michaelboy

In Sanforized® pajamas, I'd sometimes sneak out into the hallway at night to watch Jack Paar. I don't remember any of the shows in particular, but I do remember my mom and dad commenting or laughing over it. Dad was proud of the antenna that he mounted on the side of the house. He used the 'high quality' 300-ohm cable and a complete set of insulated stand-offs. We were one of the few families in the neighborhood that didn't still use rabbit ears and on a good day, we managed to get two local stations (WSTV and WTRF) and a few other distant Pittsburgh channels in varying degrees of "video snow". I suppose it may seem like a feeble trickle of communication now, but it felt like and surely was a deluge then.

We started with an RCA complete with kid fingerprints all over the screen, then moved to a Philco, and eventually instead of a blue/yellow/green cellophane overlay (we were one of the last families to go color) to a used 25" color Magnavox that was $500 in late 60's dollars.

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The changing blue television light cast a form of candlelight-flicker around the room and I remember how safe it felt. It really wasn't the television though...