1966 - My grandparents in Florida had a Zenith 25NC38 in Italian provincial with the "banana knobs" with orange numbers. They would let my brother and I watch cartoons and maybe a few other shows we watched then, especially Hogan's Heroes and Get Smart. Miami had 2-4-7-10 and Palm beach 5-12, and WCIX-6 in Coconut Grove had awesome cartoons but too snowy to wtach. Other relatives in FLA had a 66 Magnavox 25" color, it was usually on a football game. After this annual visit, we would go back to our '63 Motorola 19" BW in San Antonio, where I don't recall any neighbors having color. The peacock taunted us and our faithful Motorola with "in living color" strutting about for years afterward.
My parents did not get color until late 71, long after most of our other relatives, a full 3 years after moving to PA. My Grandma 2 miles down the road had a 21" RCA ctc5 "special" and never turned it on when we visited. A few times I turned it on when she wasn't looking and that wasn't too often
I got swatted every time " now mind!" she corrected in her thick Dutchified accent.
My folks heard enough bad things about that CTC5, yet Grandma had a service contract and excellent reception on PHL's 4 VHF's. It seemed every time she changed between these few channels, the color "was all wrong" and she would adjust it. That usually failed so she would unplug it, waiting for RCA service to show up. I was never there when they did and she "traded" it in on a 71 25V chromacolor after the RCA "made a smell like burnt plastic". I just wanted it in our basement, totally sure I could fix it at 6 years old
All this time, my Aunt and Uncle had a 21" Zenith 24NC31 "Alton" they bought at a department store with wedding money - only $400!!! My Aunt would have it on all day five years running by then, not even turning it off for thunderstorms! My Aunt and Uncle also got PHL's 3 UHF channels, there was something for everybody on that TV. Cartoons were always in color
. Dad though it was finally safe to go color, especially after seeing Grandmas 71 CC and seeing the Florida grandparents set looking good every time we visited.
I knew this new 71 CC (besides our favorite shows) was 1972's summer Olympics and how blue the water was that Mark Spitz swam in. It was literally occult-looking unreal, bright and clear. I got in trouble with some of my friends parents, mostly RCA and GE owners, when I tried to make their set look as good as ours.