Cable TV In The 90s | TheaterFire

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WarpedCore@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/xx6k43a8ud9d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38cb16c52611d8dca37af0c380c8bb7a5f99802e I'll see your 90's version and raise you the 80's version of cable TV. My Step-Dad put a converter in the box which gave us all the movie channels for free.

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sagimonk16@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/ad48lnwt5e9d1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54bcd0cc87c265d7d602cb850527071b41042e9c I'll see your fancy late 80's version and raise you an early 80's turn-dial cable box with A B coaxial switch. If you were watching shows on side A, you had to physically get up and switch the box to side B to see the rest of the channels.

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Cool_Dark_Place@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/gklkjsugce9d1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3550e0d811f81d283077f71571acbd185c5c0085 Lol...if we're showing off early cable TV boxes, this one was like the first one my family had (circa 1982 - 83) I remember only having it for a little while, until we got a fancy new Zenith TV that was "cable ready."

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Donnyboy_Soprano@reddit

This is the one I remember having. Early 80’s

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ILikeBumblebees@reddit

I call your Jerrold and raise you [Hamlin](https://i.imgur.com/QPkQPdo.jpeg).

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BigE429@reddit

My parents kept this one on their bedroom TV for a loooong time. They may have still had it when we moved houses in 99

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Rustymarble@reddit

8C was the Disney Channel! Muscle memory could get me there in a flash if you out that in front of me!

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lmapidly@reddit

We had this one!

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SailorKnight3@reddit

We also had this one.

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sagimonk16@reddit

My uncle had this one!

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BunsinHoneyDew@reddit

Man the clicking of that A B switch was SUPREMELY satisfying.

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cortesoft@reddit

Man, I was so jealous of kids who had morally ambiguous parents who got them bootleg cable.

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sagimonk16@reddit

* I'll see your fancy late 80's version and raise you an early 80's turn-dial cable box with A B coaxial switch. If you were watching shows on side A, you had to physically get up and switch the box to side B to see the rest of the channels.

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ILikeBumblebees@reddit

Fun fact: the scrolling listings on the Prevue Channel were being generated by a Commodore Amiga down at the cable company's facility. Occasionally, you'd tune in and see a classic "guru meditation error" broadcast out to your TV.

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heresmytwopence@reddit

Prevue Guide was the bomb.

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bgva@reddit

I still watch the old clips on Youtube from time to time. That and 90s Weather Channel were somehow fun in all their simplicity.

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Tornadoboy156@reddit

The old local forecast music was some of my favorite music as a kid.

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bgva@reddit

Yes! I’ve always been a jazz fan so finding WC playlists has become my new impression.

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Tornadoboy156@reddit

The videos of Jon Bois will serve you well, if you’re not already familiar.

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One-Earth9294@reddit

So much time spent waiting for the preview channel to cycle back to the channel you wanted to check lol I remember how amazing it was when they created interactive ones you could just maneuver through with arrow keys.

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Prestigious_Ear_2962@reddit

Ugh, everytime you turn it on it JUST went past the channel you were interested in.

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marcushoney@reddit

Every. Damn. Time.

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Lazy_Shoe_8013@reddit

And then you just ended up watching 30 minutes of Pay Per View movie ads.

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Globalruler__@reddit

You mean “digital cable?”

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One-Earth9294@reddit

Yeah! I haven't heard that in a while lol.

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justgothome47@reddit

I would leave it on the preview channel when I was getting ready for school in the mornings, because of the time on there.

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Stevie-Rae-5@reddit

I remember when we first had cable service with the guide channel and I was like THIS IS AMAZING. 😆

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PorgCT@reddit

This was always the signal to me that one of my friends was wealthy

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avid-book-reader@reddit

I remember when you had to have a box just to get Cartoon Network.

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Treadingresin@reddit

That scrolling channel schedule was the shit dawg!

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cortesoft@reddit

I remember being amazed when it came out. Before that we had to use the paper TV guide!

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Electronic-Ice-7606@reddit

Look at Mr. Fat Cat over here with TV Guide. We used to flip through channels endlessly to see what else was on between commercials.

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actionerror@reddit

>That scrolling channel schedule was ~~the~~ shit dawg! The pain of having to wait 5 minutes if you just missed your channel

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Treadingresin@reddit

Yeah there was that

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Jibbajaba@reddit

DUDE the Scientific Atlanta remote!

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hyogodan@reddit

Thank you. It was something Atlantic and I couldn’t remember! Nickelodeon was 44 for me - that 4 button got some work.

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No_Replacement228@reddit

I find this pic very comforting🥲. Thanks for posting it!

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AgentNose@reddit

Nickelodeon was channel 25.

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Globalruler__@reddit

It was channel 36 here in Central Florida. Cartoon Network was channel 35.

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therealpopkiller@reddit

I lived outside of Orlando and couldn’t get cable, so we had Dish Network or DirectTV (or another) and missed out on that. Not even sure we got 35 channels then

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AgentNose@reddit

I was talking about in the 80’s, lol.

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FuzzyTunaTaco21@reddit

Loved that cable box, my dad had some guy turn it into a cheater box for $200 bucks, all the ppv channels, playboy, hbo, and everything, unscrambled. Twas a teenage boys dream before the internet.

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TotallyNotMeDudes@reddit

Saw so many WWF PPVs with that box!

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Skate_faced@reddit

Shhhhhhh shit shut up I'm going to miss my channels again. And if you missed your channels on the menu as it rolled by, you're waiy another three minutes for them to roll back.

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Cool_Dark_Place@reddit

And listen to another 3 minutes of awful, Kenny G inspired, "light instrumental" music.

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TotallyNotMeDudes@reddit

It you knew what the weather was gonna be like for the next 3 days!

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L0uZilla@reddit

I wish they would bring the preview channel back

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My_Kairosclerosis@reddit

Running your thumb around the remote buttons and memorizing their location by feel.

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Frequent_Course5399@reddit

Let's not forget how we all watched porn back then: https://preview.redd.it/chn1ncus5e9d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1965e786aa9e5d17eed9ea722dd0a27ffc313ffa

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Entropy907@reddit

Almost as hot as the lingerie section of the JC Penny catalog.

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bgva@reddit

I found an old Prevue Guide clip from 1994. It was only about 40 channels and I had no trouble figuring out what I would've watched that night. Only channel missing was Comedy Central. And the only thing missing from this meme is Sally Struthers trying to sell me on a correspondence course. "Wanna make more money? Sure we all do!"

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scithe@reddit

Don't forget the Don Lapre infomercials about him placing tiny classified ads from his one bedroom apartment.

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cmmatthews@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/ixh08i61gf9d1.jpeg?width=786&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c0dd820bfaa46222b2ba966d29d26105e0b6047 I had this bad boy atop my vintage RCA hand me down in my bedroom. I felt lucky to have cable at all as a 12 year old!

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the_dan_dc@reddit

Our remote was my dad telling “Daniel turn it to channel 9!”

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Peeping-Tom-Collins@reddit

Ahhh yes, the preview channel. I remember my friends and I being bored and throwing that on to find something to watch. We could get a good giggle when the porno channel would scroll by. Channel 26, the SPICE channel. I recall one movie called "Butt Motors" that had 13 year old me and friends full on rofl.

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Globalruler__@reddit

Are cable boxes still a thing? I know in the Caribbean, Digicel has a small sized receiver.

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OtherAcctWasBanned11@reddit

Throw a black box on there and you were rolling.

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DingJones@reddit

Needs to be a splitter there too. I remember splitting the cable and running it through the vents up to my room so I could have cable tv in my bedroom on my 13” tv/vcr combo that I bought working at Zellers.

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Garfield61978@reddit

We took the boxes apart and connected chips with copper from the coax to get premium channels. Cleared skinimax right up!

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icebeancone@reddit

Man we didn't get one of those cable boxes until like 2008. I just refused to pay the rental fee for fucking UPN.

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Oriasten77@reddit

Happy and proud cord cutter! Tmobile internet and the streaming stuff I select to pay for.

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Pinkfoodstamp@reddit

We didn't have TV with a TV guide until we got a primestar satellite. Until then our TV guide channel was just a scrolling guide. We had cable prior to the guide channel too, and I had no idea what was going on (87-90) I would usually just hope if luck into WcW or USA up all night

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luxtabula@reddit

So glad I don't have to use cable anymore. Online streaming is far superior in every way.

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schoolisuncool@reddit

That recall button would sit right under my thumb as I was holding it, in case my mom walked in the room while I’m watching the scrambled spice channel lol

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Kinky-Bicycle-669@reddit

I wish I had worked for cable TV then 😂

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RickHuf@reddit

Before the TV guide channel you had to either just wing it or buy the TV guide.

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I_like_pizza_teve@reddit

Cable in the 90s was sick. Underrated. Remember how fast the channels would change? You could buzz through all 70 channels in like 20 seconds.

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Train2Perfection@reddit

Who knew what you could do with a butter knife?

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maggie320@reddit

The pop sounds. The warm electronic smell from the remote and box. In retrospect those remotes got so hot.

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LilMoWithTheGimpyLeg@reddit

That loud as hell pop when you changed channels! Several of my friends had cable TV like this (all with the remote in the lower right), but we we fortunate to have it go straight to the television without the need for the box.

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Bootwacker@reddit

That lower right clicker! We all had the same ones from the town cable company. When we were teenagers we would go around and try to mess with our neighbors by changing the channel through the windows. It didn't normally work, but we felt like outlaws!

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