WICU began broadcasting on March 15, 1949. By the fall of that year the Jackson's became the first Crotty family to own a TV. I remember one Sunday in the early Fall that there was a baseball game on - maybe it was a World Series game - and there was a family gathering at the Jackson's on East 5th Street to see this new wonder.
Tommy and I were soon going over to Dede's every evening after supper at 5:30 to watch the Howdy Doody Show. The picture of Dede shows that TV set.
Anna told me that grandpa really liked TV after he had seen it for the first time at a tavern at 24th and Parade St. She said that because Papa liked it so much, that she just went up to 12th and Parade St., and bought one. In those early days the station didn't come on the air until the late afternoon. Anna related the following story to me many times when she was at St. Mary's. One afternoon, she, my mother and their mother were leaving to go some place. Because grandpa had a very hard time getting around he told Anna "Don't leave here without turning that thing on!", and Anna said, "but Papa, there's nothing on until 4 o'clock", and Papa replied "I don't care, turn it on". She did, and they smiled at each other being so pleased that grandpa so enjoyed the TV.
Johnny and Norma were also one of the first to get a TV. All us kids thought that their TV was neat because the screen was round instead of rectangular.
After Dede moved to Eagle Point Blvd., Tommy and I went over to Anna's to watch TV. I think we got a TV about 1951.
2 comments:
I learned something new about Grampa Crotty and his love of TV. Wouldn't he love it now.......such clear pictures and the huge screens...and you don't have to wait till 4PM to view it!
Knowing how frugal my parents were all their lives, it is hard for me to believe that they spent money on something as frivolous as a tv!! They never even had a clothes dryer!!
Actually Norma and Johnny had the first TV in the family. We used to stop on their front porch on East Fifth St. on the way home from St. Patrick's and peer in the window at the "test pattern". The first show was "Papa is All", and the whole family was crowded into their living room squinting at this snowy, scratchy black and white show which kept fading in and out. Norma made us chocolate sodas and popcorn. She did this more than once for the kids.
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