Thank God none of my friends ever found out about this, and I'd all but forgotten about it myself until now. When I was 6 or 7, my father came up with his own pseudo-remote, which he was very proud of and I thought was about the most embarassing thing ever. He had a TV at the foot of his bed that he would otherwise have had to sit up to change channels on, so he fixed up a large dowel with a notch in the end. Apparently having amazingly prehensile toes, he could somehow change channels by holding the dowel between his toes and turning it. No, I don't think I inherited that particular talent, if anyone's wondering. Oops, I'm late to go see my therapist--gotta go!

You shoulda posted that anonymously. When I was a kid we had some friends that had just an "on/off" remote that used a high-pitched whistle that you squeezed. We would take turns shrieking to see who could turn the tv off and using just their voice.

Our parents and the neighborhood dogs were not amused.

These kids today don't understand how spoiled they are with the internet and cable tv.

And the wheel.

And fire.

We didn't have a remote either. We did get a large color console TV about 1966, and I remember the TV repairman coming over as well as taking tubes to the 7-11 for testing and replacement.

Thanks for the 7-11 memory, as I had forgotten all about that.

I do remember that at that same time you could buy .22, shotgun and various other ammo at 7-11 and other convenience stores too.

We not only had one of the dog-whistle on/off remotes, but my dad somehow found an aftermarket remote that could be installed on a television with knobs.

The thing attached to the front of the television, sliding two motors over the knobs for UHF and VHF. You plugged that into the wall behind the TV, then had a remote that operated the motor unit. Push a button and *KERCHUNK*, the motor turned the knob, changing the channel. If I remember right, there were two channel buttons on the remote, one to control the UHF knob and one to control the VHF knob.

We had that installed on a 13" black and white TV that lived in our kitchen for many, many years. That was one of the enduring sounds of my childhood- cooking shows on PBS punctuated intermittently by the *KERCHUNK* of the remote.

We got our first color TV in about 1966 or 1967. It had buttons for the channels! High cotton.

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Originally posted by Gordon LeMaire:
We got our first color TV in about 1966 or 1967. It had buttons for the channels! High cotton.

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I remember those, Gordon. They were indeed uptown. I also remember the mechanical remotes. I think our first Curtis Mathis that we got in the late 1960's or early 1970's had the noisy remote on it.

How many of you remember when the tv screen would roll and you would have to use a delicate touch to get the knob just right? I am older than all of you! How many remember watching the Wizard of Oz in black and white?

I do. We actually went next door to the neighbor's house when they got a color TV to watch Wizard of Oz in color for the first time. By the way, this year is the 70th anniversary of the movie.