EMC 2410Intro to Electronic Media

Edward Bowen

Lecture Eleven

Network Beginnings

1945

• World War II ends.

1945

• Earlier in April, Edward R. Murrow reports from the Buchenwald Concentration Camp over radio.

1945

• FCC resumes television licensing, moves FM to another part of the spectrum, allocating open frequencies to television.

1946

• RCA gets its black and white television sets on the market.

• The FCC adopts RCA’s television format.• The FCC receives 600 applications for TV station

licenses.• Television stations are still experimental and local.

1946

• FCC chairman Charles Denny resigns and joins NBC as vice president and general counsel.

1946

• Sports becomes an early hit.• Boxing: Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn on NBC.• Estimate: 150,000 watching on 5000 sets.

WNBT – New York from Yankee Stadium

1946

• Kinescopes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HbODxTSDmM

Television Sets

• By the end of 1945, there were fewer than 7,000 working TV sets in the U.S. and only nine stations on the air.

• By 1948, 190,000.• By 1950, 10,500,000.• By 1955, half of all households in U.S. owned a

television set.

Network Building

• 1928: NBC is the first permanent coast to coast radio network. Stations are linked using dedicated telephone lines.

• 1940 - 1941: Experimental NBC television transmissions from New York to Philadelphia and Schenectady over relay antennas.

• 1946 - 1949: The DuMont Network uses coaxial cable to join three television stations in New York, Washington DC and Pittsburgh. First post-war network.

• 1947: NBC links New York, Philadelphia, Schenectady, Boston and Baltimore.

• 1947-1948: CBS and ABC begin television operations.

1947

• Opening of Congress televised.• Medical operation televised by NBC and watched by

several hundred doctors and nurses.

1947

• Sports becomes a television mainstay.• The World Series on NBC.

http://www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/5110009AA6729_005.do

1947

• Sports becomes a television mainstay. • Zoomar lens introduced for CBS telecast of the

Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.

http://books.google.com/books?id=kiQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=zoomar+1947&source=bl&ots=8szmvxupYk&sig=TR75yiv_smY65IHEb-Mrx2GSB0k&hl=en&ei=Q12zTJf9CYSBlAftlsGxCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CC8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false

1947• Sports becomes a television mainstay. • Zoomar lens introduced for CBS telecast of the Brooklyn

Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.• Wrestling personalities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFksSkMllT8

1947• Sports becomes a television mainstay. • Zoomar lens introduced for CBS telecast of the Brooklyn

Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.• Wrestling personalities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmb9Mr3CYGI

1947• Sports becomes a television mainstay. • Zoomar lens introduced for CBS telecast of the Brooklyn

Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.• Wrestling personalities.• Roller Derby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCExtdqhuFQ

1947

• Children’s Television begins with Howdy Doody from New York …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ-IPXpvRaU

1947

• Children’s Television begins with Howdy Doody from New York …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_8x4w4o7YI

1947

• Children’s Television begins with “Howdy Doody” from New York, and “Kukla, Fran and Ollie” from Chicago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYik7iwbYqs

1947

• NBC and CBS gain sponsors for evening news broadcasts.

John Cameron Swayze - NBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_duF46SmTs

1948

• NBC and CBS gain sponsors for evening news broadcasts.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4068469n

Douglas Edwards - CBS

Television Pioneers: Edward R. Murrow

• 1908: Born April 25.• 1935: Joins CBS as Director of Talks.• 1937: Becomes CBS’s Director of European Operations.• 1940: “This is London.” Helps create “London After Dark.”• 1945: Buchenwald.• 1951: Launches “See It Now.”• 1953: Premieres “Person to Person.”

Television Pioneers: Edward R. Murrow