Television from a different time

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I know that some of the members on here remember television from a much different time.

A time before color TV Shows and everything was seen in only black and white.

A time before cable television using a set of rabbit ears antenna in our living rooms or if we were lucky, an outside antenna mounted on the roof.

A time when the channel tuner went from 2 - 13 only.

A time when all television stations would go off the air for the night and return back on in the morning hours.

A time when a major city like New York was limited to only a few TV channels. As I remember:
Channel 2 - WCBS
Channel 4 - WNBC
Channel 5 - WNEW
Channel 7 - WABC
Channel 9 - WJOR
Channel 11 - WPIX
(I hope I got those right)

A time when Televisions used small tubes that sometimes needed replacement and the nearest drugstore usually had a tube testing machine to use for testing them.

A time long before large flat screen TVs as we know them today.

The TV Shows were so different then. From weekly comedy series to weekly variety shows. The moms would like to watch their favorite soap operas while cooking the meals and doing the household chores. Families would gather around the televisions to enjoy evening shows together.

A time when Saturday morning TV was devoted to kids shows and cartoons.

Over the years I built up a large collection of these TV shows on DVD. In the comedy series I have seen some of them dozens of times, but they are still funny to laugh at.

It was such a different time then. Anybody who was around then would almost always agree. I guess some of us might also agree when it comes to music, as we see in so many of the Doo Wop music videos posted on that Doo Wop thread.

Recently one of the regular contributor's to this site sent me an email of this Special July 4, 1970 Varity show. Most of those in this video have all passed on. But during this time they were some of the most famous people on television. Remembering that watching television was probably Americas most popular past time then.

This video is a July 4, 1970 John Wayne Varity Show Celebrating Americas History. It includes some of Americas Most Famous actors and singers from that time. (Thank you MM)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFv-fqQ9D_Y
 
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Good video Bill. Unless I am mistaken, your list of stations is OK except for these two:

Channel 5: WABD (Dumont Television Network)
Channel 9: WOR (Independent)

I used to watch "Captain Video" starring Al Hodge on Channel 5 and the "Million Dollar Movie" on Channel 9. Frank Kizis, the dad of one of my buddies, was program director on channel 9. The Million Dollar Movie theme was the theme from Gone With the Wind.

Does anybody else remember the "Merry Mailman starring Ray Heatherton from Oceanside?
 

mack

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TV was not 24/7.  They all went off the air at night?  Some stations played national anthem when they went on air and off air.  I think channel 2 played Late Show, a movie, and then Late Late Show, an old black and white movie.  No reality TV.  No color.  Live TV shows.  Families actually watched TV programs together. 
 

mack

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Channel 2 sign off:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s6g9x_jGg4

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyrdRo8CQ3w


TV station test patterns:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS9uojwaN7E
 

mack

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TV commercials of the 1950s/1960s:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4DojiQimkg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFbCGT_AWBI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckjIbT1bUos

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tB3qaslLAM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i8857WvWyQ
 
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtv-BnUgnYI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B230smi-ZEo

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFbCGT_AWBI&t=168s
 
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mack said:
TV was not 24/7.  They all went off the air at night?  Some stations played national anthem when they went on air and off air.  I think channel 2 played Late Show, a movie, and then Late Late Show, an old black and white movie.  No reality TV.  No color.  Live TV shows.  Families actually watched TV programs together.
"No reality TV" How I long for those days again.
 

mack

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1955 TV shows lineup:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955%E2%80%9356_United_States_network_television_schedule

1960 lineup:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960%E2%80%9361_United_States_network_television_schedule

1966 lineup:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966%E2%80%9367_United_States_network_television_schedule

1969 lineup:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969%E2%80%9370_United_States_network_television_schedule
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966%E2%80%9367_United_States_network_television_schedule
 
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For those of us LUCKY GUYs who can remember some of the above videos, we probably remember watching the evening news, followed by our favorite weekly television series. There were NO Reality Shows. Just a few hours of simply comedy or maybe a variety show.

Most of the guys on this site have a special interest in the fire service. For many of the guys they served as career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, auxiliary firefighters. Some had other important jobs, but they related to the job done by firefighters as buffs.

This video is an example of the kind of entertainment people watched back in those early days. I guess if some of us were to try and do that job today (at our age), this might be kind of what it would look like. It includes some very funny characters that some of us might remember - Harvey Korman and Tim Conway.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Y6szkk-3Y
 
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"There were NO Reality Shows. Just a few hours of simply comedy or maybe a variety show. "

But most of the shows were live.  Much more entertaining, especially the comedies with the occasional slip-up.  THAT is reality!
 

mack

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Before "Emergency" - "Rescue 8" - 1958-1959 - LAFD stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbn-zIQ1hDw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_8
 
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Ah, the good old days.  A seven-man engine company (count the people at the dinner table before the alarm comes in, then subtract the 2 for the rescue).  Oh yeah . . . a 2-man rescue company that ran with a panel truck . . . and a half empty panel truck at that.  But it did have a "pompier belt" for Jim Davis.  Guess you do have to allow for some poetic license though, don't you.  BTW:  It was my favorite show in 1958.  ;)
 
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Even if you were having a bad day, you could always turn on that television and usually find something to give you a few laughs making that day a little bit better.

I'm sure there's a few of us who remember watching these two guys.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAEJyuReWQ
 
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mack

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1960s TV shows:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPS_qwNnyU

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg-Pjn9qxzE

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5HmeeNbFX8
 
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Thanks "mack". What a GREAT Rundown of so many different shows. From Quiz Shows to Comedy Shows. Westerns to Cartoons. Family Shows to Science Fiction.

For those of us who were around to see it, watching the television was usually the spot to be. Families watched the shows together.

We were one of the first families to have a TV on the block. It was a small black and white picture screen and we might have been able to pick up three channels. Most were westerns and the neighbors came over to watch it.

Many of us can also remember watching on live television "mans first steps on the moon". What a night that was and the next day the entire country talked about it.

We also saw the news report when President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. News reporter Walter Cronkite had announced on live television that President Kennedy had died.

We had no trouble functioning without computers, cell phones or cable TV. Local television gave us enough entertainment and it was all FREE.
 
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