I remember the sound of a manual tuner, with it's positive detents...thunk thunk thunk. Then, they would get worn, and the detent position would no longer correspond with the strongest signal reception, requiring one to "wedge" the selector knob in-between channels to improve the picture...we would jamb a broken toothpick under one side of the knob....worked great.
I also recall getting yelled at for spinning the channel knob too fast.....