Are you old enough to remember when television channels signed off for the night? I recall them playing the national anthem, then shutting down. There was no television to watch during the night. The next morning the process worked in reverse. They played the national anthem, then were up and running.
I was surprised when I looked into the history of television. Men were pioneering devices for transmission of television pictures as early as the 1920s. Frank Lloyd Wright described television as “chewing gum for the eyes”.
Television was introduced in England in the early 1930s. An education station was introduced in 1932. In 1937 Marcel Boulestin became the first television chef premiering “Cook’s Night Out”.
It was 1938 when NBC launched the first regular high-definition service in the U. S.
My family did not have television until the 1950s. When my great-grandfather got a larger television set, we got the old one. I think it was a 10- inch model. The case, however, was quite large. After we no longer used that set my grandfather made the case into a cabinet for me to use in the trailer as a changing table. He put doors where the screen used to be and added two larger drawers where I stored the diapers. It fit perfectly into the bathroom so I could change the children in there. My daughter now has this cabinet. It has been used for many things including holding a larger screen television.
My great-grandmother had the first color television. Her son Walter bought it and since he still lived at home she could use it. We visited there every Sunday afternoon. I got to watch Roy Rogers and Dale Evans there. I was about ten when she died.
While I was at home, we never had a color tv. Even the one my mother and I had in our apartment was not a color model. My mother remarried so she no longer needed that model. It was mine to take to Kenmore, N.Y., where I began teaching. Little did I know when I set it up that I would be on that screen my first day of teaching.
The principal came to me on my first day of meetings and told me that I would be featured as a new teacher in the district on the evening news. One of my student’s fathers worked for the local station. I called home and told them to be sure to watch the news because I was going on.
What a crazy day that was! They were not there with the camera when my students came to the classroom so I proceeded with my introduction. Soon my classroom door opened and I was called out into the hall. Someone else stepped into my classroom while I put on my coat and went back out to my car. I was photographed leaving the car and signing in at the office. Then, I returned to my class and introduced myself again. The kids thought I was crazy!
That television set came with me when I moved to Jamestown. It was a portable model with rabbit ears. There was a stand for it too. It was our only television until the children were in school. When we wanted to watch the Christmas specials, I had to hold the rabbit ears to get a clear picture. My children did not grow up with Captain Kangaroo; it was too hard to see it.
We bought our first new television in the month of September. My husband promised our daughter we would have a new tv by the time the Miss America Pageant aired. We went to Edborg’s in the afternoon and purchased one.
In those days you purchased a handsome cabinet as well as the television set. We set up our television in the corner of the living room and attached our rotor. The rotor was the thing that moved the antenna so we could watch either Buffalo channels or Erie channels. Usually, Buffalo came in better so we watched those channels. There were three of them: NBC, ABC, and CBS. We did not have to pay to watch them either.
All that changed in the sixties when the dishes became popular. Now we paid for tv and we certainly got a lot of channels. However, as soon as we removed our antenna, we could no longer get the local channels. In 1998 we got a small dish. It was a while before we were able to get a package that included the local channels.
Now our choices are endless yet many nights I cannot find anything decent to watch. The sitcoms are not like they used to be. I Love Lucy was funny. The Ed Sullivan Show had good entertainment. Red Skeleton was funny. We can still get some of these shows when you turn to the oldies channel
Television sets have changed a lot too. There are no cabinets. You buy that extra if you want one. The new thin screens do not fit most cabinets. I now mount mine on top of the cabinet that we bought in the late 90s. I have a very conservative model. It suits me, but many people like the bigger screens.
Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell. Contact her at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.
