I live in a very small town about 35 miles east of Cleveland. The town was founded in 1812, and now has a population of 3211 (up from 3180 in 1999; my first landlord grew up here and could remember when the population was just 1500 or thereabouts).
In the time I've lived here (ten years), I have only seen four old TVs on the curbs, and two of those weren't vintage--my best guess would be 1980s-'90s, and were gotten rid of just after the digital transition. Of the other two, only one was anywhere near vintage (1978 RCA 25" console). The other was an RCA portable from 1980 or so. I did see a couple of stereo consoles on the curb across the street from here a couple of years ago, but again, those were the only examples of vintage audio I've seen here; haven't seen another stereo console since.
I guess small towns aren't the best place on Earth to find vintage electronics--at least the one I live in isn't. By contrast, in my hometown of Wickliffe, Ohio (an eastern suburb of Cleveland), one could see vintage TVs and radios being put out on the curbs just about every week from the '60s through the end of the eighties. (I had a sizable collection of old TVs in my basement back in the '70s that were almost all trash finds.)
These days, however, if there are any vintage TVs or radios to be found in that suburb, I bet they are few and far between. The televisions that show up on curbs nowadays are probably, even likely, cheap Pacific Rim CRT-based imports that give up the ghost after a couple of years or after the warranty expires--whichever comes first. I can't help wondering how much longer it will be before I start seeing cheap flat-panel sets on the curbs here.
