radio | television | phonograph:

Postwar prosperity brought an unprecedented amount of leisure time to average Americans, and television provided an easy way to fill the void. First introduced just prior to World War II, television took off in the 1950s just as the rapid expansion of the American suburbs triggered a dramatic change in American lifestyles. Zenith manufactured its first television set in 1948, when there were only three broadcasting networks and only one million sets in American homes. Television quickly became the family entertainment medium of choice, however, as the number of TVs in American homes soared from 5 million in 1950 to more than 35 million in 1955, finding a permanent place in well over half of all American households. In the early 1950s, Zenith revolutionized home entertainment with this set combining radio, television, and phonograph. Housed in a stylish wooden cabinet with doors that closed when the set was not in use, the television took its place as a permanent fixture in American living rooms. While deluxe models like this one might have appealed to more-affluent consumers, buying patterns crossed class boundaries: a luxury model was just as likely to appear in households of more modest means.