TV sets of famous/important people

[JBL_1]

How about the TRK-12 that RCA gave Franklin Roosevelt? Beautiful set, still on the property in Hyde Park New York. Not sure what kind of reception it recieved but the house was on the river. I would like to know if some sort of RF amplifier was added.

When I was working at RCA in Indianapolis we sent a prototype 35" CTC-169 to the white house. Had to be cleared by the secret service. Don't remember which president that was. Must have been Bill Clinton.

[cwmoser]

This is interesting trivia ... but much of this is lost to history.
Would be great if as much trivia like this as possible could be preserved.

Carl

[Tim]

Not as famous as a President but my CT-100 was originally purchased and owned by Budd Lynch, who was the radio announcer for the Detroit Red Wings from 1949 through the 70's and then PA announcer in the 80's. He gave it to a family friend whom I purchased it from and who remembered watching it in the Lynch home when he was a child. It was always in a controlled climate environment which I am sure contributed to the fact that the CRT is still good.

[Eric H]

When I worked in the TV shop in Barstow we sold a used 19" Zenith Color set to Pat Buttram (a.k.a. Mr Haney of green Acres).

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Eric H

When I worked in the TV shop in Barstow we sold a used 19" Zenith Color set to Pat Buttram (a.k.a. Mr Haney of green Acres).

Also the voice of Cactus Jake in Garfield and Friends. I saw him in Back to the Future Part 3 as well, he was one of the saloon regulars. His other works I'm not familiar with.

[Tubejunke]

Reading this thread really makes me wonder about the history of, well, most all of the electronics stuff that I have and that which is floating around all over the country. I never really thought about just who was sitting in front of or around any of my radios or TVs, but really any of us could have something that a famous person once had and through the years the origin was just lost and forgotten about.

You gotta think that pretty much everybody has some form of home entertainment, and once it is broken or deemed "obsolete" by the marketing wizzards, it is then ejected to God knows where, but most likely not thrown in the garbage. So, through following decades I am sure that most stuff goes through several owners, but nobody really knows who originally purchased it. Pretty interesting to think about really.

[Sandy G]

...Oh, Brother..I SURE DO WISH my Boatanchors could "Talk", & tell ME where they'd been, what they'd heard..Who/what branch of the Service owned my PRISTINE 1955-contract Collins R-390A ? Or my "Whanged-on-the-Back-Panel" R-389 that ended its career early in its life, til I got ahold of it ? The 1935 RCA AR-60, it HAD to be "Somebody's Baby", 'cause its the "Deluxe" model w/2-tone case, & at $495 new, it was almost as expensive as a new Ford V-8..

[wa2ise]

I also wonder who owned and what my Aussie radios were listening to back when they were new.

Or who had this radio in China before they made stuff for WalMart This radio's shortwave bands were disabled, jumpers shorting the local oscillator coils.