Most of you appear to be younger than I. My memories of early TV (and a few later) include the first time I ever saw an Army Jeep on TV and was amazed that I could see the individual treads on the tires. That reminds me of Combat. I think we got our first TV set in 1951. I was 8 years old.
My dad built a telescoping antenna pole using pipes within larger and larger pipes with a steel wire that went back and forth from pulley to pulley within the pipes to telescope the pole from about 12 feet tall to 60 feet tall, without the need for guy wires. When all the way down, the rig could be pivoted to horizontal to allow access to the antenna for repairs and to keep expected high winds from damaging it.
It included a Tenna-Rotor that would rotate the large aluminum antenna to face any one of the three broadcast towers within our range. There was a box on top of the TV set that had a dial that looked like a compass face. We'd twist the knob to point the arrow toward the desired direction and a light would blink off and on until the selected position was reached by the antenna.
TV time was usually limited to after supper was over (we always ate as a family) and before bedtime came. My favorite shows included many that my parents watched and some that we kids were successful in begging to watch.
Hit Parade
Huntley-Brinkley (Goodnight Chet! Goodnight David!)
Dragnet (Just the facts, ma'am!)
Steve Allen
Father Knows Best
Marcus Welby, MD
As the World Turns
The Mickey Mouse club
Gunsmoke
Captain Kangaroo
Have Gun--Will Travel
The Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock
What's My Line
The Fugitive
Highway Patrol
Red Skelton
The Price is Right
Lassie
The Untouchables
Roy Rogers
Sky King
I Love Lucy
The Honeymooners
Rawhide
Burns and Allen
Bob Hope
Jack Benny
Life of Riley (What a revoltin' development this is!)
George Gobel (Among the funniest comedians on TV...and he never went vulgar.)
Bewitched (I used to dream of having a Genie in a bottle...scantily clad...with big boobs.)
...I could go on for hours!
My dad built a telescoping antenna pole using pipes within larger and larger pipes with a steel wire that went back and forth from pulley to pulley within the pipes to telescope the pole from about 12 feet tall to 60 feet tall, without the need for guy wires. When all the way down, the rig could be pivoted to horizontal to allow access to the antenna for repairs and to keep expected high winds from damaging it.
It included a Tenna-Rotor that would rotate the large aluminum antenna to face any one of the three broadcast towers within our range. There was a box on top of the TV set that had a dial that looked like a compass face. We'd twist the knob to point the arrow toward the desired direction and a light would blink off and on until the selected position was reached by the antenna.
TV time was usually limited to after supper was over (we always ate as a family) and before bedtime came. My favorite shows included many that my parents watched and some that we kids were successful in begging to watch.
Hit Parade
Huntley-Brinkley (Goodnight Chet! Goodnight David!)
Dragnet (Just the facts, ma'am!)
Steve Allen
Father Knows Best
Marcus Welby, MD
As the World Turns
The Mickey Mouse club
Gunsmoke
Captain Kangaroo
Have Gun--Will Travel
The Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock
What's My Line
The Fugitive
Highway Patrol
Red Skelton
The Price is Right
Lassie
The Untouchables
Roy Rogers
Sky King
I Love Lucy
The Honeymooners
Rawhide
Burns and Allen
Bob Hope
Jack Benny
Life of Riley (What a revoltin' development this is!)
George Gobel (Among the funniest comedians on TV...and he never went vulgar.)
Bewitched (I used to dream of having a Genie in a bottle...scantily clad...with big boobs.)
...I could go on for hours!
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