm when the news came on.I also remember the "Interludes" with a short film of a potter at work or kittens playing or fish swimming.

Answer 27

A 9" G.E.C,1953 . We had a magnifying glass in front of the screen. The house was full of people to watch the coronation. To buy this television, even "on instalments" must have skint my Mam and Dad !

Answer 28

I do. It was a console tv and the wood grain was blonde. Blonde furniture was popular at the time and it matched the rest of mom's coffee table, and end tables. We had three channels. It really wasn't limited, because we didn't want to sit in front of the tv all the time, we wanted to be outside playing!

Answer 29

I don't know the brand but it was big with blonde wood and sat up off the floor on four legs about 5 or 6 inches long. I remember the rabbit ears and mom or dad always messing with them. Black and white with 3 channels. Might Mouse and Popeye were my favorites.

Answer 30

I don't remember getting our first television. I remember getting our first color television! I remember how excited my big brother was. He's ten years older than me and I remember he'd watch SciFi, like Army Aunts, and the Giant Spider movie. Which I hated but he'd give me a piggy back ride if I said I'd watch it.



But he also watched good stuff, too.

Answer 31

Yes. I was pre-school age when I saw TV for the first time. We only had a few channels but it was a lot of fun, and we were content with what we had.

Answer 32

We had our first black and white TV when I was 15 (I was working then) and we had to put money in the slot to watch it, then it was collected every week. I used to pay to watch Oh Boy!, 6 - 5 Special and 60's Top of the Pops,



http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/history/index.shtml

Answer 33

yes i remember on saturday morning i could watch about 5 shows all westerns of course. let me see sky king, my friend flicka fury the lone ranger then the cannel would go off the air till evening 1955

Answer 34

children's hour only, my aunty had a 21 in screen in a wooden cabinete with doors it was huge compared with our one

it was BBC only a year or so later an engeer came out fitted a box on top so we could watch ITV

Answer 35

when tv first came out here i was in my early teens ,i found it mainly boring ,liked maybe several shows per week , Alfred Hitchcock presents, Shirlock Holmes, 77 Sunset Strip, some quiz shows and Band Stand , that was about it for the week.

Answer 36

Yes

Answer 37

i remember our first tv a little box thing , and the picture used to roll showing this black line all the time ,

Answer 38

I don't watch TV and I am 21 years old but my father would tell me he got an hour a day. So he watched Scooby Doo before school with his brothers and sisters.

Answer 39

about a 6 inch screen watched Howdy Duty and thought it was great

Answer 40

Yes, I had to go to bed at 7:30 pm.

Answer 41

Good question.



I think we had either an RCA(?) or Zenith TV. Couldn't watch until I did my homework.

Answer 42

Three channels, cute commercials and always something good to watch when it was on at night.

Answer 43

yes 3 channel's +pbs stay tuned really meant stay tuned you had to go out side climb up and turn the antenna

Answer 44

I sure do remember. I got to see Elvis from the waist up!

Answer 45

I would say more like a dictatorship. Lawrence Welk and the like

Answer 46

yes I do and it was black and white. who ever heard of color tv. and shows where not on all night long

Answer 47

Black and white, snowy,intermittent volume, dodgy frame hold, but we could not get enough of it!....

Answer 48

TV is there to control your mind. That's the limitation.