[Jeffhs]

Another person here (don't recall whom at the moment) had/has a Maggie 3-way console TV/stereo/phono, which also had, on the control panel, one button for power tuning of the TV and a button for record reject. Very handy if you were near the control panel on the set (beneath one of the sliding doors atop the cabinet), or if the remote was not working or (gasp!) had been lost.

I don't remember whether these Maggie combos had ultrasonic (mechanical with tuned rods in the hand unit) or battery-powered remote transmitters, but my best guess is it was an ultrasonic system. Magnavox's fabulous 25" 3-way color stereo theatre of the late 1960s (which, if I remember correctly some of the old ads I've seen for it, probably had the remote record reject and all the other bells and whistles) probably did use an ultrasonic remote system.

The all-electronic version of the ultrasonic remote system did not replace the mechanical system in all makes of televisions in this country until, I believe, the early 1970s. One advantage, however, the mechanical ultrasonic remotes had over the all-electronic systems was that in the former, there were no batteries in the hand unit to wear out. The all-electronic systems did use at least one battery in the hand unit (usually a 9-volt transistor-radio type); if that battery went dead or simply got weak, the remote either faltered or refused to operate at all. I'm sure a lot of people of that era didn't like the idea of having to get up to change the channel, adjust the volume, etc. when the remote quit, and some folks even thought their TV was out of order if the remote wasn't working -- which is one reason why Zenith waited so long to introduce the battery-powered ultrasonic Space Command remote transmitter. I think the first battery-operated SC remote hand unit came out some time in the late '70s or '80s, as Zenith's futuristic Computer Space Command remote control, which was battery-powered, was used on several high-end sets of that era. I had a great-aunt who, in the early '80s if memory serves, bought a Zenith TV with Computer Space Command remote. Hers had all the trimmings, including Space Phone, but she never used the latter. I honestly don't think she paid much attention to it, as she already had a wired landline phone in her living room. But she sure enjoyed the TV remote!