[Jeffhs]

I blame at least some of this on the DTV transition. The early announcements that digital TV would eventually take over from NTSC television ("Your old TV will go black after February 17 [later June 19], 2009") had people believing that their old TVs would not work, period, once the new standards took effect. This was before DTV converter boxes came on the market; in those days, the only way to continue watching TV when the analog stations went off the air was to get a flat screen. Those sets were extremely expensive in the beginning, so not everyone had one or could afford one immediately following the transition. Some people even went without TV when they found out their old sets wouldn't work anymore with the new digital signals; of course, in many cases the old TV went out for the trash.

There were many predictions made to the effect that people would throw out their old TVs as soon as the transition was announced. I had visions of televisions, most of which were still working perfectly well, showing up on tree lawns and curbs all across the United States, after this announcement was made. Didn't see any old sets out for the trash in my own neighborhood, a very small town 35 miles east of Cleveland, but I bet in the greater Cleveland area perfectly good, working TVs were put out one after another. These people probably did not realize that the analog stations would remain on the air for at least a year after the transition.