We didn't get a TV until mid-1952, I think. Daddy had wanted to wait to get one until color TV was available (and affordable) which he was sure would be soon. We hardly could afford a black and white one at that point, but we managed. It was better than our traipsing off to the Cribbins' house to watch theirs every chance we got. He died in November of that year. Color TV didn't come into widespread transmission until the 1960's.
Mother got the family's first color set in 1967. We had had a terrible ice storm and lost power for several days at our little house among the pines of Guilford Hills. Our family house on Lake Daniel Park had lights and heat (and Black Mary's cooking!) so Bruce and I (who was pregnant with Cathy at the time) and Willie D. Dogg ("the world's greatest dachshund") moved "back home".
Mother's TV was in the repair shop of Steele & Vaughn, though. She called their sales manager and suggested that he send out a color TV "on trial" so we could have something to do while we were there. Of course that set never left. We spent the next 4 days adjusting the knobs to get some semblance of correct color and fiddling with the antenna to try to improve reception of the four available channels--2, 4, 8 and 12. I don't think cable TV was even available at the time.
Bruce and I bought our first color TV with part of my winnings from Jeopardy! late that year. Four years or so later we even got a second set for the bedroom--quite an extravagance! I didn't get cable until 1978.
We never imagined back in the '50's or '60's the size of TV screens, picture quality or the range of channels we have today--nor the comparably low prices.
Daddy would have loved it!
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