By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

Since opening Carlson TV & Satellite in 1957 in a shop behind his home, Gary Carlson of Marion has seen a multitude of changes in entertainment hardware. The latest change was location, not hardware — Carlson moved the business to a shop on Main Street.

“There’s a change every year of one type or another,” he said Thursday.

When he began his business as a television repair shop, vacuum tubes were the peak of television technology. Electronics companies eventually made the switch to transistors and more recently to integrated circuits. Carlson said it’s hard to predict what will be next.

Television repair has become a very small part of his business over the years. Manufacturers have mostly stopped making parts for older TVs. Fortunately, modern products hold up just as well if not better than the older ones, he said.

Now sales and installation occupy most of his business. Carlson has also expanded the technologies he works with. Early on he added sound systems. More recent additions have included security cameras and satellite dishes.

Even the method stations use to broadcast shows has changed. Modern digital signals don’t carry as far as discontinued analog signals. It takes someone who knows what he’s doing to get the best reception from an antenna. He said his son, Brad, who works with him, is excellent at that.

Television manufacturers have also changed the style of their products. Carlson has witnessed the near total disappearance of console televisions in favor of widescreen and flatscreen TVs.

“That is the hardest change, especially for older people because they like the furniture,” he said.

And it has become difficult to find cabinets wide enough to fit widescreen TVs.

“I wouldn’t want to go back, though,” Carlson said. “I’ve gotten used to that 50-inch TV.”

He said he is grateful his distributors sell him products at prices that allow him to be competitive with bigger stores in Wichita and chain stores.

The business’s move to the new shop at 1111 E. Main St. began about two weeks ago.

“We don’t have everything we want, but we’re getting there,” he said.

He decided to make the move to improve the business’s exposure and have a bigger showroom. He said he had contemplated moving to Main Street for years.

“We’ve had a lot of people ask, ‘What took you so long?’” he said.