Well as I sip my coffee this morning I read of the passing of Eugene Polley, who invented the first TV remote while he was with Zenith Radio Corporation, in 1955.  His design used a sensor at each corner of the picture tube, and the "remote" was a highly focused flashlight that was aimed at the appropriate sensor

Zenith's Gene Polley ushered in the era of channel surfing in the middle of the 20th Century during the Golden Age of Television. Mr. Polley invented the "Flash-Matic," which represented the world's first wireless TV remote. Introduced in 1955, Flash-Matic operated by means of four photo cells, one in each corner of the TV screen. The viewer used a highly directional flashlight to activate the four control functions, which turned the picture and sound on and off and changed channels by turning the tuner dial clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Later from Zenith came ultrasonic remotes, and into Infrared (IR) that are with us to this day, controlling almost all of our home electronics and more.   I can remember my grandparents TV in (North Hanson) and clunky remote that "chugged" it was thru channel changes.  We've come a long way!