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| RCA ad from 1939 explains new TV broadcasts |
_Television Marks 75th
Anniversary
This
year, 2014, marks the 75th anniversary of regular television
broadcasting.
See information about the history of TV toward the bottom
of this post.
I
can’t remember a time before television.
The
TV stations in southwest Oklahoma and north Texas were established and began
broadcasting in 1952 and 1953.
I
was born in 1953 and by the time that I was old enough to process many
memories, my family had a television. That must have happened in about 1954. We
were living in those years on a farm 12 miles west of Frederick that we always
referred to as “the river place.”
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| My family's first TV was similar to this one. |
Our
first TV was a big wooden “table-top” set that came with a wrought-iron stand. I
remember it well. I think that it was a General Electric brand.
The
picture was, of course, black-and-white, but my family had a “modern” plastic
cover that could be attached over the screen to give it a “color” look. That plastic
screen was used infrequently, though. Even though none of us had ever seen a
color television in those days, I knew at the time that the fancy plastic cover
sure didn’t produce a color picture. It did provide a sort of green tint to the
normal black and white.
In
addition to the volume and channel selectors, sets in those days had all sorts
of twist knobs for adjusting picture quality, vertical hold, and reception.
Every home in our area had a TV antenna atop a pole mounted outside the house. Picture
quality on any given day was primarily dependent on how well that antenna
functioned. On windy days, one sometimes could hear the wind whistling around
the antenna!
Fuzzy
was not an uncommon picture quality. We didn’t complain much, though, because
it’s all we knew.
And…
when the TV went on the fritz, a repairman would come to the house. Odds are
that the haywire television had a burned out tube of one kind or another. This
was before transistors or sophisticated electronics. Glass tubes in the TV’s
insides would burn out and need to be replaced, just like a light bulb.
The
earliest shows that I remember were “Ding Dong School” with Miss Frances,
“Captain Kangaroo” with Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit, and the Captain, “Kukla, Fran and Ollie” with Miss Fran, “I
Love Lucy”, “The Jack Benny Show”, “Gunsmoke”, “December Bride” with Spring
Byington, “Burns and Allen” with George Burns and Gracie Allen, and “The Dinah
Shore Show” (“See the USA, in your
Chevrolet!”). Of course, there were many others, too, but these were some that
I clearly remember.
In
the earliest years, on the farm west of Frederick where my family lived, we
received three channels – KAUZ (CBS) and KFDX (NBC), both out of Wichita Falls,
and KSWO (ABC) out of Lawton.
Of
course, none of those stations broadcast during the night. They signed off well
before midnight, replacing their programming with a test pattern until
broadcasting resumed the next day.
TV
in those days was squeaky clean. There was no bad language and all shows were
“family friendly”.
TV,
even in those days, was sort of controversial in some circles. For many years
my father’s parents refused to own one. They thought that television was the
devil’s tool. Considering some of the things that are on TV these days, they
may have been onto something. Even they came around to television late in their
lives, though.
Today,
of course, we take television for granted. We have wall-size TV screens,
hundreds of channels, crystal-clear high definition pictures, DVR recording
capability, and live satellite broadcasts. There’s always “something on”. And…
I love it. I love and am continually amazed at the capacity for television to
provide information and entertainment.
But…
Looking back to simpler times, old black and white TVs, and simpler television
programming, I’m glad to have had those experiences. TV in the ‘50s and ‘60s was
a shared family experience, and there’s no doubt that those early television
shows helped shape the person that I became. I wouldn’t take anything for those
experiences.
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| FDR's opening address at the 1939 World's Fair marked the beginning of TV broadcasting. |
HISTORY OF TELEVISION
The
television as an invention dates back to the 1920s, but there was no regular
television broadcasting until 1939.
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| 1939 Advertisement |
On
April 30, 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt opened the 1939 World’s Fair in
New York City in an address that was televised to the nearby RCA and
Westinghouse pavilions where televisions had been set up. Technology and vision
of the future was a theme of the fair.
Although
there had been sporadic television broadcasts before that day, Roosevelt’s
address at the World’s fair marks the beginning of the television age. On that
day – August 30, 1939 – W2XBS (which later became WNBC/4) began regular
programming.
Through
promotion at the fair, average folks got a look at television… and they liked
it! Nothing would ever be the same.
Some dates in TV History
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| The RCA TRK-9 premiered at the 1939 World's Fair |
1939, April 30 – The RCA TRK-9
television was introduced at the World’s Fair in New York
1939, August 26 – The first
televised Major League Baseball game: the Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Cincinnati Reds
from Ebbets Field
1939, September 30 – The first
telecast football game: Fordham University vs. Waynesburg College, broadcast
from Triborough Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York
1940, June 24-28 – The Republican
National Convention was broadcast from Philadelphia on the city’s W3XE (now
KYW-TV) and New York’s W2XBS
1941, July 1 – The first TV
commercial aired: a 10-second ad for Bulova watches
1942-45 – TV production halted for
World War II
1946, June 19 – The first televised
heavyweight boxing title fight: Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn from Yankee Stadium
1947, December 27 – “Howdy Doody”
debuted on NBC
1948, June 8 – “Uncle Milty” Milton
Berle became the first real TV star with his variety show “Texaco Star Theater”
1949, January 29 – The first
Presidential inauguration to be televised was that of President Harry Truman following the 1948 election
1950, February 25 – “Your Show of
Shows”, a 90-minute live comedy-variety show, featured Sid Caesar and Imogene
Coca
1951, November 18 – “See It Now”, an
adaptation of the popular radio “Hear it Now”, premiered on CBS hosted by news
legend Edward R. Murrow: its first episode opened with the first live
simultaneous coast-to-coast TV transmission from both the East Coast (the
Brooklyn Bridge and New York Harbor) and the West Coast (the San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Bridge and San Francisco Bay), as reporters on both sides of the continent
gave live reports to Murrow who was in the control room at CBS Studio 41 in New
York City
1952, January 14 – TV’s first and
longest running morning show, “Today”, premiered on NBC hosted by Dave Garroway
1953, January 19 – Little Ricky was
born to Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on “I Love Lucy” (the same day that Desi Arnaz,
Jr., was born to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz)
1956, September 9 – Elvis Presley
caused a sensation when he appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show”
1957, August 5 – After beginning in
Philadelphia, Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” went national, broadcasting
five afternoons a week on ABC
1960, September 26 – The first
Kennedy-Nixon debate is widely determined to have influenced voters’
perceptions of the candidates… and determined the outcome of the Presidential election
1961, May 5 – 45 million viewers watched
the suborbital flight of Alan B. Shepard, the first U.S. astronaut in space
1963, November 22-25 – TV news
covered the assassination and funeral of President John F. Kennedy, bringing
the nation together in a time of tragedy
1964, February 9 – The Beatles
became a national sensation with their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan
Show”
1967, August 29 – The finale of “The
Fugitive”, in which David Janssen’s character confronted his wife’s killer,
‘the one-armed man’, was the highest rated TV episode to that date
1969, July 21 – The world watched as
Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong took first steps on the moon
1970, September 21 – “Monday Night
Football” was launched
1970, October 5 – The non-profit
Corporation for Public Broadcasting was formed, later becoming PBS (Public
Broadcasting System)
1971, January 12 – “All in the
Family” aired; the first hard-edged comedy sitcom that dealt with real-life
controversial issues
1973, May 17 – The Nixon
Administration unraveled as the nation viewed hearings of a special Senate
committee that investigated the Watergate break-ins
1975, October 11 – “Saturday Night
Live”, a modern “Your Show of Shows”, began its run on NBC
1979, September 7 – ESPN was
launched
1980, June 1 – Cable News Network
(CNN) began broadcasting
1980, November 21 – The “Who Shot
J.R.?” episode of “Dallas” became the most-watched show up to that date (83
million viewers)
1981, August 1 – MTV (Music
Television) was launched
1983, February 28 – The
two-and-a-half hour finale of M*A*S*H became and remains the most-watched
non-sports program of all time
1986, January 28 – America watched
in horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight
1991, October 11 –Testimony of Anita Hill before the Senate Judicial Committee in hearings for confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas transfixed the American public and made the issue of sexual harassment part of the American consciousness
1994, June 17-1995, October 3 – The
nation was fascinated by events leading to and during the O.J. Simpson murder
trial
1995, April 19 – The nation watched
and grieved in the aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City
2000, May 31 – “Survivor”, the first
reality TV show, aired
2001, September 11 – TV brought the
nation together to mourn following the 9/11 terrorist attacks
2002, June 11 – “American Idol”
premiered, introducing a whole new genre of TV talent competition shows
2009, June 12 – Digital TV
broadcast became the exclusive standard in the U.S.; analog TV broadcast
ceased
