There were maybe 7 channels, and you changed them by walking to the TV and turning a knob. Click. Click. Click. You could hear the mechanical switch inside the set.
The youngest kid in the house was the remote control. 'Go change it to channel 5.' You learned real fast which channels were which, because nobody wanted to make that trip twice.
When we finally got a TV with a remote, my dad kept it on the armrest of his recliner like it was the nuclear football. Nobody else was allowed to touch it.