Number of color sets sold

[KentTeffeteller]

RCA kept Bonanza on when it was about to be canceled by NBC, as it was shot in color. RCA sponsored it to help sell color television. And their sustaining of Bonanza paid off in the long haul in high ratings and advertising revenue.

[RCAGuy]

In 2014, before Ed Reitain's passing, we worked together on a presentation at the ETF Convention regarding the early years of RCA color. Part of that included a comparison of RCA's rosy projections for color TV vs. reality and a snapshot of color TV sales -- and how sales directly correlated to the amount of color TV programming.

Here are a couple of slides from the presentation that make the point...

Screen Shot 2018-07-06 at 10.14.17 PM by Dave Arland, on Flickr

Screen Shot 2018-07-06 at 10.15.15 PM by Dave Arland, on Flickr