tv repairs?...
RCA, Zenith, Admiral, Crosley, Westinghouse, Philco, Motorola and others were all television manufacturers in the days following the medium's introduction at the New York World's Fair in 1939.
Today, of that group, only RCA and Motorola produce televisions. Other companies like LG and Sony have taken the place of the original companies, and, in some cases, the old brands have melded into today's offerings such as Zenith becoming LG.
Donny Koch, 78, has been in the television repair business in Louisville, Kentucky for over 60 years.
My dad and his brother opened Clarksdale TV Repair back in 1938, he told me. They started repairing radios and then took on televisions. That's the original sign outside and we are still here.
How did it all begin for you?.
Back when I started, he rejoined, I didn't go to electronics school or anything like that. I learned it all by doing. I came in every day and worked and learned. It was really confusing to me because I didn't know what I was doing at first.
But, you stuck with it.
I did, he affirmed. I took televisions apart, I replaced parts and tubes. I learned how to use electronic gauges and meters and finally, it started to make sense.
You have seen all brands haven't you.
I have indeed, he answered. I started working for my dad as a teenager and never left. I used to say when my dad is no longer with us, I would sell. Well, he passed in the late 90s and I am still here. I can't imagine not being here.
Donny, I remember my dad calling someone to fix our TV. The guy would come to the house to fix it or take it to his shop. It seemed like it was always the picture tube or sound tube that would go out. Those TVs were huge and heavy too.
That was the normal back then, Donny said. Televisions were so big because the tubes were so big and the manufacturers made these beautiful wooden cabinets to house everything.
When did you start making house calls to repair televisions?
I was really young, he said. I'd go out with my brother who worked here too. One time we were out and I told him I wanted to go on the next call by myself. I remember standing on this woman's porch and she looked at me and said, You are too young to work on my TV.
Can you see yourself doing anything else?
No, not really, he admitted. It is a point of pride that I own the world's oldest television repair shop. Every night when I leave here, I say out loud, Dad, I hope you are proud of what I did today.
The invention of the transistor changed all electronics, didn't it.
Yes, he agreed. Transistors started semi-solid-state, then solid state, Plasma, LCD, LED, right on up to today. It was the beginning of the end of vacuum tubes.
Television repair is something I haven't thought about in years. I didn't even know your type of business was still around.
It has changed dramatically, he conceded. A typical television repair today costs far less than it used to. Televisions are the only thing you can think of that costs less today than when they were invented. I don't know of any other item I can say that.
Are these new TVs difficult to fix?
Not really, he thought. Electronics are electronics. Instead of one transistor, there might be a circuit with a million transistors, but, it is still electronics. It used to be that the makers would hold seminars when they introduced something new, but, not anymore. It is all on the internet.
What about family. Do you have a significant other?
I do, he smiled. I've been married 55 years and we have a son and daughter and four grandchildren.
Donny, thank you for sitting down with me.
Glad to do it. I enjoyed it.
Coming up: a conversation with a retired UPS pilot; another oddities, observations & ?'s; a POS, and; a job$ somebody's gotta do.
And, finally. I tip my hat to Stephanie Courtney. What a success story. At one time, Stephanie was an aspiring actress, singer, and, dancer. She went to many, many auditions and job interviews, only to find herself still looking for that big break at the end of each endeavor. But, she persisted.
One day, Stephanie went to an audition for a particular commercial for a service. The producers were so taken with the way she ad libbed and delivered a whimsical, WOW, during the filming they offered her the job.
That was 17 years ago. Today, Miss Courtney earns over a million dollars a year advocating for Progressive Insurance.
HUH? What's up with that?
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