Why were monophonic TVs sold for so long?

[jeffs01879]

In the late 1950s, some AM radio stations also had FM transmitters which often duplicated the AM broadcasts. This was after stereo LPs were released to the market, but before FM multiplex stereo.

Some stations would broadcast a few hours a week in stereo using the AM transmitter for one channel and the FM transmitter for the other channel. They would only do it for a few hours a week because, as was noted, a listener tuned to only one or the other would receive only half the audio.

My dad had his FM hifi in the living room, and on Sunday night, from 6 to 8PM, a local station would broadcast in simulcast stereo. He would get the AM radio from the kitchen and set it up on the end of the couch and listen to the stereo broadcast. Primitive but it worked. It was general knowledge that multiplex stereo was coming, so this was only temporary.

I have a Pilot tuner from the late 50s with separate AM and FM tuning made explicitly to receive these broadcasts, and I have an AM and an FM transmitter, and sometimes I'll transmit simulcast stereo to the tuner just to relive that experience.

This is all quite a diversion from the original topic of mono tvs.

Jeff