Zenith

[Jeffhs]

This Zenith color set has to have the smallest CRT screen (looks no larger than 12 inches) I have ever seen on a color TV of any make. Was this an experimental color set, not meant for retail sale? I am thinking it must be as, as I mentioned, until now, I had never seen a color TV with a CRT that small. If this TV was offered for retail sale, how many such sets were sold? I would guess this set must have had one heck of a hefty price tag, on the order of $1000 or even more. If this is true, I don't think very many were sold, except perhaps to Texas oil barons or to people who had inherited a small fortune from a deceased relative.

I cannot imagine anyone else being able to afford a color TV at this price. Color televisions were expensive as all get out when this set was new anyway, with very little color programming available; I would guess most people who could afford a set like this watched mostly b&w shows, as the networks probably were not offering much color programming except the occasional special. The only other exception I can think of as I write this is programming from the NBC television network, as they always made a huge point of the fact that they were "the FULL COLOR network." In fact, NBC's Nightly News broadcast was presented in color, five nights a week, and don't forget NBC's signature color peacock, which was shown before each and every color program in prime time.

Local NBC affiliates also showed the peacock before most locally-produced color shows. I live near Cleveland and remember when WKYC-TV in that city would show the peacock before every local program, with a local announcer saying "The following program is brought to you in living color on WKYC-TV." I would think most other cities with NBC-O&O stations made the same announcement as well before locally-produced color shows, as in, for New York, "The following program is brought to you in living color on WNBC-TV." The other NBC O&O's, of course, would use the same basic announcement, using the local affiliate's call sign; for example, in Cleveland, the NBC-O&O always announced ". . . living color on WKYC-TV" before every locally-produced show.