The%20History%20of%20Television

1
The History of Television

• From Principles of Electronic Media (Davie
  Upshaw, 2006)

2
In the Beginning

• Early Inventors working on the television-Charle
  s Jenkins/John Baird-Philo Farnsworth-Vladimir
  Zworkin
• Go to the following website to discover how each
  of these men contributedhttp//transition.fcc.go
  v/omd/history/tv/1880-1929.html
  andhttp//www.mztv.com/newframe.asp?contenthttp
  //www.mztv.com/pioneers.html

3
Early Development of the TV Zworykin and
Farnsworth

• An Internet series focusing on the early days of
  television.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vTAJ19XeIn1g

Zworykin (left) Farnsworth (right)
4
Two early possibilities

• Mechanical Television VS.
• Electronic Television
• Mechanical TV- first broadcast crude images such
  as stick figures and Silhouettes
• Electronic TV- First broadcast by Farnsworth was
  of a straight line (he later changed it to a
  dollar sign as an investor asked when are we
  going to see some dollars in this thing
  Farnsworth?

5
The History of Television

• Heading into the Great Depression, few families
  owned television sets and many technical issues
  were left to be resolved. This slowed the
  diffusion of television.

6
The History of Television

• In 1941, The National Television Standards
  Committee, formed by manufacturers, produced an
  agreement setting standards for home picture
  quality. The age of commercial television in the
  United States dawned on July 1, 1941, when WNBT
  (now WNBC) in New York began broadcasting. CBS
  went on the air that same month.

7
The History of Television

• With the dawn of World War II, televisions
  development was slowed once again as materials
  and efforts were directed toward the war.

8
The History of Television

• With the end of WWII, several factors came
  together to launch a golden age of television
  (roughly 1945-1960).
• Returning veterans.
• David Sarnoff of RCA uses his political power and
  connections to reduce the cost of receivers.
• The emergence of the suburb.

9
30s-50s

• Earliest television broadcasts needed to be
  combined with Radio-Images could be sent but
  sound could not, therefore you would watch the
  video and tune into the radio channel
  broadcasting the sound
• After the end of World War II the television took
  off
• http//transition.fcc.gov/omd/history/tv/1930-1959
  .html

10
First Meet the Press photo

• December 4, 1947 The earliest photograph in
  existence of the longest running television
  program in history. Sen. Robert Taft was the
  guest on "Meet the Press" that day, less than a
  month after the program debuted on NBC television
  at 8 p.m., November 6, 1947. James A. Farley, the
  former postmaster general and former Democratic
  National Committee chairman, was the guest on the
  first broadcast. (Meet the Press)

11
The History of Television

• Popular programs of televisions golden age
  included
• Milton Berle
• Howdy Doody
• Leave it to Beaver
• Father Knows Best
• I Love Lucy

12
The History of Television

• Another Freeze on Development in 1948
• The FCC stopped issuing licenses to study video
  and color standards, interference, frequency
  allocation, and educational use.
• One result of the FCC study of 1948 was the
  allocation of portions of the broadcast spectrum
  for noncommercial broadcasting. This was due in
  large part to Frieda Hennock who was commissioner
  of the FCC at the time.

13
The History of Television

• All television programs were originally live,
  meaning that they were seen as they were being
  received as they were currently unfolding in
  front of the television cameras. Before the
  invention of videotape in 1956, early television
  was recorded via kinescope in which 35mm film
  recorded the readout of a television screen.

14
The History of Television

• Edward R. Murrow brought journalistic integrity
  to the screen his news documentary series titled
  See It Now (1951), but most television was geared
  directly for entertainment purposes.
• Murrows crusade against Senator Joe McCarthy is
  dramatized in the recent film Good Night and Good
  Luck.

15
The Today Show Premiered Jan. 14, 1952

• The Today show is a morning news and talk show.
  It was the first of its genre when it signed on
  with original host Dave Garroway, above. Dave, a
  former radio personality, was host of the series
  until 1961. The show was the idea of, then
  NBC-TV vice-president Sylvester Pat  Weaver,
  the father of actress Sigourney Weaver. The
  Today Show is the fourth- longest running TV
  series.

16
Americans Embrace the Television

• Listen to some interviews with
• people who witnessed the early
• days of television.
• http//www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/l
  ife_27.html

17
The History of Television

• The introduction of videotape in 1956 had an
  enormous impact, permitting the editing of high
  resolution images and allowing the visual
  language of television to become much more
  complex.
• Elvis Presley also appeared on The Ed Sullivan
  Show in 1956.

18
The History of Television

• The 1958 quiz show scandal (Twenty-One, The
  64,000 Question). This is often seen as an
  emblem of how the business of television places
  profits above the integrity of broadcasting.

19
The History of Television

• The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November
  22, 1963 was a demonstration of televisions
  power to serve as a window on world events. ABC
  anchor Ron Cochran noted Television had actually
  become the window of the world so many had hoped
  it might be one day.

20
The History of Television

• Television as a national hearth?
• These galvanizing events supported the theory
  that television would become a national hearth
  where, now and then, we could gather to watch,
  worry, and recover together (p. 33).

21
How much did a television cost?
Compare prices from the 1930s to the 1990s and
click on the television listed to see the
original advertisement! http//www.tvhistory.tv/t
v-prices.htm

• 1940 395 (about 4,500 in todays money) for a
  RCA TRK-12

22
The History of Television

• In the 1970s, the FCC forced the television
  industry to loosen its grip on content by
  mandating that they farm out program ideas to
  other independent content creators.

23
The History of Television

• When the CBS documentary The Selling of the
  Pentagon exposed government efforts to win bigger
  military budgets through expensive public
  relations campaigns, it infuriated war supporters
  and widened political gaps. Fortunately, the
  comedy show Laugh In and comic Flip Wilson made
  silly slogans such as Sock it to me and Here
  come da judge as safe way to laugh off stress
  (p. 35).

24
The History of Television

• 24 hour cable news channels
• The pioneer cable news channel was CNN (Cable
  News Network) introduced in 1980.

25
Key News Stories Covered by Early Television

• As news channels expanded, technology improved,
  and more people could afford a television, the
  use of the Television to bring news to the people
  become a more popular and to some, preferred.
• They followed newsreels as the next form of audio
  and visual news.
• Read this article on the early days of television
  newscasts, and the coverage of the Korean War.
• http//jfredmacdonald.com/trm/11tvkorea.htm

26

• Cuban Missile Crisis-
• (10/22/1962)
• Dr. MLKs I have a Dream Speech
• JFK, MLK and RFK
• Assasinations
• The Moon Landing Watch Video (1969)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vp7c-PbfnQuw
• The Vietnam War(first widely televised war in the
  1960s-1970s)
• Watergate (1973 Hearings begin)
• Watch Video
• http//www.newseum.org/century/movies/watergate.h
  tm
• Shuttle Challenger Explodes (1/28/86)
• Berlin Wall Falls (11/9/89)

27
The History of Television

• Beginning in the 1980s, big three television
  networks (NBC, CBS and ABC) faced major
  competition from several sources
• Cable and Satellite Television
• Syndication
• VCRs
• Financial interest and syndication rules

28
The History of Television

• The increased competition weakened the major
  networks and lead to an eventual buyout by larger
  holding companies.
• ABC by Capital City Communications
• NBC by General Electric
• CBS by Viacom

29
Hours You Watch TV

• The beginning of Television had one of the
  greatest influences on the History of the United
  States. Since its beginning it has increased the
  speed of information, entertained, influenced
  policy, and elections. Think about this for a
  moment, grab a pen and paper, go ahead, they
  wont bite.
• Now lets do a little math, lets assume for a
  moment that you represent the average American.
  Figure out about how much TV you have watched or
  plan to watch this week.
• Now multiply that by 52, thats how much you the
  average American are likely to watch in a year.

30
Lets Compare

• First and foremost lets compare the number of
  hours you just calculated for TV with how often
  you read. Go ahead and do that math again for
  your reading patterns.
• For other statistics such as the actual amount of
  time your average Americans spend in front of the
  tube visit the following sitehttp//www.csun.edu
  /science/health/docs/tvhealth.html

31
Color TV and the Satellite Era

• Use the link below to read about the expansion of
  the color TV and the transition into the
  Satellite Erahttp//transition.fcc.gov/omd/history
  /tv/1960-1989.html

32
24 Hour News Networks

• With 24 hour news networks, may people began to
  watch news stories unfold as they were happening.
• Challenger Disaster (1986)
• Gulf War (1991)
• OJ Simpson Chase and Trial (1994)
• September, 11th 2001
• Invasion of Iraq (2003)
• Hurricane Katrina (2005)
• Haiti Earthquake (2010)
• Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico (2010)
• Earthquake/ Tsunami Crisis in Japan (2011)

33
The History of Television

• The Present state of Television
• High Definition Television
• Digital Video Recorders
• Video on Demand
• MS Vista and the concept of convergence

34
Broadcasts and Television Programs that changed
the world

• Take a little time and research one of the
  following programs with special attention to how
  it affected or reflected culture
• 1968 Olympic Games
• See it Now (Murrow vs McCarthyism)
• Father Knows Best
• Broadcasting during 9/11
• I love Lucy
• MASH
• The Moon Landing
• Kennedy Assasination
• Kennedy vs Nixon Debates