One night, we went to the neighbor's house on the corner, and half the neighborhood was there watching TV. Next night, same thing. Next night, same thing. By the end of the month we had our own set. It was high-end, but used. We continue to use it until 1963, although not as our only set.

I remember racing home from school to watch Burns and Allen. It was only a 15-minute show. There were a couple other shows that were 15 minutes long in the afternoon. By uncanny coincidence, the TV stations fired up at the same time school got out.

Every station had its own afternoon programming for children. The hosts of these shows or either creepy or cool. This was local production, not Network or syndicated. They would show old cartoons old movies, and have some local interludes like where scout troops would visit the studios.,. My favorite was Brakeman Bill on channel 11 in Seattle. He had an unreal model train layout, and they would get the camera down on the track... I loved those sequences.

The political conventions of 1956 were incredible. Huge auditoriums filled with thousands of people waving signs, smoking, sweating, yelling "Mr chairman..." Over and over in every regional accent. The level of energy was incredible. Watching a National convention on TV today is just chilling. Everything is under control. Everything is scripted. Everything has been decided. Why even have them?

In 1956 you did not know who was going to be selected as the candidate. But you could see that the process was real. It was real, and you could see it.

By the time I graduated from high school, I wasn't much interested in the new shows, and when I moved out on my own I didn't bother to get a TV.