$2.85 in 1949, is about $40 today. So 91 weeks of that, plus the unspecified down payment, would exceed $3600 in today’s terms, possibly over $4000.

1949 saw the first episode of the Lone Ranger, which ran 52 episodes that season. The first broadcast of the Emmy awards. The first televised charity telethon, for a cancer foundation.

There were 4 television networks in the USA. ABC, CBS, NBC, and the much lesser known DuMont network, which operated from 1940 to 1956.