QUASAR TVs, Sunnyside

by Kevin Walsh

A quasar, which stands for “quasi-stellar” is a super-bright area in the center of a galaxy being swallowed by a black hole, emitting tremendous amounts of radioelectric energy. Some quasars among the farthest objects in the universe visible by telescope.

From 1967 until the mid-1980s, Quasar was the brand name for Motorola’s television products line, that in a novel feature, had its transistorized works in a single panel that could be pulled out and pushed in by the owner or repair expert, rather than the complicated set of tubes that previous TV brands had.

This ad on the north side of Queens Boulevard and 48th Street likely dates to the late 1960s or early 1970s.

8/10/14

2 comments

Kevin August 11, 2014 - 4:23 pm

Motorola sold off its’ television division in 1974 to Matsushita Electric. Most people know that company for its Panasonic brand of products. (in 2008 it changed its name to Panasonic.) Matsushita Electric continued the Quasar brand on various products, including televisions, By about the turn of the century, you were only likely to find the brand on products that were sold at off-price locations. In 2013, they applied to have the trademarks renewed for the brand.

Reply
Lawrence Lambert September 4, 2014 - 12:42 pm

I remember the ads during the ’60’s that trumpeted the transistorized circuits as “works in a drawer”

Reply

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