Question For Senior DISsers

[RedAngie]

The 55+ crowd. When did your family get its first color TV?

Mine was about 1970. My father finally relented after several years of begging from my mother and me. My maternal grandparents had color TV in about 1967. We’d spend almost every Sunday evening there and could watch Disney in color.

We could see the classic NBC peacock there in all its glory.

For me personally, I didn’t get a color TV until after I graduated college in 1983. Until then I used my parents B&W portable.

I vaguely remember newspaper TV listings having a C next to programs to denote they were in color.

And I remember commercials from RCA, Zenith, etc. extolling the virtues of color TV. Which never made sense to me. If you already had color TV, why bother? If you didn’t, you couldn’t see the commercials in color anyway.

 

[ronandannette]

My grandparents had one of the first in our community, a big, Zenith furniture-type console, from as early as I can remember (late 60's). They'd often have a crowd over on Saturdays for "Hockey Night in Canada!!", enjoying being able to more easily follow the play based on the colour of the uniforms. We got our first colour tv at home when I was 9 (late 70's). I still remember that day.

PS: Not loving the new avatar, Red. You'll always be a young Mare Winningham in my mind's eye.

 

[Chupaca bruh]

I believe we got ours in 67 or 68. Grandma had one before us as did my Aunt and Uncle. We would go to their house sometimes to watch The Thanksgiving Parade, The Rose parade and The Wizard of Oz.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Can’t say for my folks since it was after I left for college in 1970. First one I had would have been 1977.

I still remember growing up in the ‘50’s with the old “tube” set… a couple would overheat and the picture would black out… Dad knew which ones to pull and he’d stick them in the freezer until they cooled off then reinsert them in the TV… voila! Good as new LOL I still remember going to Radio Shack to test the tubes and replace them *sigh*

Who remembers “rabbit ears”???

Sorry, old folks sometimes wax poetic LOL.

 

[Jangles]

I think 1969. My Father had a huge Decca tv, and spent hours playing with valves. I recall when the first man landed on the moon, the whole village crowded around the television to watch.

 

[GAN]

I'd have to say 70/71 we got ours. I wouldn't have gotten my own until High School when I was working so that would have probably been '80

 

[BrianL]

While I am not quite old enough for not having a color TV, we did still have an older black & white TV as a secondary. It wasn't unusual for me to watch it. I also remember TV's that had the B&W/Color switch to make things look better if they were broadcast in B&W.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My grandparents had one before we did. They lived in the same building, we could just walk across the hall. Late 1950’s.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Growing up in the UK, we got a 22 inch color set in I think about 1970-1971. I definitely remember watching Doctor Who episodes in color in 1972. And it never really felt too small even when my whole family of 6 was watching.

 

[tvguy]

About 1965. A Magnavox. A great looking piece of furniture and but a very good TV, it constantly needed repairs. Because the cabinet looked so good, my mom still had it in 2013 when she passed away, decades after the TV had stopped working.
My mom was so excited to see the NBC Peacock in color for the first time.

 

[dcassetta]

1975, one of these monstrosities

 

[Kennywood]

It had to be 1968 or 1969, as I remember watching Sesame Street and Star Trek in color. And I also remember watching the Apollo 11 moon landing.

 

[Kennywood]

1975, one of these monstrosities

View attachment 809391

I don't know why but records and albums always sounded so good on one of those.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Sometime in the early 70’s, not sure the exact year. One of the first shows I remember watching was The Partridge Family with that groovy colorful bus, LOL. My grandparents had one several years before we did, and like others have said, we went to their house occasionally to watch special shows or movies in color. I remember the NBC peacock very well. As a teenager in the late 70’s, my parents let me have the old black and white 19” set in my bedroom, which I considered a real luxury.

 

[GoingSince1990]

About 1965. A Magnavox. A great looking piece of furniture and but a very good TV, it constantly needed repairs. Because the cabinet looked so good, my mom still had it in 2013 when she passed away, decades after the TV had stopped working.
My mom was so excited to see the NBC Peacock in color for the first time.

LOL, just like my MIL. A sleek large-screen OLED smart TV perched on a handsome walnut cabinet still housing a long-defunct decades-old CRT model. A bit strange but she hated to throw things away!

 

[tvguy]

It had to be 1968 or 1969, as I remember watching Sesame Street and Star Trek in color. And I also remember watching the Apollo 11 moon landing.

LOL. The Apollo 11 moon landing was in black and white. Just getting a live picture back from the moon was an accomplishment.
https://www.google.com/search?q=apo...ate=ive&vld=cid:5fae5236,vid:S9HdPi9Ikhk,st:0

 

[Kennywood]

Yes, the picture from the moon was in black and white, but the signal on Earth was in color. Earth did have color broadcasts in July of 1969.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I really can’t remember when we got color TV. Probably pretty early as my Dad loved watching TV. We did have the big TV on legs, too, with rabbit ears.

I do remember when we first got cable, in the mid-70s. It was a box, with a long wire connected to the TV, and two rows of buttons to push to get different channels. The buttons were loud. And my bedroom was next to our den, where the TV was, so I could hear those buttons being pushed over and over when I was trying to sleep!

 

[disneyseniors]

I think we got a color TV when I was a teenager in the 60's; probably one of the first ones out there because it seems like we always had one, LOL. I loved the big console sets with a record player and radio in them. They looked beautiful to me. We used our black and white for backup.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We got ours in 1973. Next to our couch it was the largest piece of furniture in the living room. Something like this:

Going from black and white to color TV was an even bigger jump than standard def to high def, IMHO.