When colorcasting began in 1954, there were few color programs and the receivers were prohibitively expensive for most American families. A color TV set in the 1950's was extremely rare. We didn't own a color TV until I bought one for our family in 1966. That RCA table model set was the first purchase I made on my first job at 16 years of age. I recall the frustration of watching the majestic NBC peacock on our family's Magnavox black and white TV in the 1950's. The 10 second animated bird was accompanied by soaring music while the announcer proclaimed "The following program is brought to you in Living Color on NBC!" RCA-owned NBC was the only network with regular color programming in the 1950's, and the peacock served as a mini-advertisement to remind the majority of Americans watching black and white TV's that they were missing something very special. The solution: buy a new RCA COLOR TV to watch those NBC COLOR shows as they were meant to be seen!

Many Saturday mornings I would race my bike to a nearby department store, arriving just in time to see the peacock in Living Color at the beginning of NBC's "The Howdy Doody Show." The rich, beautiful color was simply overwhelming! The improvement of COLOR over drab black and white TV was even more apparent than today's high definition television when compared to standard definition broadcasts. Even the most casual observer couldn't helped but be impressed by the lifelike color images we take for granted today. The advent of color television was truly a revolution!