Back in the 50’s and early 60’s when I was very young, my dad had two jobs. At least it seemed like two jobs. During the day he worked as a machinist from 8:00 AM till 4:30 in the after noon. Then when he returned home, his second job would start….Well maybe I should say, his self made volunteer work would start. And that work was to……Adjust our Black and White Television set. 

This being our first TV always had fuzz, flickering, or static on the screen. It never seemed to go away. I think the main reason for all this interference was that we had no outside antenna.
In the dictionary...It states it’s a “device”. A metallic piece of equipment of variable shape, used in the sending and receiving of television or radio signals. To receive the best possible signals, the antenna should be located on an outside source. Like on top of a house, a tall building, or high tower… Now a’ days a satellite beams down the signal. But back then all we had for our TV was…. Rabbit Ears!

　

The Rabbit Ears were a V-shaped antenna made of two metal rods on a base. It was designed to sit on top of a television set. By manually adjusting the rods to the left, right, up, or down you would then receive the best possible signal. But there was just one problem, each time you changed the channel to see a different program, you usually had to manually adjust the rabbit ears all over again.
After Dad had finished adjusting the Rabbit Ears, he then made it a priority to fine tune the TV, by adjusting the control knobs either at the front, or if you were brave at the back of the TV. All this adjusting seemed to take forever! Soon we were all saying to Dad … It looks great, Don’t move it, That’s good, Stop, Its ok! …Then if that wouldn’t work, Mom would finally say!…“Fred stop” “Move so we can see the show.!” then Dad would turn around with this look… Like.. Oh …I didn’t know you guys were there? Good thing we only had 6 channels, or we may have never seen a television show.
During the week I watched shows like Howdy Dowdy, Caption Kangaroo and Friday night fights. Sunday morning I liked Orel Roberts, then there was Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, cartoons, and The Untouchables, and of course the Mickey Mouse Club, just to name a few.
As time passed we finally got an outside antenna.

I remember Dad fastening the new antenna to the chimney then lowering a flat wire and attaching it to the back of the TV. Then Dad climbing back onto the roof where he adjusted the antenna by moving it ever so slightly. Us kids were the go betweens… Dad would yell down to Rick. Then Rick would yell to me… “Does it look OK? “Then I would yell back to Rick “Yes or No” Then Rick would yell up to Dad “Yes or No!” Seems like this went on for some time . But we got the job done and …… No more Rabbit Ears!!
One day when Dad came home from work, he announced that we were having a new Zenith Color Television console delivered sometime late in the afternoon tomorrow.
The next day after school I stayed home for the delivery. Not only was the Television delivered but the TV man set it up too. It was very cool! I was the first to watch our new color TV! You’re probably wondering what happened to that old Black and White? Well it ended up in Rick’s and my bedroom, and of course with the old Rabbit Ears too.
Sunday nights was a big TV night around our house, the big show of the evening was called… The Wonderful World of Disney. “We just called it Disneyland”. It was a family oriented show. We always had popcorn or some type of desert with the show. One time my brother and I had just changed into our pajamas and were laying on the floor in front of the TV waiting for the show to start. Mom brought in a slice of berry pie for each of us.

Dad got up from his favorite chair and squatted down in front of the TV to change the channel, when he stood back up he took a step back, and stepped right onto my berry pie! The look on Dad’s face …was well… like… if you just stepped in …Dog Do !… look. Then Rick looked at me and I looked at Rick the next thing I new we were both laughing uncontrollably! Seeing Dad hobbling then hopping into the kitchen and trying not to get any pie on the carpet from his shoe, was just as funny!

Grandpa Tom