True facts. I am careful not to exaggerate...
My favorite zenith table model. I was told about more than 20 years after it was stolen from a hotel in fort lauderdale beach in either late 1969 or '70. It was an 18 or 19" with textured off white vinyl covered cabinet, 75ohm connector but no built in antennas or dial lighted knobs but it seemed expensive to me as a small boy. It failed to hold vertical soon and color went off. It remained unused for years until I met the great Ed Callahan of Ed's TV who looked at schematic and quickly found the bad zener diode to lock vertical. I figured color out, the clever looking black IC that plugged into a tube socket. At 14 I could barely lift that heaviest all metal set. It was awesome. It had volume limiter pot in front door and a raster blanking switch on back of tuner. It was a '69 hybrid model 6lb6, 6he5 and had a beautiful picture. I still miss it very much. So, about 1990 my friend talked of robbing the hotel on that beach that has draw bridges and traffic to get that set to his wife. He was in a '69 road runner 383 likely automatic being chased by a late model coupe deville. He said he barely got away and he was a real nascar race car driver. So, if we had taken that set to zenith repair dealer it being new with no serial sticker, would he call the coppers?

back in the early 70s,there was a train car load of tvs stolen here in columbus.we are close to a train depot and it would be robbed of several items.i think it was an inside job.they can into the shop and offered up 12 zenith consoles in the box for 100.00 each.mr dixon declined so the price went down to 50.00 each.again,he declined.i wanted one but didnt have the cash.mr dixon told me he would advance me the money.then he gave me a look that made me think otherwise.they were flat chassis sets.i didnt get one.the look of disappointment on his face did it.though the years several times the train was robbed.cases of motor oil,tires,appliances ect.never got anything myself.the look did it

What's the name of your old shop? (Dixon TV Repair, maybe?) Last I used was Mercury Keller for my XBR. Ran across the receipt the other day, too...

Obviously, repairmen would have pretended not to notice it was apparently stolen or they'd lose a little repair profit. Quite understandable. Have no fear, this was not a "sting" and I'm not an undercover cop with nothing better to do. Just searching for the hardest thing to find... Truths.

I said to the cop "but everyone steals a bit of something when they stay in a hotel." She said "yes, but not the 98 inch TV from the bar."

I had a early 70s GE hybred commercial unit that was obviously stolen from a hotel. Whole bottom where it was mounted to a dresser or stand was ripped off. Had a dim picture tube and a tendency to lose vertical. Sold it, good find for somthing that came from a barn hoard.

Hi all.TV's getting stolen in the 1960's and 70's was a norm.I remember seeing a section in back of the GE newsletter back in that era on stolen sets.I still have those GE newsletters here somewhere...

Back in the early 80s, my father had a friend who bought a truckload of hotel tv's that were 'cancelled' He was told to NOT send in the warranty card. LOL

I had a early 70s GE hybred commercial unit that was obviously stolen from a hotel. Whole bottom where it was mounted to a dresser or stand was ripped off. Had a dim picture tube and a tendency to lose vertical. Sold it, good find for somthing that came from a barn hoard.

How on earth can anyone get away with stealing a television from a hotel room? Aren't they supposed to be anchored to the shelves on which they are mounted? If not, I would think the hotel would have an alarm system that would go off with a loud, shrill noise which would scare off any thief trying to steal a TV, or anything else, from that room.

BTW, if the entire bottom of the set was literally "ripped off" the dresser on which it was mounted, the person who perpetrated this must have been very strong; after all, I'm sure the set must have been mounted in such a way that most people would not be able to move the TV so much as an inch off the dresser. That or else the mounting bolts were very loose.

How on earth can anyone get away with stealing a television from a hotel room? Aren't they supposed to be anchored to the shelves on which they are mounted? If not, I would think the hotel would have an alarm system that would go off with a loud, shrill noise which would scare off any thief trying to steal a TV, or anything else, from that room.

BTW, if the entire bottom of the set was literally "ripped off" the dresser on which it was mounted, the person who perpetrated this must have been very strong; after all, I'm sure the set must have been mounted in such a way that most people would not be able to move the TV so much as an inch off the dresser. That or else the mounting bolts were very loose.
That set was probably part of a salvage effort. Possibly, It was part of a clear out of old, no longer used furniture or a motel that was going out of business.
I, sure as h*ll wouldn't go to jail for theft of a lousy GE.

I've never seen a set bolted or strapped down (except a couple of wall mounted flatpanel sets) in any hotel in the last 20 years (granted I haven't stayed in any dives that I can remember).
I don't think alarms are common either...most sets only have power and coax going to their backs and for over a decade I have been disconnecting that at night to record some programming while I sleep(without anyone saying anything about it)...I used to use VCRs but now I have a USB dongle for my laptop that captures analog cable and clear QAM digital cable.
TVs have been so cheap and plentiful the last 30 years I can't see anyone bothering to mess with them unless they were trying to imitate rock bands of yore.

I'm guessing in the old days a lot of people paid cash so there was no way to track them down, TVs were expensive and in a motel type environment it would be easy to sneak a TV out in the night. Now with CCTV everywhere and hotels requiring a credit card to check in things would be a lot more difficult.

If you ever watched In Living Color, they had a skit called Homeboy Shopping Network where they'd be selling stuff out the back of a truck. One skit they had a bunch of TVs still on the security stand that they were throwing in a few bibles (presumably stolen from the nightstand) to hold the TV up.

I remember seeing some of the 90's sets with an alarm coax jack, so I am assuming some places could network in an alarm to sound at the front desk if disconnected.

Some places even bolted down the remotes!

About 30+ years ago a friend of mine in Atlanta had a friend with a 19" Zenith color metal cabinet that didn't work. It was an "older" set then but how his friend bought it was hilarious! It was wrapped up in a factory looking plastic wrap with Zenith hang tags and it was touted as a "new" set that was one not accounted for on a delivery truck! They didn't want him to open it up and he purchased it for $50. It was a former motel set but a used takeout virtually worthless as it was. I did fix it, it worked but had a weak CRT.

It was one of those curbside sales as he was walking downtown and "Pssst, want to buy a cheap new set"? So who took who here?!!! What an interesting con game that I never would have thought of. I'm sure the new packing materials and hang tags came off of the new sets that replaced the old ones. Greed never pays and always pulls the fuzzy over your eyes!

How on earth can anyone get away with stealing a television from a hotel room? Aren't they supposed to be anchored to the shelves on which they are mounted? If not, I would think the hotel would have an alarm system that would go off with a loud, shrill noise which would scare off any thief trying to steal a TV, or anything else, from that room.

BTW, if the entire bottom of the set was literally "ripped off" the dresser on which it was mounted, the person who perpetrated this must have been very strong; after all, I'm sure the set must have been mounted in such a way that most people would not be able to move the TV so much as an inch off the dresser. That or else the mounting bolts were very loose.

This is Nebraska we're talking here, not sure the motel it was stolen from had any alarms. But the set was obviously chizzled and torn off whatever mounted it. The thieves got alot of hours out of the set, and the repair man evidently didnt give it back after fixing it and putting it in his barn. The barn where I found a whole load of unfixed and some working sets including a Montgomery Wards Airline by Muntz.

This is Nebraska we're talking here, not sure the motel it was stolen from had any alarms. But the set was obviously chizzled and torn off whatever mounted it. The thieves got alot of hours out of the set, and the repair man evidently didnt give it back after fixing it and putting it in his barn. The barn where I found a whole load of unfixed and some working sets including a Montgomery Wards Airline by Muntz.

I have two ex-hotel/motel sets. A solid state GE, found on trash day and one Zenith from a thrift shop.
The Zenith has two coax connectors, one for the antenna and one for a security setup.
What's really neat about the Zenith is the AM-FM radio option is tuned by the keyboard entry. :thmbsp:

This is Nebraska we're talking here, not sure the motel it was stolen from had any alarms. But the set was obviously chizzled and torn off whatever mounted it. The thieves got alot of hours out of the set, and the repair man evidently didnt give it back after fixing it and putting it in his barn. The barn where I found a whole load of unfixed and some working sets including a Montgomery Wards Airline by Muntz.

Whether this happened in Nebraska or any other state doesn't matter, IMHO. The law is the law in any of our 50 states. I cannot believe the state of Nebraska is so far behind the times (or they believe theft, etc. cannot happen there) they don't have alarm systems in their hotels, or any public building for that matter. There should have been an alarm system in that hotel room that would have set off a loud alarm bell, horn, etc., not to mention notified the local police immediately, as soon as the TV was ripped off the dresser.

There is no excuse for this, in Nebraska or in any other state of the United States. I live in Ohio; I am sure if anyone tried to steal anything from a hotel (or anyplace else) anywhere in this state, they would not get away with it. Nebraska seems to be one of those states that doesn't have high crime rates; however, that is no excuse for failure to have burglar/fire/theft alarms in hotels and other public buildings.

I used to do the work for a motor Inn in Waterbury CT back in the 70s, and they did lose a TV occasionally to theft. The TVs were mounted on a two piece security base. I think a big ViseGrips pliers would rotate the lock cylinder in the front. The owner of the motel fitted each TV with a sonolert, a 9V battery, and a mercury tilt switch of his own design..

Later, some TVs had a terminating EOL resistor behind a standard RG59 input cable fitting that could be wired to a security system. If the alarm cable was unscrewed or uncut, it would notify the front desk. There must have been enough thefts so that someone would wire a hotel for a TV alarm.

John

Its sad to think people would steal a TV but when you see how much better they are,its understandable I guess.......

I remember hearing a story where an FBI agent was staying in a motel and the TV theft alarm went off. The people at the front desk said, "it must be a false alarm...he's an FBI agent and wouldn't steal the TV.....oh, maybe on 2nd thought, we'd better go check it." They got to his room just in time to catch him putting the set in the trunk of his car.

Errr...he was just testing the alarm.

Hehe I wonder what he said to them??