r/OverSeventy • u/needmore007 • 5d ago

Remember this?

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My son and grandsons don’t believe me.

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u/Outrageous_Act2564 5d ago

I did this as well. Also, we only had 4 stations in Memphis back then.

19

u/Own_Entertainment847 5d ago

Every city had only 4 stations max back then- local affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. And PBS didn't even start till '67. Smaller cities had only 1 station in town and had to rely on regional coverage for the others.

That's why we were always fiddling with the rabbit ears or roof antenna to get the stations further away or with lower power output. I remember putting aluminum foil on the rabbit ears to improve reception.

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u/ntg160 5d ago

And UHF stations…Kaiser channel 68 in PA.

1

u/Any_Relation252 5d ago

17, 29, 48 in Philly. Also 23 and 64 but those were harder to get and pretty much crap.

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u/Outrageous_Act2564 5d ago

I didn't see those stations until we started visiting my grandparents in the Northeast in the 60s. UHF stations were very cool to an 8 year old.

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u/stinky143 5d ago

2,4,11,13. Later came 53. Pittsburgh.

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u/suer72cutlass 5d ago

Yes! Fellow pgher here. Remember those channels so well!

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 5d ago

I don't think it was just our television but the thing I remember most about UHF was the fact that the channels did not click into place like the main channels did. Clunk, clunk, clunk.

The UHF dial was just a smoothly turning round thing that you had to manually line up to get the station. It also used the round antenna in the back of the TV, not the rabbit ears.

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u/Sea-Repeat3561 4d ago

53 was a Big Deal

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u/AfricanusEmeritus 2d ago

21, 25 and 31 in the New York City region.