{"id":53120,"date":"2019-06-16T23:11:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T23:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/?p=53120"},"modified":"2021-06-29T18:05:50","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T18:05:50","slug":"harolds-tv-evolves-as-business-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/16\/harolds-tv-evolves-as-business-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Harold’s TV evolves as business changes"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\"\"\r\n
Ronald Wagner Jr.\/ Crossroads College Preparatory School
<\/em> Gary Jones arranges a television in his downtown repair shop, Harold\u2019s TV, on June 14. The business has been repairing TVs in the Bowling Green area for 65 years.\u00a0<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By RONALD WAGNER JR.
<\/strong>Crossroads College Preparatory School<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Harold\u2019s TV, one of the longest surviving businesses in Bowling Green, is much more than just a place to bring an old television.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Established in 1954, Harold\u2019s TV has repaired television sets in Bowling Green and the surrounding areas for 65 years, said Gary Jones, the current owner and operator — and son to original owner, Harold Jones.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBack in 1952, television was just really becoming more popular,\u201d Jones said. Just two years later, after leaving the U.S. Air Force, his father opened for business. It was the same year \u201cThe Adventures of Rin Tin Tin\u201d debuted on America\u2019s TV screens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The shop, located at 729 College St., has been in business ever since, though the shop has moved to different downtown spots over the decades.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jones says he doesn\u2019t fix many TVs these days. New ones are so cheap that folks typically opt to buy new when a television breaks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

From 1954 to 2017, the price per square inch on a television decreased by 98.9 percent, and will continue to decrease yearly, according to CNET.com.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jones doesn\u2019t sell new TVs either.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t sold a new television set here since 1974,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThe big box stores can sell them cheaper than we can buy them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Instead of selling and repairing, the Harold\u2019s TV of 2019 is offering a number of new services.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Under Gary Jones, Harold\u2019s TV repair has grown to include antenna installation, satellite installation, DVD transfer, and warranty satellite maintenance for DirecTV.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Satellite installation has generated the most business for Jones in the past two years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With television repair work almost extinct, it\u2019s hard to believe the city of Bowling Green is home to similar shops. But Jones said he does not consider those establishments his competition.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThere\u2019s three shops, but growing up here, there were seven,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe kind of help each other out,\u201d he said, sending each other customers that they can\u2019t help.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Confidently, Jones confirmed his position in the Bowling Green community.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cOh yeah, we\u2019re a staple,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter 65 years, we still service people, the great-grandchildren of people that my dad knew in my community here when he first came back from the Air Force and set up this business.\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By RONALD WAGNER JR.Crossroads College Preparatory School Harold\u2019s TV, one of the longest surviving businesses in Bowling Green, is much more than just a place to bring an old television. Established in 1954, Harold\u2019s TV has repaired television sets in Bowling Green and the surrounding areas for 65 years, said Gary Jones, the current owner…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,464],"tags":[],"staff_name":[],"class_list":["post-53120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-x19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53120"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252119,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53120\/revisions\/252119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53120"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=53120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}