We actually had subscription TV service through Channel 18 for about two years. One black and white TV for the entire house. I remember all the relatives coming over for the Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston fight. What an upset that night! I had never laid eyes on a fighter like the winner. The Rangers had games on there but billing was basic service and add on for anything you watched. My family didn't have any hockey fans so we never watched any Rangers games. Channel 18 would send a monthly mini book out that had the program times and codes needed to input into the decoder box in order for the encrypted content to change to something watchable. I remember the first blockbuster movie I watched on there was "Mysterious Island" where some prisoners escaped from a civil war prison in an air balloon. Does anyone remember looking at Channel 18 programming when you did not decrypt it? The sound and picture were scrambled but you could still make out digitally scrambled images. I lived in Hartford. Channel 3 (CBS) was crystal clear. Channel 30 (NBC) was grainy clear. Channel 22 (NBC) slightly more grainy than 30. Channel 40 (IND) more grainy than 22 and Channel 8 (ABC) even more grainy. I can remember holding the rabbit ears in order to get a clearer picture on Channel 8 watching Wide World of Sports and the Olympics. I moved to West Haven during my high school years and the apartment complex had cable so I was thrilled to watch Channel 2 (CBS), Channel 4 (NBC), Channel 5 (IND), Channel 7 (ABC), Channel 9 (WOR/IND), Channel 11 (WPIX/IND) and Channel 13 (IND). The Mets were always (virtually every game) on Channel 9 (Ralph Kiner Lead) and the Yankees sometimes on Channel 11. Getting all the channels clear via cable was awesome to me. There were many late night movies on 9 and 11 and also late night was the Joe Franklin Show which showed old time movie clips from the early days of TV. My parents watched Channel 7 News because my parents loved Roger Grimsby the lead anchor and a young Geraldo Rivera who was always doing some expose work including a series on a mental health institute call WillowBrook (Upstate New York ) where his documentary was straight out of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest infamy. Being from small city (Hartford) and being exposed to all the NYC news was very interesting. I never imagined cable would become what it has became. I remember cartoons were on from about 08:00 to 11:00 every Saturday morning on the three major networks head to head and no other times during the week. There was no Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. There were no movie or sports channels. The kids today just don't know how great they have it with TV and the internet these days.
