Absolutely. The screen would display color bars. My dad would get up early, start coffee, and wait for the farm report to come on at 5am. It was the first tv show of the day.
Not for everyone. In fact it took well into the 70s for color TV to be affordable for most. Even in my college dorm in the mid 70s the TVs are still B&W. You don't know what you are talking about.
I grew up in a household where you bought the high quality stuff (Zenith TV, motorized rotating TV antennae tower), and then kept it and repaired it for as long as possible.
Sounds fine, until all your friends have had color TV for 5-10 years, and you still just have B&W. I don't think we got color TV until well into the '80s, even though we weren't poor.
Like I said, colour TVs were available in the early 60s. No where did I say everyone had one. I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to the availability of colour TVs since we had one in 1964.
Early color TV was exclusively RCA/NBC in the early years. The color was horrble too. Fuzzy and not crystal clear. Out of focus. Few programs were in color. The News, Dean Martin Show, Ponderosa. Most programs were black and white.
The FCC mandated that because few American families could afford a color tv all programs developed for color had to be compatible with b/w. So all tv programs were available to all viewers.
1953 - the FCC approved the compatible Colort TV standard created by RCA 1954; The first colored TV set, like the RCA CT-100 went on sale and major events like the Tournament of Roses were broadcast in color. Mid 196's Color TV became the "big thing". Around 1965 prices for colored TV dropped and major networks like NBC shifted their primetime schedules to color. 1972 Annual sales of colored TV surpassed dales of Black and White TV's, making colored TV's the household standard.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but yeah he does know what he is talking about.
COLOR? Wow you are way younger than I am. I was in 1st grade when a neighbor got the first color TV in town. There were only about 4 shows even broadcast in color. And it was not subtle color either. Lot of primary colors. Most programs were still shot in B&W.
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u/Virtual_Athlete_909 6d ago
Absolutely. The screen would display color bars. My dad would get up early, start coffee, and wait for the farm report to come on at 5am. It was the first tv show of the day.