How many Rca employees owned early color?

[oldtvman]

Just as a point of interest I wonder how many employees of Rca actually owned early color sets? If I were working there at that time I'm sure I would have found a way to own one. Besides I know they got employee discounts on product.

[benman94]

I imagine it was fairly common. Two of my great uncles, as well as my great-grandfather, all worked for RCA in the computing division that was later sold to Sperry. All three of them purchased early color sets: my great uncles purchased console CTC-7s, and my great-grandfather purchased a tabletop CTC-9. Knowing how cheap they all were, they would have had to received steep discounts. I couldn't see any one of them spending $500+ on a television...

[DavGoodlin]

It would be very interesting to find out. I live close to the CRT plant at 1000 New Holland Avenue in Lancaster, Pa. In 25 years, I have seen very few older color sets here.
There was a company store at RCA in the 80s, where many bought the Selectavision LD players, once they dropped in price as VHS became popular.

[Countryford]

Maybe the employees did like Johnny Cash and got the color tvs, "One Piece at a Time".

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by Countryford

Maybe the employees did like Johnny Cash and got the color tvs, "One Piece at a Time".

its a 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 color tv....
Hopefully, somebody who lived in Bloomington Indiana has a funny story....

[egrand]

I love country music references!





Back to the OP...when did Indianapolis or Bloomington area TV stations start color broadcasting? I figure there was a while at least where even if they had a color TV they couldn't see anything.

[Username1]

I love that song ! !


I use to love imagining that car as he would sing that song....

So did fans make that car..? or did the record label do it for promo....?
from what I can see it's accurate to the song.... Three head lights, and one tail fin....

Made me wanna look up a commercial I remember as a kid on tv. I found it, it was a
takeoff on the "one piece at a time" theme. Manufacturer Hanover's bank in NYC use
to run "any car" loan ads, with a uniquely dam ugly car, that changed over the years..
But anyway, you gotta see it... From 1978 ! With only 180 views, I guess not many
remember it fondly enough to wanna see it again.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-_6zX1rsAk

On to the topic at hand, I would imagine less engineers, and line workers could afford
a color tv, But I bet the big wigs had one, as well as area store owners, as they made
pretty good money selling sets, and keeping up with repairs.... That's my guess anyway....

Why can't they make really good commercials like this again.......

Found a story about the Caddy.... http://local.aaca.org/junior/cartune...e/external.htm

[jstout66]

HAHA *One Piece at a time"... "Now Edna.. when you go out to smoke, sneak this 21AXP22 out in your purse" Can you imagine??

[Username1]

Originally Posted by jstout66

HAHA *One Piece at a time"... "Now Edna.. when you go out to smoke, sneak this 21AXP22 out in your purse" Can you imagine??

Weighs less than a transmission......

[oldtvman]

According the Ed Reitan's site the station in Indianapolis began color broadcasting in 1956. For more info please see Ed's site.


http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/PION_6m.htm

[oldtvman]

Originally Posted by Username1

I love that song ! !


I use to love imagining that car as he would sing that song....

So did fans make that car..? or did the record label do it for promo....?
from what I can see it's accurate to the song.... Three head lights, and one tail fin....

Made me wanna look up a commercial I remember as a kid on tv. I found it, it was a
takeoff on the "one piece at a time" theme. Manufacturer Hanover's bank in NYC use
to run "any car" loan ads, with a uniquely dam ugly car, that changed over the years..
But anyway, you gotta see it... From 1978 ! With only 180 views, I guess not many
remember it fondly enough to wanna see it again.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-_6zX1rsAk

On to the topic at hand, I would imagine less engineers, and line workers could afford
a color tv, But I bet the big wigs had one, as well as area store owners, as they made
pretty good money selling sets, and keeping up with repairs.... That's my guess anyway....

Why can't they make really good commercials like this again.......

Found a story about the Caddy.... http://local.aaca.org/junior/cartune...e/external.htm

I few years ago I picked up a ctc9 that was owned by an executive of RCA/Whirlpool. Keep in mind employees of Whirlpool Corp could also buy Rca products at employee pricing.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by Countryford

Maybe the employees did like Johnny Cash and got the color tvs, "One Piece at a Time".

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

its a 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 color tv....
Hopefully, somebody who lived in Bloomington Indiana has a funny story....

I cannot believe you and the others here thought of that song; I was thinking the same thing as I read the first couple of posts!

So, the set has a 21-CT-55 chassis, with a 21FJP22 (and a rectangular bezel). Of course, it has to be top-of-the-line, so it is a big combo cabinet. It has the Dimensia all-in-one remote control, but the remote-receiver chassis is for ultrasonic signals. The stereo has a tube amp for the left channel but solid state on the right. The TV's tuner is from an F38310, so at least it can tune the digital channels. And, the record player is actually a CED mechanism.