This revolution was televised

Dave Brooks

Jerry Tag doesn’t watch a lot of television, but he does watch a lot

of people watch his televisions.

It’s not really the programming that draws them in, but the design

of the televisions themselves. In the front of his TV repair shop, at

the corner of Springdale Street and Edinger Avenue, Tag has created a

mini-museum of about a dozen 1940s and 1950s vintage televisions and

electronics, pieces that hail from an era when TVs were simpler

devices made from a higher quality of craftsmanship.

Ironically, it’s the popularity of television itself that has led

to the demise of the industry designed to support the technology.

Consumer demand for televisions has led to a substantial drop in

price, making it cheaper to trash broken TVs and replace them, rather

than take them in for repair. For 55-year-old Tag, the television

also represents a drastic shift in cultural values that doesn’t

necessarily align with his own.

“A lot of TV these days is sex, cussing and special effects,” he

said.

Photos from one his favorite old shows, “The Honeymooners,” hang

over a wall display of vintage televisions that have been mostly

donated to him or bought at flea markets.

One of Tag’s prized possessions, a 1946 RCA 630-TS, is the first

massed produced television sold to U.S. consumers.

“That’s really the Model T of televisions,” he said.

The RCA could also receive signals on channel 1 -- that frequency

has since been reclaimed by the Federal Communications Commission for

government use.

He’s also got a seven-inch screen, 1949 Tele-tone TV that’s

designed like a briefcase with a handle on top for portability. He

still likes to watch westerns on his 1948 Admiral and draws strange

looks from his round JVC 1974 Video Sphere.

“That thing’s designed to look like an astronaut’s helmet,” he

said of the spherical TV hanging from a planter.

The value of all this? It doesn’t matter, Tag jokes, because he

doesn’t plan to sell any of them.

“Don’t you know, I’m rich,” he teases from behind his modest

counter.

No, the televisions and electronics will stay put, on display for

the interested passerby who likes to stick their head in the door and

admire his exhibition of technological evolution.

“If you’re looking to make a quick buck, this isn’t the business

to be in,” said Huntington Beach resident Chris Andrews, who tried to

run a television repair business from his home before becoming a

computer technician.

“Basically there’s the problem of price: Is somebody going to pay

to repair a television that they can replace for just a few bucks

more?” he said.

Tag’s been able to stay afloat, he said, by adapting to new

technologies, tackling gigantic plasma TVs and flat screen wall

panels.

“I’ll have no future in this business if I don’t study for the

future,” he said.

But in his spare time, Tag will continue to showcase the old

televisions and draw in dozens of people who don’t actually buy

anything, not that they could, but just like to look around. He said

he doesn’t mind that the television repair man gets as much work

these days as the Maytag Man, because after all, he jokes, he’s rich,

and most importantly, he’s doing what he likes.