The History of Radio and Television (Part 2)

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

The History of Television

• Efforts to reproduce images from life began with motion pictures long before television. Daguerre’s daguerrotype photograph was put to motion by a range of early cinematic luminaries ranging from Edison to the Lumiere brothers.

The History of Television

• As opposed to film, with it’s mechanical progression of images, television produced motion pictures through a Cathode Ray: a focused beam of energy from the electrode inside a vacuum tube that projects images on the tube.

The History of Television

• As opposed to film, television does not provide a holistic image to the viewer. Instead, the televised image is scanned. Scanning breaks down an image into lines of pixels that can be transferred into energy and transmitted across distances. Decomposing an image into its basic parts allows it to be transmitted.

The History of Television

• Lee De Forest: American inventor who pursued research on the vacuum tube – crucial to television – by adding a third element to a glass tube, creating a “triode” which amplified and controlled electromagnetic signals. He called this device an “audion.”

The History of Television

• As opposed to the Nipkow disc, which was a mechanical means of transmitting television, Vladimir Zworykin developed the “iconoscope” which could scan pictures and break them into electronic signals. Under the employment of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, he conceived and created the first practical television set.

The History of Television

• Philo Farnsworth: Young American inventor who developed the image dissector tube which brought high resolution to television pictures.

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.

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.

The History of Television

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

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.

The History of Television

• Popular programs of television’s golden age included:– Milton Berle– Howdy Doody– Leave it to Beaver– Father Knows Best– I Love Lucy

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.

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.

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.

• Murrow’s crusade against Senator Joe McCarthy is dramatized in the recent film Good Night and Good Luck.

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.

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.

The History of Television

• The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 was a demonstration of television’s 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.”

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).

The History of Television

• In the 1970’s, 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.

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).

The History of Television

• 24 hour cable news channels– The pioneer cable news channel was CNN

(Cable News Network) introduced in 1980.

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

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

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

Terms

• Vacuum Tube: Electron tube used to amplify signals.

• Cathode Ray: Focused beam of energy from the electrode inside a vacuum tube the projects images on the tube.

Terms

• Scanning: Left to right motion of an electron beam across the face of the cathode ray tube; modulating the color and intensity of the bean produces TV images.

Terms

• Electrode: Conductor through which an electrical current enters or leaves a medium, such as a vacuum tube.

• Audion: Innovation by Lee De Forest using three conducting elements in a bulb to amplify and oscillate radio waves.

Terms

• Telecommunications Act of 1996: First major piece of electronic media legislation passed since 1934; deregulated many ownership restrictions and relaxed licensing requirements. Lead to a drastic trend consolidation of media ownership.

Terms

• The Fairness Doctrine: FCC policy that held broadcasters responsible for covering divergent opinions of controversial issues of public importance; rescinded by FCC in 1987. The spirit of the fairness doctrine is currently part of the “Media Ownership Reform Act” proposed by NY representative Maurice Hinchey (D).