My earliest radio/tv related memories were peering in the back of our GE color console at those tubes, watching over the repairman's shoulders on his frequent visits, and playing with the knobs, learning what they did. Until I was maybe 12 years old I had never heard a working tube radio. There were a few sets I had seen-2 of my parents friends had late 30s Philco consoles they kept for decoration (and both still have them, I haven't talked them into letting me fix them...yet!) My father had a Zenith portable from the 40s that he gave me to tinker with but all it ever did was hum; I eventually beat it apart with a hammer!
At least it wasn't a T-O!
The first working tube set was just a cheap Emerson 'fiver' from the late 50s but it worked well, and I just couldn't get enough of the sight and smell and the idea that those "DuMont-Emerson" tubes were bringing in the radio station! Funny, I was feeling the same kind of excitement they must have felt in the early 20s when radio first started showing up, yet here radio and tv were nothing new to me. I was just brought up on transistors.
I saved up and bought some other sets, at local yard sales or flea markets. Found a book on antique radios at the library, discovered I was not alone! Joined some radio clubs, bought more sets, then found a '54 RCA TV for sale! By my 16th birthday my bedroom was so full of radios and tv's I couldn't turn around! As often happens the collection had to take a back seat while I did the whole car/girlfriend/graduation/get-a-job/flat-broke-all-the-time thing. The 2 biggest moments for me in collecting were discovering that electolytic caps need replacing and will often bring a set back to life, and discovering internet forums, which teach me more than I could learn elsewhere.