Did You Grow Up Without a TV Remote?

[Slip Kid]

Our household fought over this monstrosity in the early 80s. I used to poke around in its innards with a Phillips head screwdriver and try dialing in the scrambled adult channels after my folks went to bed.

We had a smaller version of this when my family first got cable in the early ‘80’s. In fact, I was speaking with a friend earlier today and mentioned how sometimes I wish that’s what we still have.

 

[Recce]

When I was a young kid we didn't even have a TV. Used to listen to the radio.

And I walked uphill to and from school in a foot of snow. LOL.
I actually think we got a 24” color console television with remote sometime in the mid to late sixties. We had channels 2, 4, 5, 11 and 30. Those were the days.

 

[ZackyDog]

Yes. The wear and tear on the TV dial from American-born Sicilian kids in the 70s was tremendous, as we fought for our rights to a particular show.

 

[JL_LI]

The first TV in the family was an RCA that my grandfather bought. Then mom and dad moved to Long Island and bought an Admiral console. I watched Mickey Mouse Club and Disney on it. Nana came out from the city to watch Gun Smoke and Palladian. A girl I dated in high school had a color TV. We said we were watching it but we were too busy doing other things. Remotes? Diane’s TV room was my first experience searching for buttons in the dark.

 

[EsquireOK]

Yup.

 

[drmordo]

I'm somewhat self-satisfied with the fact the my kids - currently 8 and 10 - were raised in a house where they had to be the remote just like I was. The 'sound bar' in my house is a 70s Pioneer SA-9500II and a set of EPI 200c speakers.

 

[telemnemonics]

Growing up?
No remote
No video games
No playground
No babysitters
Armed but not dangerous
Home from dusk till dawn

 

[Masmus]

Believe it or not this did have a remote, it was connected with a cable from the back of the tv. It looked like the pic below, it was B/W and the record player was mono so my dad converted it to stereo, he was an electrical engineer. probably between 1961-63. We replaced it in the early 70's and the next remote was my brother and I.

 

[John Backlund]

With only one channel for us to watch in the mid-late 1950's where we lived, there wasn't much need for a remote.

 

[StoneH]

Our first color TV didn't have a remote, but I remember we had to use a demagnetizing wand when the flesh tones started getting green.

 

[Digital Larry]

My grandfather rigged up a wired remote sometime around 1970. It was just a pushbutton switch in a plastic 35 mm film canister with a cable that he inserted inline with the speaker. Clever eh! My friends were pretty impressed. OK it wouldn't change channel but it would mute, that's 80% of it right there.

 

[telestratosonic]

Saw my first tv in Eaton's store window in 1957 in Gander, Newfoundland. I had just turned 8. We got our Rogers Majestic black & white console model (made in Ontario, Canada) just before Christmas. My Uncle (Mom's younger brother) was a lineman who lived with us. He put up the antenna on the very steep roof with a little help from Dad.
Didn't need a remote; there was but one channel for at least ten years.

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

The first thing I ever saw something a childhood friend's father concocted. He was an electrical engineer who hardwired a box with a single toggle and long grey cord. Mute button!

 

[RobRiggs]

In 1975 my ol’ man bought a Zenith with a “Clicker” remote. I no longer would have to act as the channel changer. Happy days

 

[Mjark]

I remember using vise grips to change to the other two channels.

 

[trapdoor2]

Nope, we got a Magnavox console color TV in 66 or 67. It had the sonic remote.

The little B&W Zenith burnt up one morning while I was watching Saturday cartoons...

 

[John_B]

Of course. That big heavy tube powered B&W TV had a beautiful brown mahogany cabinet. My parents simple furniture was all cherry lacquered mahogany also, exactly like Gibson SG's.

When my Father would walk over and bend to change the rotary channel dial, his favorite cat would run up behind him and jump- clinging and dangling to his butt. That cat would do this every time. We always asked Dad to change the channel.

One night as a kid, I walked into the living room. The stereo console was on and the TV was on. I turned out the lights to see the amber tube glow emitting from the back the these consoles. I remember this heated up the small living room pretty good.

I miss those simple days.

 

[koen]

Why are there sooooo many buttons on a tv remote? Only really need channel and volume buttons. Who every came up with that idea? And even worse, who approved it?

 

[daddyplaysbass]

Yes, first TV, 1955, black & white, antenna on the roof with indoor control to rotate it. Test patterns at midnight. "Today" in the morning with Dave Garroway, Frank Blair, Helen O'Connell and J. Fred Muggs the Chimpanzee before i set out for school. I was the "remote" - first remote was corded, attached to the TV

 

[jaxjaxon]

I grew up in the 50's and 60's no remote. B&W TV untill 70 and it had no remote. When I was in the army 74 I got a magnavox TV with a clicker remote and when you changed channels the dial would move on the TV you could only change one channel at a time and on off. and still to day I dont have a remote TV I use my computer to watch TV and I dont have a cell phone only a land line. I guess my music gear is more advanced then my other entertainment stuff.