This is the Television History section of
The Broadcast Archive
Maintained by:
Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Last update 6/5/03
Actually, both! TV broadcasts a combination of AM and FM. The video signal is
transmitted by an Amplitude Modulated carrier, while the audio is sent out via
Frequency Modulation.
There is a rumor Don Kimberlin did it. But actually, most of the patents
belong to Philo T. Farnsworth. Among the early developers of the technology:
John Logie Baird, Dr. Ernst Alexanderson, and Dr. Vladymir Zworykin.
- 1924: John Logie Baird broadcasts a picture of the Maltese Cross. This was
a mechanical system, with a resolution of 30 lines.
- 1925: Dr. Ernst Alexanderson broadcasts in Schenectady, NY area to an
estimated 300 receivers.
- April 7, 1927: AT&T demonstrates TV in NYC with a transmission of
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover from Washington, DC. According to the
newspaper reports, the picture was 2 x 3 inches, which was reasonably clear,
but did not look as good when enlarged to 2 x 3 feet. The transmission was
at 18 fps. Later that day, other material was broadcast, including a
vaudeville comedian, A. Dolan.
- September 11, 1928: Dr. Alexanderson broadcasts the first professional
television drama - The Queen's Messenger.
- November 18, 1929: Dr. Vladymir Kosma Zworykin demonstrates his
cathode-ray tube receiver at an IRE meeting.
- July 30, 1930 NBC opens W2XBS.
- July 21, 1931 CBS opens W2XAB.
- In June 1936, the Don Lee Broadcasting System starts the first public
demonstration of CRT television with daily broadcasts of 300 line pictures
using Harry Lubcke's system.
- March 1935 - the German government began its national
service. This was the first non-experimental public television service.
- November 11, 1936 - The first scheduled television broadcasts in the UK
began. (The Baird and the EMI systems were rotated on a daily basis until
February 4, 1937, when the EMI system was adopted, and Baird's was dropped.)
- 1939: The first regularly scheduled television broadcasts in the USA
began.
- 1941: The first sponsored television broadcast appeared in the US.
-
July 1, 1941 - The first commercial TV licenses were issued to WCBW
(later WCBS-TV) and WNBT (later WNBC-TV), New York City. (On September 1,
1941, KYW-TV, Philadelphia became the third licensed station for commercial
operation.)
-
January 9, 1947 - KTLA (one of the first in the western US) received an
STA for commercial operation on an experimental TV station (previously
W6XYZ). An "official" license was issued 2/9/53. KTLA Opening
night featured a special live 30-minute show from the Paramount TV stage,
featuring Bob Hope, Jerry Collona, Dorothy Lamour, and William Bendix.
43) When
were the first regular Color TV transmissions?
Once monochrome broadcasts were common, CBS and RCA went to war with
different color broadcast systems. Baird had demonstrated a crude color system
as early as 1928. CBS, which proposed its Field Sequential System in 1940,
fought its way through the courts, received approval for color broadcasts to
begin June 25, 1951. CBS produced a gala opening broadcast. The only problem?
CBS Color Television, while of very high quality, was incompatible with the
monochrome sets that were now being sold in increasing numbers. While CBS
pondered the problems, the Korean War shut down all color tv production.
After the Korean War, RCA sought to get the FCC to revisit the matter of
color standards, pushing its NTSC system. Based partially upon its compatibility
with monochrome televisions sets, the FCC approved the RCA-NBC
backed NTSC color method on December 17, 1953, replacing the CBS system,
effective January 22, 1954. Among the first compatible televisions sold was the
Admiral, selling for $1175 (over 1/2 the average salary in the US that year),
and the RCA CT100. The price of a receiver dropped to under $200 in about a
year..
This decision was not entirely non-political.
NBC began regular color television broadcasts in the mid
1950s. Set sales, however, were dismal. In the 1960's RCA color began to
"take hold", and in the summer of 1966, NBC went "all
color," dropping the peacock opening in early 1975.
Other nations did not necessarily follow US television
standards - the lowest in the world aside from the earliest British 405 line
video - which limited transmission to 525 lines and 30 fields of interlaced
video. Effective transmitted resolution in the US is usually considered
approximately 350 lines. The PAL and SECAM systems used in Europe were capable
of 625 and 800 line resolutions, but were incompatible with NTSC standards,
which because of the early difficulty in providing stable color pictures came to
be called "Never Twice the Same Color."
44) What about Digital TV?
Interestingly, Philo Farnsworth knew TV could look better than NTSC, and
began experiments on High Definition Television in the late 1940s. By the
mid-1950s, he was demonstrating 1100 and 1200 line (resolution) pictures. It
would take almost 50 years before the US adopted similar standards.
The first Experimental HDTV license is claimed by WRAL-HD in Raleigh, NC.
July 23, 1996 - WRAL-HD began operations.
1996 - WHD in Washington, DC began operations.
January 1997 - KOMO/Channel 4 (Seattle) became the first commercial broadcast
station on the West coast to transmit high-definition digital (HDTV) television
tests.Read a narrative by
Don Wilkinson of KOMO-DT's development.
Spring 1998 - KOMO-DT Seatlle, WA goes into regular operation on channel 38.
January 28, 2001 - WRAL-HD announces the inauguration of regular new
gathering and presentation in HDTV.
Some other start dates:
- September 5, 1998 - WBNS-DT, Colombus, Ohio goes into regular operation on
channel 21.
- September 9, 1998 - WCBS-HD, NYC begins operation on channel 56.
- October 22, 1998 - KNBC-HD in Los Angeles started on channel 36.
- October 29, 1998 (date of the Space Shuttle with John Glenn) - many
stations used this date to begin DTV transmissions.Some of the stations
include: KTLA-HD, 31, Los Angeles; KCBS-DT, 60, Los Angeles; KHOU-DT, 31,
Houston.
One of the "confusing" aspects is that some stations will claim
dates in operating as "Digital Television" (DTV) and some will claim
dates as "High Definition (Digital) TV" (HDTV). While there is some
difference, technically, since a new receiver is required for either, setting
separate "firsts" may be splitting hairs just a bit.
What is now WNBC in New York was licensed for channel 1 (50-56 MHz) from July
1, 1941 to September 30, 1946 when they were granted a modification of license
for a change to operate on channel 4 (66-72 MHz).
Among models, the RCA model 630 television set included a "Channel
1" position on its step tuner.
WNBC may have been the only station to have operated on channel 1, although
one report indicates W6XAO/KTSL, Los Angeles, and W9XZV/WTZR in Chicago did
operate on Channel 1. Approximately a dozen stations were assigned to the
channel (including KARO, Riverside, CA, WSBE, South Bend, IN, and several
experimental stations), although they may not have been built on Channel 1..
A short history of Channel 1:
- In 1937, Channel 1 was originally assigned by the FCC to 44-50 MHZ.
- In 1940, Channel 1 was shifted up to 50-56 MHz (Channel 2 was also
shifted, to 60-66 MHz, a frequency early receivers could not receive), when
the FCC allocated FM to 42-50 MHz . This move caused W2XBS - NBC - to be off
the air for three months for modification to the transmitting apparatus.
- In June 1945, Channel 1 was slated returned to 44-50 MHz in June 1945,
where it started to encroach on the frequencies assigned to the infant FM
broadcast band, slated to move to 88-108 MHz.. (RCA's David Sarnoff
essentially had FM reallocated to kill it).
- In May 1948, the FCC issued a NPRM to use Channel 1 for other services,
removing it from TV use.
There was also TV in the 2.5 MHz region (the Charles F. Jenkins system,
also killed by Sarnoff), as well as some other assignments for TV before WW II.
46) Miscellaneous TV items:
WRGB, which may be the oldest TV call sign in continuous use (it was
assigned in 1941), was named after GE engineer Dr. W.R.G. Baker, who headed the
National Television System Committee both in 1940-41 and in 1950-53. This is
especially ironic, given the use of Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) guns in video
monitors.
Pay TV was first authorized by the FCC in 1950. A series of
experiments by Zenith to bring movies to the public via "Phonevision"
ended when the major studios declined to permit television to compete with the
movie theaters.
Some more history of television can be found at http://www.tech-notes.net/
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