1970 RCA catalog
 

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Yeah, I grew up with the Lundberg - I'm probably wearing that phrase thin around here :)

Thanks for the scans - it was really nice reading that.

This is a great catalog. I always liked that HM-801 combo unit. I have this catalog too, the only other RCA catalogs I have are for 1967, 71 and 73. I'd like to scan those and put them up here. Its nice to see them in PDF form, this way you don't ruin the catalogs as some of mine are very fragile from being looked at 100 times.

Andy, how did you put yours together? From looking at the link, I didn't see how you made it all work. I save my scans from my other catalogs as a multi-page PDF but the file size is huge (over 25 MB). I found a few free PDF hosting sites but they limit uploads to 25MB while others are "only good for 30 days". Do you compress your files somehow?

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Too bad the GL759 (I grew up with) is not there. I'm guessing the second character of the model number might be a model year. Anyone know the model name for a GL759WK?

I noticed that the FM513 in this catalog is "The Whitby", which was also used on a CTC-5 model about 15 years prior.

An early case of "electronics recycling?".

Hey, there is the set that I had in my bedroom for years! The Urbanite, huh? I never knew. It was never a great performer, sadly. It suffered from a broken plastic mount for one of the built-in antennas and the VHF tuning knob cracked at the base at one point. The replacement sourced from the local RCA depot came in gray, not black. It was replaced in the early 80s by another 14" RCA portable which worked much better.

Holy Chroma Batman, RCA sure made some great looking sets back in their hey-day!

Thanks for posting the catalog Andy - very nice. Great looking sets and great to look back into late 60's / early 70's decor - where there is a pleasantly noticable absense of assemble it yourself crap from Ikea and wallyworld.

Wow, a "computer crafted" radio tuner (page 5) in the home entertainment centers. :thmbsp: :D

We all love our Zeniths here...me included...BUT one HAS to admit that, in the "old days", RCA sure did have some sets that "pushed the technological edge"...at least, till about the time GE took over or so. From about the late '60's..till the mid 80's or so... Probably with the KCS-153 or so, taking the step of putting an IC in a consumer product...the FIRST TIME that had been done, in 1966. Then--the CTC-40, then the G2000-in 1969, ...and in 1975, the CTC 74/81"Direct address" sets discussed recently, and in about 1984 or so...the "dimensia" system in the CTC-131/132. and up till about the 140...their sets STILL had a semblance of quality too!! Till about the 169...the really last decent chassis....

TIll then...one could always seem to count on RCA unveling some "out there" idea for one of it's new sets--that would push the envelope, and set the trend for the future. The DA sets were a HUGE advance for their time--and even MORE SO was the 2000. and unlike the "current trend" things...those sets DID WORK right--and for a LONG time!!

So...what HAPPENED, over the last 20 years or so??? since then...RCA has came out with mostly forgettable chassis, in particular the MM series...one of the WORST rube--goldbergish messes I have EVER seen!!

RCA got raped and pillaged in a corporate takeover by GE in the late 80's, I was there. It wasn't pretty. So pretty much things went to hell there after RCA was no longer a company but just a brand name. :thumbsdn:

I used to work at the RCA Smornoff Lab, developing digital signal processing of NTSC signals. Got several patents there.

RCA did develop some new good stuff, but they also came up with some big bombs, like that CED videodisc. :thumbsdn: They dropped about $570 million on that thing. But 15 years later DVDs came out, and they were a hit. Aside from being digital, go figure. :scratch2:

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I mentioned earlier that my "Urbanite" bedroom set from the 1970s needed a new VHF tuner knob at one point back then and that RCA supplied one that was gray and not black like the original. Last night I was watching an episode of Hawaii Five-O season 7 and there is a scene where a character is watching TV. The set is either an earlier or later version of that same Urbanite model, with the exact same control layout but different colors and -- you guessed it -- a gray tuner knob! So that is where it came from. Strange that RCA would restyle a set cosmetically from year to year.

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That's the first time I've seen those high-boy cabinets. Wonder how many they actually sold?