Think back now...What was your FIRST TV ? When did you get it ? Remember where ? Remember what happened to it ? Mine was a Sony 5-303W. Santa Claus brought in Christmas 1962, after I'd pitched a fit-Quite loudly, as I recall- for one at General Products on Gay Street in Knoxville, prolly about Thanksgiving, after seeing the display model. Seems like I remember them telling me I'd BETTER take care of it, as it was nearly $300...A LOT of money back in antebellum 1962. I would take it, & curl up inside of this chest o' drawers my dad had made for me, "hiding" from the world... The little guy was a trouper, I HAD to carry it around w/me all over the house...It got played almost continuously, the CRT started going south-turning a funny shade of pink-the summer they went to the Moon.I watched THAT on my NEW Bestest Friend, a 9" Sony...

The first TV that was mine, not the families or shared with my sisters...that would be a set I wish I'd respected more then. It was a GE table model 23v color set, must have been from around '67 or so. I'm guessing something like a KA chassis or ? My uncle had it, and it may have been his first color set. He said the picture tube was new, though I never understood that because it had very annoying cataracts. The set was free because it needed repair-the sync was out of whack. My Dad took it to get repaired...I should have just been happy but I nitpicked it all the time. The color (typical tube-era GE) was terrible. I liked to watch UHF stations and DX but the UHF tuner gears fell apart. Dad hauled it back up to the repair shop in town but they said it couldn't be fixed. I suffered with it for awhile before buying a 12" bw Midland with saved-up allowance money.

I got my first tv back in September of 1985, I found it back in one of my grandfather's sheds, and I've been nuts about old tv sets ever since. It was a Zenith table model, 16" b/w in a plastic cabinet from the late 60s/ maybe early 70s. The controls were on a copper panel to the right of the screen. It had a continuous uhf tuner mounted vertically below the vhf tuner, and unlike other Zeniths of the era it had the cont/bright/vert controls on the bottom of that copper panel on the front of the set, not on the side. I remember the chassis was old enough to be hand-wired but late enough to use several compactron tubes, and the built in antenna was just one rod on top of the set and not the usual 2. I used it for about 3 years until it had vertical trouble, and I didn't know how to fix sets then, so I just took it apart. I wish I had kept it, I've had several Zenith b/w table sets from the 60s and 70s since, but I've never even seen that particular model again.

My first set was given to me for my birthday or Christmas 1982, a 12" Panasonic B&W set from Wilson's ($99.95).

My first set was an '80 12" Zenith B/W that my parents bought new when the tv got stolen, they then bought a new Sears color set with a three button electronic ultrasonic remote in '81. I came along in 1982. By almost '84 the little B/W set was not used much and I remember breaking the antenna off when I was about 1 1/2. I also remember how hot it was the summer of '84 and I was sweating and complaining about the crappy reception on the little set, I think the new one had something wrong with it. (I'll have to ask, they might not remember either)
I remember asking my mom why we weren't using the big console we had, she said the picture was blurry. Now I know what that problem was but the set is long gone. She has a picture of me pulling myself up on it the first time I stood on my own. It was either a '66ish Magnavox or GE, I'm leaning towards a Maggie. I ended up with the other two sets later on in life, the B/W set in like 1989 and the Sears in '95. The CRT died shortly after that. Before I ended up with the sears, the remote quit working and I fixed it for my dad when I was like 7 or so, it broke again but he was happy it lasted a little while longer. I'd like to find another 19"Sears like that, that thing had millions of hours on it, the thing ran day and night, my dad liked the noise for some reason (like his snoring wasn't enough LOL). I still to this day have the Zenith, all beat up from me as a kid but she still works. The Zenith also still has the Old Style beer logo I stuck onto the speaker grille in like 1991, It came off his hat in the wash and was still sticky. Ahhh.....Memories :D

My first set was a CTC-7 in a blonde metal cabinet with wooden stand that I got at a junk store for $5. This was in 1979.

My first TV set was a Zenith 19" black and white portable on a rollabout stand. It was my 8th grade graduation present in June of 1966.

It stayed with me through my college years and then finally on to my present home where it's still going strong and looks as good as it did when I first got it in 1966.

I also remember the very first program I saw on it that Graduation day. It was a late Saturday morning show called "Sky King". In the 43 years it's been with me I've had to replace the yoke, horizontal output tube, and the tuning knob. I'd say that's a pretty good service record.
Bob

You're all going to laugh. My first TV of my own was a 1982 Samsung 13" color set with IR remote and strip tuning. I spent a lot of time watching that little set. It was my mother's (it was 'hot' in the sense that it fell off a truck). My real bliss moment came later when I inherited a deceased relative's Sharp VCR from like 1983 with a wired remote control !

Sold the Sammy at a yardsale for 20 dollars in 1999. Replaced by a Panasonic TV/VCR 20" MTS stereo set which was blown beyond repair by lightning in 2004 or 5.

My first set was a hand-me-down late 50s GE 21" console B&W... My mother said I could have it in my room, if we could get it fixed :D for not too much $. We did, and I had it for quite a long time. When I was about 10, I had become interested in old TVs, and a neighbor gave me a '59 Magnavox 23" B&W table model. That was the first set I got (not a hand-me-down), and it was also the first set I got to fool with and start up my hobby of now 32 years, and a decent first career from my teens til I was in my late 30s.

Charles

My first tv is sitting behind me. Motorola 19" portable. Still watch it. I was with Dad when he bought it in 1962. It actually was a temporary set for the family and sat on top of the big Admiral that had something bad wrong that took it out of service for bout a week. Then after that it went up into my older brothers and my bedroom. I have used it nearly my entire life as I was only 5 when we got it. Just a couple tubes have been replaced in its long life. CRT is strong still. Very interesting thread.

Hey by the way Sandy, who ya callin' a vidiot!? :D Just because I've had tubes explode under my watch? :D

So, come on fellas, who else owned a TV set in their life?!

Well Sandy some of you may remember my first set, I whined and cried about wanting to find one forever, finally Captainmoody (Dwight) found one for me.

It was a 1959 General Electric, 21" tabletop.
The original one hit the scrap pile sometime in the mid 70's, I personally tossed it out of the back of our truck into the scrap heap, what did I know.

The Picture tube had been removed and smashed by my older brother in 1969 or thereabouts when he somehow determined that it was bad, highly doubtful since it just stopped working while we were watching "The Mod Squad"

My "new" first set: http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/geon.jpg

MY first set was a portable 9" Sears b&w tube set in a dark gray plastic cabinet. It didn't say Silvertone on the front... only Sears. Don't know what model, and haven't seen one since. The tuner was on the right, and vol, bright, contrast, vert hold went across the top. There was no UHF on it, so it had to be pre-64. When first turning it on, the speaker would make this LOUD screaching noise for about 3 seconds and then all was fine. The channel knob was missing, and I found a knob that would fit from an old washing machine.

I got this set from a friend that I went to school with... probably in the late 70's while we were in grade school. He had this set, and I had a portable 3" Realistic reel-to-reel tape recorder. We made our trade and I watched that Sears set for at least a couple of years before upgrading to a CTC-38-ish type RCA.

My fist "Television Set" as they were called way back then...Was a 19 inch black and white portable. The brand was Bradford...Sold by the W. T. Grant Company.

My mother was a manager at one of their stores.

I got it in the late 1950s and I remember taking it to school when Alan Shepard was launched into space ( IIRC May 1961) and we spent most of the day watching the space shot.

Fun stuff back then...

Well Sandy some of you may remember my first set, I whined and cried about wanting to find one forever, finally Captainmoody (Dwight) found one for me.

It was a 1959 General Electric, 21" tabletop.
The original one hit the scrap pile sometime in the mid 70's, I personally tossed it out of the back of our truck into the scrap heap, what did I know.

The Picture tube had been removed and smashed by my older brother in 1969 or thereabouts when he somehow determined that it was bad, highly doubtful since it just stopped working while we were watching "The Mod Squad"

My "new" first set: http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/geon.jpg

I just dragged one of these home the other day out of one of the barns I'm going through. Mine is VERY dirty and missing it's back, though.

IIRC, it was the 17" RCA color set that is presently living in its original cardboard box down in my basement. The date on the back says 1982, but I bought it brand new ±1987 from a shifty warehouse store called Crazy Kelly's in Canada.

This is one of those sets with the 12-channel VHF/6-preset channel UHF varactor single-knob tuners. This thing is so basic, I installed a neon bulb in the empty space for it by myself in parallel with the power cord. It glows even when the set's turned off.

Last I knew it still worked, but since it was put into storage I believe the box had sat in a few inches of basement flood water around 2004.

Tom

I just dragged one of these home the other day out of one of the barns I'm going through. Mine is VERY dirty and missing it's back, though.

Hmm, Does it still have the three small black knobs? :scratch2:

1st TV I can barely remember was a big old Zenith....Think it was about a 21" or so...It had the little white dot that slowly faded out after you turned it off, which tee-totally FASCINATED me...Next TV my dad got was that Gawd-Awful Sears color set...It wasn't worth the powder 'n' lead it woulda took to blow it to Kingdom Come..But by then, I had my widdle Sony, & I was happy...

Hey you reminded me of the Monster TV Dad had in the Den.I don't remember the year but we had 'Color' before any of my friends...The set was 5' long and 4 1/2 ' tall. I went in the set and jumpered the speaker and ran wires to the huge Philco radios' Speaker in the back of the Den, My Dad freaked at first ,but he liked it,early surround sound. The major Attraction though was that it was in Dads' 'DEN', knotty-pine panelled,stone fire-place,leather recliners...His 'Mans Room' for watching Foot-Ball with his brothers and buddies. We had a rec-room in the basement where we normally watched TV. Gradually over the years I commandered the 'DEN' for my bedroom/Apt/Teenage Pad as it had a private entrance.With that huge TV it was a private Movie Theatre.That TV showed me "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and Kennedys' Assasination and the Moon-Landing and my Birth Day being drawn out of a fish-bowl by Pres.Nixon for Induction to Viet Nam...Yep...that was a huge TV...

Just had this thread brought to my attention-thanks JBeach! I made a post about my first tv in the solid state/square tube forum. If someone could ID/find this set for me, I would be beyond grateful. I am currently working on a composite drawing of it right now....

I bought my first television when I got engaged and we (the other half of said engagement) were setting up housekeeping. It was in 1978, the TV was a 19" "portable" Magnavox purchased at one of the Sight-n-Sound locations in Richmond Va.

Played a lot of Atari Pong on that set, we did.

My first TV was a 7" Emerson (652?) my aunt & uncle bought just before KSTP-TV signed on in '48. My brother & I had it in our bedroom for years. Still have it...although whil in storage mousies got inside & chewed up most of the wax caps & wax-covered RF chokes. 7JP4's still good, though.

Hmm, Does it still have the three small black knobs? :scratch2:

I think so, but I'll have to take a look and make sure.

Mine was a '52 or '53 Sylvania 21" console (NOT a Halo-Lite). It could lose both H and V sync on a weak signal and produce a rolling, bent image, just like some of the screenshots in Independence Day. Long gone. It also had the dual-rectifier bracket with only one hole populated.

It was featured in a public-service billboard ad campaign in the early 90's; a picture of this same TV displaying the title screen from the Lawrence Welk Show w/bubbles, the adjacent text saying: "Don't let this be our ony program for Seniors".

Let's see, my first one was a little 9" leather cased GE AC/DC B&W from the early '70's. It was my parents motorhome TV; but, they let me use it in my room when my dad bought a used 14" Truetone metal cabinet tube type color set for the motorhome. That was in '82 and I used it for several years in my room. I finally got rid of it in the mid '90's when the CRT started going dim.

The first TV that didn't come from my parents and was actually mine was a circa '63 17" RCA portable VHF only B&W. It was given to me around '89 or '90, when I was a new antique radio collector. I managed to get it working and used it for a couple years until I found a 19" Early '70's Philco-Ford B&W with UHF. I sold the old RCA to a young newleywed couple who didn't have a lot of $ and just wanted a TV. Now, most young newleywed couples think they have to own the biggest HD flatscreen, regardless of how much $ they have.

Now, I wish I still had that GE and the RCA.

As far as the living room TV, the oldest one I remember was a 19" RCA colortrak w/ single knob tuner from the late '70's. that one got replaced by a 19" Magnavox remote set in around '84. We used that set up into the mid '90's.

Hehehehe...When I got married Christmas 3 yrs ago, the in-laws wanted to buy us a big-azz LCD or plasma..I told 'em I just wanted an old 15" color set, an RCA CT-100....Lauriann-who by that time had figgered out my snarky sense of humor, & had picked up enuff listening to me blather on about such things, told her dad NOT to pay any attention to me...I couldn't be mean to her parents like that, so I fessed up to exactly WHAT a CT-100 is...But her dad, after seeing all the TVs I have around here, "Smelled a Mouse", & kinda suspected Something Was Up...(grin)