Television Rules the Nation

Posted: Thursday March 17, 2011

It is nearly a guarantee that at least one television set will be left behind in an abandoned building. During my adventures into the ruins I have come across dozens of televisions all of varying age, model, and make. To think that it wasn't until the late 1940's that the first television sets began to appear in American households and now in present day televisions are left behind as if they are expendable furnishings. With such rapid technological advances especially within the last decade, any electronic device older than five years seems to become void and useless; televisions certainly being no exception. Why lug around a heavy and technologically ancient TV of yesteryear? One can instead purchase a new, sexy, and sleek screen compatible with the most recent technology at just about any warehouse retailer or nearly anywhere online. As is often the case with aged technology, it is abandoned in favor of advancement. No one wants an antiquated cathode ray tube television and when no one wants to take care of a building why have a care in the world about what is left inside. When society has no use for something it is abandoned or buried under the ground. The Earth is after all our trash can and sooner than later garbage day will come. But in the meantime I look forward to the day when the iMacs and iPads of the generation I am familiar with are left in the ruins of the future.

An RCA Television inside an abandoned house. Just about everything was left behind, from clothes to the Porsche decaying in the driveway.

A dusty cathode ray tube television complete with a matching VHS player.

What's wrong with a little destruction? Nothing I say, especially when it's a Sony.

A television set left inside a recently vacated nursing home/hospital. In past months I have heard reports highlighting that the building has been entirely stripped and everything remaining inside was bagged and thrown into dumpsters.

A Zenith Television left inside a small vacation home abandoned within the woods of Northern New Jersey. Interestingly, Zenith was the company responsible for inventing the first wireless TV remote control.

Another Zenith Television set (this model much more modern) found beside a stock pile of garbage outside one of the buildings on the Country Living Inn property.

This television is unique in that it was one of the first sets to allow the user to manually program in channel presets. Through various button combinations the user could program the TV to remember favorite channels. This was all completed manually with the buttons being physically located on the television, no remote here.

One of the oldest televisions I have come across. There was no branding or even buttons on the front exterior, but judging from from the enclosed all-in-one box design I'd say it dates back the 1960's or 1970's.

A combinations of TV and computer monitors all linked together; located inside the security office of the High View Homeless Shelter.

Television sets of various ages and makes left to rot at an abandoned superfund site.

This photograph was taken inside an abandoned resort. The majority of the television sets from the over 400 guest rooms had been removed and were piled up in the ground level rooms of this shuttered 1970's era hotel.

A late 1980's to perhaps early 1990's flatscreen projection television. Sony pioneered the flat screen CRT video projector technology and was the first company to release flat screen projection televisions to the public in the early 1980's. I've had the displeasure of lifting one of these beasts and they weigh well over a couple hundred pounds, bogged down by the insanely complicated components and circuitry inside.

A mess of chairs, tables, and televisions piled up most likely by workers to clear a path.

I didn't realize until after I had loaded this picture onto my computer that I left my Coca-Cola bottle ontop of these TV's.

I have no idea who set this scene up at the former Mohawk Industries plant, but it made for an interesting picture.

A 1980's RCA Colortrak Television left inside an abandoned Catskills resort. The Colotrack series of television sets were unique because they were among the first TV's to include composite and S-Video inputs allowing the user to connect third party devices such as a videocassette recorder.

A pair of televisions inside an abandoned hoarders house. This stinky old abode was chock full of treasures. However all was lost when the residence was demolished in 2006.

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