'70 Zenith 12" tube type B&W

[radiotvnut]

I picked up this animal from a member on ARF. I think it's a model A1331; but, can't be certain because the model tag is messed up. I think I remember Doug H. telling me a long time ago what years the model suffixes matched with and I think "A" was 1970. This is a fully tube type set and there's no mention of "Taiwan" on the back (big plus). All I did to this was clean the VHF tuner, user controls, and tube sockets. The only thing wrong with it is a very touchy UHF tuner. I'm not too worried about that since UHF is about to be history in my area. This thing still had all original Zenith tubes and I suspect that I'm the only person that's been inside this TV.

Oh yeah, for five extra points, tell me what TV program is displayed on the screen. There are several clues in the pictures.

[zenith2134]

Wish I knew what program it was, but I like your new TV a whole lot! American made Zenith portables--doesn't get much better than that, for me at least.

[Tony V]

The program is "Emergency" which is one of my favorites along with Adam 12 and the color episodes of Dragnet. Nice Zenith!
-Tony

[AUdubon5425]

Who could miss Julie London?

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by Tony V

The program is "Emergency" which is one of my favorites along with Adam 12 and the color episodes of Dragnet. Nice Zenith!
-Tony

That's it! I get all of those shows on RTN. I also get Knight Rider, Kojak, Rockford Files, and Magnum PI. I really wish I could watch the A-Team; but, it comes on at 7 PM, the same time that FOX programming takes over. I think it would have been better for RTN and FOX to be on seperate channels. I guess I shouldn't complain because we're doing good to have any old programming at all. Speaking of medical shows, I'd like to see "Trapper John, MD" again. I'll take that show and "Emergency" any day over the week over "ER" and "Gray's Anatomy"

[zenith2134]

Of the shows mentioned, I only know the color episodes of Dragnet (which I really enjoy!) and Knight Rider.

[compucat]

Nice TV. I love those old 12" Zeniths. I have an early Seventies Zenith similar to that awaiting restoration. They are definitely worth preserving. I remember watching Emergency as a kid although for some reason I remember the show being called Emergency 1. Memory isn't perfect I guess. I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to collect 12" B&W sets.

[Jeffhs]

I had a Zenith 12" all solid-state B&W portable, model J121Y, which I bought new in 1978. Worked well the next 22 years, then I had to get rid of it because I moved to a very small apartment in 1999; no room for three TVs (I had already bought a new RCA CTC185 XL100 and had brought my Zenith Sentry 2 with me from my former home). The only thing wrong with my little Zenith 12" set was that the detent mechanism on the UHF channel selector had broken some time in the '80s. However, when I got rid of it, the set was working every bit as well as when it was new--bright, sharp picture and all. Typical Zenith.

Yes, that show on your 1970 Zenith is, in fact, Emergency, which ran on NBC in the seventies. I remember when the show was new, and watched every episode. Had a ball watching most of them all over again on DVD a year or so ago (I have a subscription to Netflix).

Unfortunately, none of the Cleveland television stations carry RTN on subchannels; why, I don't know. However, I read somewhere that one of the local stations here in the Cleveland area (WUAB-TV, the MyTV affiliate) is now carrying ThisTV on a subchannel once used by the (now defunct) The Tube music service.

One way to get your favorite old TV shows if, like myself, you live in an area where none of the local television stations carry RTN on digital subchannels is to watch them on DVD. (The only station in the entire state of Ohio that does carry RTN is NBC affiliate WNWO-TV in Toledo.) In addition to my Netflix subscription I have several movies and the first seasons of Kojak, Quincy, and The Odd Couple on DVD.

I don't know why Cleveland's TV stations don't have much of anything (yet, if they ever will) on DTV subcarriers. Channel 5 (ABC) is the worst in this regard, having absolutely no programming on subchannels at this time; the others have some programming on the subcarriers, but not much. Channel 3 (NBC) had NBC Weather Plus on one of its DTV subchannels, but when the latter went off the air on December 31 last year, the subcarrier was reprogrammed with (I think) The Weather Channel, which is actually owned and operated by NBC.

[maxm]

I have a very similar set in a black and woodgrain cabinet. It is a USA built set, with hand-wired chassis, probably one of the last B&W portable sets Zenith made here before moving to Taiwan. There are many foreign parts in the set I have, the yolk, some transformers, tuners and some of the tubes (the set has the only French made tube I've seen).

[David Roper]

Originally Posted by compucat

I remember the show being called Emergency 1. Memory isn't perfect I guess.

Your memory is just fine. It was once commonplace to alter the name of a show once it went into syndication, particularly if it was still running in prime time so as to distinguish the reruns from the network product. Thus Emergency! became Emergency One. Prime examples in the late 70s would be Happy Days Again, Laverne & Shirley & Company and Jim Rockford, Private Investigator although the practice goes all the way back to the 50s during Dragnet's original run when reruns were seen on local stations as Badge 714.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I like to watch Emergency! when I can on my days off.

[nasadowsk]

Come on, pop the back and show inside!

[OvenMaster]

I had a TV EXACTLY like that in the early '80's! A friend of mine was cleaning out his basement and just gave me a 12" and a 15". There were some vertical lines in the 12" set's pic, but the 15" was dead. I swapped out the tubes from the 15" into the 12" set and the lines moved to the left. I slapped the set about a dozen times, and the lines went away. For good!

I used that TV for the next ten, fifteen years as a bedroom set and monitor for my Texas Instruments 99/4A computer. When the picture started to have the CBS eye look like an egg, I tossed it. In retrospect, I shoulda kept it.

Very nice catch! Just do NOT use Windex on the channel knobs. The ammonia will dissolve the numbers!!

Tom

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by OvenMaster

I had a TV EXACTLY like that in the early '80's! A friend of mine was cleaning out his basement and just gave me a 12" and a 15". There were some vertical lines in the 12" set's pic, but the 15" was dead. I swapped out the tubes from the 15" into the 12" set and the lines moved to the left. I slapped the set about a dozen times, and the lines went away. For good!

I used that TV for the next ten, fifteen years as a bedroom set and monitor for my Texas Instruments 99/4A computer. When the picture started to have the CBS eye look like an egg, I tossed it. In retrospect, I shoulda kept it.

Very nice catch! Just do NOT use Windex on the channel knobs. The ammonia will dissolve the numbers!!

Tom

I found out about the windex on an old radio dial scale. I'm glad it wasn't one I really cared about!

When I was younger, I had a 12" Zenith that was 3 or 4 years older than this one. It had knobs on the front rather than the side and it said "all channel" on the front. All I did to it was replace the horizontal phase detector diodes. That was back when a 12" B&W was worth $25 on the used market and I let it go. Now, 19" color sets are barely worth $25; and, that's only if they are remote.

[radotvguy]

I have pretty much the exact set with the original stand . Mine needs a new power cord but works and has a small burn on the top . I was trying to give it away free a while back but had no tackers . Just cant keep weverything . I saved it from being crushed .