How many tvs did your childhood home have?

[goofyernmost]

Most of my childhood, one. Black and white until I was about 7, then we got a color TV. That was about 1965. When the color tv died my mom moved it into the Living room because "it was too nice a piece of furniture to throw out". So we had two then, but only one that worked. When my mom passed away in 2013 I took the nice piece of furniture TV to the dump. It had been in the house nearly 50 years, only the first 10 or so was it working.
And yes, we had 4 channels. ABC, CBS, NBC and NET. NET later became PBS.

We must have had the same Mother's at different times. In 1961 my parents bought one of those Cabinet B&W TV's with Fm and Am radio and a turntable. The TV gave out about 10 years later, but since the radio and turntable was still working she felt it was way to nice a piece of furniture to throw out so it sat out on their sun porch until she passed in 2005 it was then put to out of its misery. Still a beautiful piece of furniture but completely useless except to hold knick knacks and pictures of grandchildren.

 

[barkley]

And yes, we had 4 channels. ABC, CBS, NBC and NET. NET later became PBS.

no kbhk channel 44 or ktvu channel 2 in the 60's?

 

[tvguy]

no kbhk channel 44 or ktvu channel 2 in the 60's?

I think they both were around but they both are San Francisco stations and I am in Sacramento. Their signal did not reach Sacramento.

 

[ronandannette]

ONE and somehow it was just fine!!! and oh, so many years ago!

And it’s still just fine. I grew up with a single TV in the house and our home now only has one too - we’ve never had more than one.

 

[barkley]

And it’s still just fine. I grew up with a single TV in the house and our home now only has one too - we’ve never had more than one.

absolutely fine.

what I find interesting though is what seems to be common among my oldest (30's) and that peer group of not desiring having a tv and def. not if they have kids b/c they (say) that they don't want to waste time/have their kids waste time watching TV but the kids are still streaming the shows on their pads or laptops while the adults (my own included) have large monitors for their gaming computers that they seem to keep up to speed watching the same shows I do. so is it tv watching they are against or just the old school method of delivery?

 

[amcnj]

Most of my younger years there was one tv. Then my mother won a raffle for a color tv m, and since the black and white set was still working, we doubled up and became a two tv family!

 

[NYCgrrl]

One used black and white non-console TV given us as a family gift when I was eleven or twelve. Nice not having to visit friends to see the Jetsons or Flintstones. Oh and staying up to watch “The Late Late Show” and finally “David & Goliath”. Still, the library was more fun in my mind and helps to explain my ability to ignore the TV for years at a time.

 

[kanerf]

We had two. It was the sixties. Big color console thing in the living room and small black and white in the guest room.

 

[antmaril]

We had one black and white tv when I was little in the 1950’s. Eventually, of course, we got a color tv, but we always had just one. It was a different time.

 

[aka Charles]

How many remember having to bang on the top or side of the TV to get the picture to lock in correctly?
Love that old vacuum tube technology, lol.
.

 

[easyas123]

1, grew up in 70's/80's & my parents were not big on us watching TV so we didn't get to watch it a lot, especially when we were young.

 

[BrianL]

There were always at least two that I can recall, but really three I think most of the time - living room, dining nook, and my mom's room. Then I got one for my room, and my sister too, so that was five at most.

 

[firefly_ris]

Too many. My parents even had them in their bathrooms. It was like 9 or 10.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Child of the 50’s.

1 black & white which would overheat so the picture would blackout. My dear Dad knew exactly which tube it was so he would take it out and put it in the freezer. After a bit he’d put it back in the TV and we’d continue watching.

Never questioned it… but then Dad could squeeze a quarter till it cried. lol

 

[tvguy]

That nice piece of furniture Color TV my dad bought was a Magnavox. It spent a lot of time in the shop. Picture used to fade out, the Magnavox dealer could never figure out the issue under warranty. By brother worked on TVs as a side business and he never figured it out either. Really wasn't until the 1970s that they got everything figured out. TVs made in that era lasted for decades. That is unlike the current flat screen TVs that might have a life of 7 to 10 years. Of course now, technology in TVs keeps advancing. Just bought a new flat screen and it has Alexa and Bixby in it, it as a welcome screen the turns itself on when you walk into the room with the latest news headlines, weather and time. Even wishes you a good night when you turn it off at night.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I also remember from that "back in the day" stuff, the screens were SO much smaller. I don't know how we saw the picture

 

[Simba's Mom]

Two-both black and white. I don't think my parents got a color TV until they were common. My parents always said that the color was "off" on so many. There was the big Magnvox console TV/radio/record player in the living room, plus a smaller rabbit ears on a stand in my bedroom. I think they bought that one to keep me from waking them up too early on weekends.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

60’s.

Had one console TV in our upstairs den. Not too many channels, maybe 4 or 5 decent ones that weren’t overly fuzzy. Used an antenna. (And I do remember futzing around with it to get a better picture, and also banging on the side of the TV to get it to go on again if it went out, lol, or shutting it off for a while.) Nothing like today, most people all watched the same shows as there weren’t many options. That’s why if someone today mentions Gilligan’s Island, Batman, Bewitched, or Get Smart, most of us knew those shows pretty well.

I remember when we got our first cable in the mid 70s. It was a “box” with a wire, so you couldn’t go very far with it. (Warner Cable in the Boston area if anyone remembers it.) There was a row of “buttons” on the box with a toggle switch to actually make two rows of channels. Pushing the buttons was loud. I remember laying in bed at night hearing my father push button after button after button - it was so fascinating to him.

DH just said he had just one TV too, in the living room. But his sister and mothers liked certain shows that the three brothers and dad didn’t want to necessarily watch, so they got a small black and white for up in one of the bedrooms and they’d put the sports games on. His grandfather had a rotary antenna that spun around to find the best picture.

Found this online, what our first cable system looked like.



Does anyone remember what that rounded switch on the right was for?

 

[RangerPooh]

2-no e in the living room, one in my parents room.

 

[barkley]

How many remember having to bang on the top or side of the TV to get the picture to lock in correctly?
Love that old vacuum tube technology, lol.
.

I remember being told to adjust the rabbit ears and the minute you took your hand off it the picture losing it's quality.