Number of color sets sold
 

There was in the past on a site (Ed Reitan's one?) a list with the number of color sets sold from 1954 to 1964 (when 100,000 sets where sold, breaking a barier and the number of sets sold countinued to grow). Does any one haves that list?

That site now lives here: http://www.earlytelevision.org/ed_reitan.html

Go forth and find the page in it that you seek. :D

This chart may interest you.

Found it. http://www.earlytelevision.org/Reitan/rcvr_prod.html
In 1964 I think there where sold in one weekend 100,000 color sets, not 100,000 sets in the whole year. It was a boom in 1964... 1st time that "R.C.A." produced more then 1,000,000 color sets. I wonder if the rest of the manufacturers produced in totally more then 250,000 sets.
Here is something intresting to read: https://books.google.ro/books?id=GU-...201964&f=false

Old color sets are intresting. Only if they would have had been cheaper. Lucky that they survived qutye large number. There are only a few countries that have an acceptable number of old color sets (pre 1974-1975) surviving. I think Germany, Holland.

Sheesh, I must be carefoully to write one million like this 1,000,000, not like this 1.000.000 (how we do in Europe).

In the past, I had spoken to Ed and others about that chart (http://www.earlytelevision.org/Reitan/rcvr_prod.html). Note it was published a dozen years after NTSC color was introduced.

The 5000 figure given in the chart for the CT-100 came, it is clear now, from vintage RCA material released before CT-100 production officially started on March 25, 1954. Eighteen years of collecting data has acquired a set of 180 known survivors.

Interpreting serial numbers and production data stamped on the CTC2 chassis reveals that barely over 4000 CT-100's were produced. But it was truly the world's first mass-produced color television.

As to the second set, the 21-CT-55, let me speculate that the 21AXP22 21-inch metal-cone color CRT was actually introduced in 1954 and by the end of 1954 the 21-CT-55, known sometimes as the 'Spectacular' in a vintage photo, was also available. To confirm, we can/should inspect the CTC2B chassis for their production data stamps.

Pete

I thought those where official datas, obtained from the factory.
I'm curios how much did the rest of the manufacturers produced.

The best source for production numbers is probably the old
trade publications that covered TV ( brown goods) sales or
service. Someone can point you to the links. Numbers grew fast
with the intro of rectangle CRT's. About 1966 there was a color TV
shortage mostly due to CRT availability. Dealers would buy ANY
color TV they could find. By the 70's Zenith was probably building
near a million sets a year. Our little shop probably sold 300-400
a year in the 70's. Everything peaked in the mid 80's often selling
10 sets on a good Saturday. After that things slowly went down.
The only time it got better was when LCD sets got bigger, better
& less $$$. That lasted a few years then the whole thing ended.......

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

As an owner of a 21CT55, where specificly does one find the date codes and how do I interpret them? Also, can you clarify for me the known survivors? I’m not sure what it means on the ETF site that in bold letters, 39 (1) CTC4 appears and then a number of sets appear below. Were a number of 21CTC55 found with CTC4 chassis in it? My cabinet has three matching stampings, “1954”, ironically the same year of production. CTC2B chassis.

The date code is stamped on the rear of the chassis below the chassis designation. My set, with serial number B8801425, is stamped:
CTC2B
501 L
RVB274

501 means 1st week of 1955.

The bottom line means Radiola Victrola division Bloomington. 274 is RCA's EIA manufacturer code.

The CTC4 listings on the ETF site are the other early chassis type with 21" CRT. If you look to the left you can see that the section is RCA 21", not just 21-CT-55.

Thank you Tim.

Mine says 45 1 L. Serial # B8801261.

What is confusing to me is their are 13 owners listed under “39 (1) -CTC-4.”

Looks like yours was made 2 weeks before mine. The serial numbers are 164 apart from each other.

As far as the ETF site: the math does not work out but you need to add the 29 Anonymous owners to get the total. Probably should be a total of 42 (13+29). Possibly the total was not updated when several additional entries were added to the listing.

Great! Two more 21-CT-55 serial numbers can be added. Here's the ETF-based list of those known. It will be updated (along with the CT-100 list) by the time of the upcoming May convention.

http://www.earlytelevision.org/pdf/r...march-2011.pdf

Here's a link to the updated 21-CT-55 serial number list:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_21ct55_sns.html

Thanks,
Pete

Does anyone know what the other chassis stamp on the CTC2B chassis refers to? Mine is on the top of the chassis but I have seen others on the rear. Mine reads:

CTR 3A
502 L 6
RVB 274

The date code is a week after the CTC2B date code.

Rework?

There are five production milestone stamps on the CTC2 chassis. For example, one of them indicates when the final assembly took place. Another when final alignment was complete. There may be some differences on the CTC2B chassis, but will be mostly the same I'm sure.

Pete

A note, football season was a key selling point for Color TV sales, and sports programming also stimulated set sales, baseball season another sales stimulus. 1965 being the key year all of the big 3 networks went all Color in Prime Time hours.

Walt Disney's wonderful world of color was a huge factor for color tv. (1961 to 1969) This program united the family for the first time in front of a color tv. Sears stores open theirs store on Sundays afternoon just to promote selling their color set with that show. During the show, time stopped inside sears stores. Kids (many, many) were sitting on the floor, the rest were standing, and the salespersons were calling the in house credit dept. for all the sales they did. That was the event. people who did not have the COLOR tv, Sear sunday afternoon was the place. It was magical.

While Wonderful World Of Color was great family programming, remember sports (football especially) drives set sales more than any other single thing.

"Bonanza" was another big draw.

While sports would eventually be the obvious big draw, especially when color sets were installed in bars, the initial problem was there were fewer color sports programs than prime-time shows. Nevertheless, RCA used color sports as one of the main pillars of their ad campaigns.

Actually, it was 1966, NBC touted itself as "The full color Network"

back in the day you got your hands of the weekly TV guide and plotted out color viewing for the next week.

I did that. :-)

I'd related before the story told to me by a repairman who once worked at the local Admiral dealer. They put a color set in the picture window out front with a timer set to turn it on for Bonanza. Folks would gather in the parking lot & watch!

RCA kept Bonanza on when it was about to be canceled by NBC, as it was shot in color. RCA sponsored it to help sell color television. And their sustaining of Bonanza paid off in the long haul in high ratings and advertising revenue.

In 2014, before Ed Reitain's passing, we worked together on a presentation at the ETF Convention regarding the early years of RCA color. Part of that included a comparison of RCA's rosy projections for color TV vs. reality and a snapshot of color TV sales -- and how sales directly correlated to the amount of color TV programming.

Here are a couple of slides from the presentation that make the point...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1770/...fe7da1bff0.jpgScreen Shot 2018-07-06 at 10.14.17 PM by Dave Arland, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/834/2...e8574679e2.jpgScreen Shot 2018-07-06 at 10.15.15 PM by Dave Arland, on Flickr

"Content is King"

we had a big store called woolco here in columbus ohio.on friday nights,the kids would all sit on the floor around the color sets in the electronic dept to watch the flintstones.saturday morning cartoons was the same.store opened at 10 am and kids would watch cartoons while parents shopped.best babysitter ever!wrestling was also a program that would attract a crowd.of course,it was in b/w

And did it helped increasing the sales? :)

1965 was the year Color really began being mainstream. All big 3 networks began broadcasting color in evening schedules, and sets got reliable enough and prices got affordable enough for consumer confidence. Remember, even in this era, Color TV was still $600 at cheapest (save for the GE PortaColor), sets needed 2-4 repair calls a year on average. A lot of money for the typical working class household. Remember then, the average standard Chevrolet, Ford, or Plymouth Sedan was $2400 brand new, the house my Stepdad bought in Oak Ridge, TN (built in 1956) in 1967 $10,000. Just for a reference of general living expenses. A new Stereo LP was $4.98 list price, usually $3.57 street price, new 45 RPM single $.99 list, $.69 street price.

Yes, and when Color programming was limited, most prospects waited for prices to lower, reliability to improve, screen sizes to increase to acceptably large for living room viewing. And for more color programming to make the added cost worth spending money on. Many early Color TV owners, only used their color sets to watch color programs on. They watched their black and white programs on their black and white set, as it was more reliable, needed fewer repairs, and often larger screen. The black and white set cost them less to own and operate over it's estimated lifetime. And cheaper and easier repaired.

I'd imagine as color broadcasts increased in number their quality followed suit and that must have helped too. I've read plenty of tales of sloppy broadcast equipment adjustment causing poor picture quality and or having to completely readjust the user color controls when switching from station to station or program to program...If the broadcast feed is not excellent it will make the sets on the sales floor look bad, and if those look bad then consumers start to wonder if it is a solid product...A bad demonstration of a product for sale usually does not help.