Who Sold the First NTSC Color Set to the Public?

Early Color Television

Who Sold the First NTSC Color Set to the Public?

Here is the history of the first introduction of NTSC color sets, courtesy of Marshall Wozniak

Admiral

December 12, 1953: Ad in the New Castle, PA newspaper implies that Admiral sets are for sale.

Several articles found by Marshall Wozniak support the claim that Admiral sets were available in December of 1953.

The book Watching TV - Four Decades of American Television, by Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik, says that Admiral started selling sets on this date (Thanks to TVHistory.TV and Steve Dichter for this information)

Early Television

Model C1617A

January 6, 1954: Ad in the Cumberland, MD newspaper stating that an Admiral set would be on display in a local TV shop

January 14, 1954: Ad in the San Francisco Examiner stating that Admiral sets were available for purchase

January 17, 1954: Article in the Indianpolis Star showing Admiral set at a dealer

Raytheon

Early Television

January 26, 1953: Raytheon's thinking - "too much color".

December 21, 1953: Raytheon issues a press release saying that they have delivered 15 inch set to their distributors. Chicago Tribune article says that sets are being delivered to retailers.

January 24, 1954: Demonstrated at Hales Department Store in San Francisco

February 5, 1954: Rose Parade Raytheon color set shown at Sav-On Appliance Co; in Pomona Ca. , with limited deliveries promised for March and April, 1954

April 26, 1954: A “give away” of 4 Raytheon color sets at a Thrifty Drug store in Los Angeles, CA. on May 29, 1954.

June 24, 1954: Raytheon first 19 inch color set shown in Chicago.

June 26, 1954: A Raytheon with a 19 inch color CRT described as the “first 19 inch color color set to be made available to the general public.”. A very early showing of the 19 inch color tube.

June 29, 1954: Joske's Department Store. Ad with actual photo of the set.

September 20, 1954: Raytheon color set reduced to $399.95 and offered for sale at a Chicago department store.

November 10, 1954: Raytheon 19 inch color set arrives at a North Hollywood store.

Philharmonic (AMC)

January 20, 1954: Article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that a Philharmonic (AMC) set was sold for $995, plus a $200 service contract, with delivery in 3 to 4 weeks.

Early Television

Westinghouse

Prior to February 13, 1954: A Westinghouse color set was sold by Wanamakers Department Store in New York City

March 1, 1954: Advertisment appears for the Westinghouse H940CK15, priced at $1,295.

At least 1062 H840CK15 sets were made, evidenced by Luke Miller’s H840CK15. It is estimated that 500 were sold.

RCA

June, 1954: RCA starts selling its CT-100. About 4000 were sold.

April 26, 1954. A report on RCA’s rollout of their first color television receiver, the CT-100, courtesy Television Digest Trade Report

April 25, 1954: This is the advertisement by RCA appearing in multiple cities in the “color network”.

May 9, 1954: RCA’s first color sets hit dealer showrooms in April and May, 1954.

Marshall's comments:

1. RCA had brand name and advertising advantages with the “big” advertising blitz.

2. Why would the public want to buy a 15 inch color set from Admiral, Westinghouse or RCA in 1954, when they knew 19 inch and 21 inch color sets were coming in 1954 from Motorola and RCA for less money? The upcoming color sets were widely publicized in newspapers.

3. We found evidence that the Admiral set were being sold as late as 1957 and Westinghouse set as late as 1956.

4. The Admiral’s price was dropped to as low as $199. and the Westinghouse as low as $299. and people weren’t buying. They had to give them away and they did in various contests and promotions.

5. . I found a newspaper article (Steve D. found the earlier ad) from “Dorn’s” a Southern California dealer that offered for sale an Admiral color set at all of their 6 stores in 1957. How many did they have in stock? I believe these Admirals sat in warehouses across the country as NOS. I had previously sent you an article where an Admiral spokesperson told a Chicago Daily News reporter that 1000 Admiral color sets were in production as of January 4, 1954. There is documentation showing “a second series” of Admiral color sets were distributed in April and May, 1954. Same thing with the Westinghouse set. The advertisements pictured the C1617A and H840CK15 so they were selling the sets we are discussing.

6. I found initially that the Westinghouse color sets were only sold in NYC and NJ in February, 1954. That might explain low sales numbers. It wasn’t until April that Westinghouse began shipping their first color sets to the rest of the country, evidenced by newspaper articles I’ve found and published at my site. At peak production Westinghouse produced “about 2 dozen sets a day” at the Horsehead plant. It took 16 hours to pass quality control for each set. The goal was to reduce that time and hire more employees, only 250 at first. The Westinghouse H840CK15 was in production for about 6 months.

Marshall Wozniak

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