My Semp TV set from 1967

[Captain Video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysnvp6WBGUM

[Captain Video]

The reception is not so good, because I live in a fringe area.

[bgadow]

Nice! Could you tell us more about Semp? I've never heard of them. I'd assume they were a Brazilian company?

[bandersen]

Neat set Thanks for sharing.

[Sandy G]

Nice to see y'all haven't had the curse of digital TV visited on you. Yet. "Semp", huh ? Too bad it ain't "Shemp", there'd be a million Stoogeholics want it...(grin)

[Captain Video]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Nice! Could you tell us more about Semp? I've never heard of them. I'd assume they were a Brazilian company?

Yes, it is ( or was ) a Brazilian company. It was founded in 1942, as a radio factory. "Semp" is for "Sociedade Eletro-Mercantil Paulista" which translates more or less as "Paulista Electronics - Merchant Society" ; "Paulista" are those people born in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

Semp produced it is first TV set in 1953, I only know that because I have a newspaper from January, 1954 that has an ad for their TV set. The older Semp TV that I have seen in the hands of a collector is from 1958, so I assume that older Semp TVs are extremely rare and possibly even no longer exists.

Semp sold a large part of it's capital to the Japanese company Toshiba in 1973, so since 1973 it is known as "Semp-Toshiba." It was a smart move on their part, because in 1972 almost all Brazilian TV factories broke: color TV was introduced in the country, and the local companies were not prepared for it, only European companies like Philips and Telefunken were really ready for color. Had Semp not sold it's capital to Toshiba, it could have met the same fate of the other Brazilian TV factories.