History of Television
From Grolier Encyclopedia
Article by Mitchell Stephens
Few inventions have had as much effect on contemporary American society as television. Before 1947
the number of U.S. homes with television sets could be measured in the thousands. By the late 1990s,
98 percent of U.S. homes had at least one television set, and those sets were on for an average of more
than seven hours a day. The typical American spends (depending on the survey and the time of year)
from two-and-a-half to almost five hours a day watching television. It is significant not only that this
time is being spent with television but that it is not being spent engaging in other activities, such as
reading or going out or socializing.
EXPERIMENTS
Electronic television was first successfully demonstrated in San Francisco on Sept. 7, 1927. The system
was designed by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a 21-year-old inventor who had lived in a house without
electricity until he was 14. While still in high school, Farnsworth had begun to conceive of a system that
could capture moving images in a form that could be coded onto radio waves and then transformed
back into a picture on a screen. Boris Rosing in Russia had conducted some crude experiments in
transmitting images 16 years before Farnsworth's first success. Also, a mechanical television system,
which scanned images using a rotating disk with holes arranged in a spiral pattern, had been
demonstrated by John Logie Baird in England and Charles Francis Jenkins in the United States earlier in
the 1920s. However, Farnsworth's invention, which scanned images with a beam of electrons, is the
direct ancestor of modern television. The first image he transmitted on it was a simple line. Soon he
aimed his primitive camera at a dollar sign because an investor had asked, "When are we going to see
some dollars in this thing, Farnsworth?"
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
RCA, the company that dominated the radio business in the United States with its two NBC networks,
invested $50 million in the development of electronic television. To direct the effort, the company's
president, David Sarnoff, hired the Russian-born scientist Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, who had
participated in Rosing's experiments. In 1939, RCA televised the opening of the New York World's Fair,
including a speech by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was the first president to appear on
television. Later that year RCA paid for a license to use Farnsworth's television patents. RCA began
selling television sets with 5 by 12 in (12.7 by 25.4 cm) picture tubes. The company also began
broadcasting regular programs, including scenes captured by a mobile unit and, on May 17, 1939, the
first televised baseball gameÑbetween Princeton and Columbia universities. By 1941 the Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS), RCA's main competition in radio, was broadcasting two 15-minute newscasts
a day to a tiny audience on its New York television station.
Early television was quite primitive. All the action at that first televised baseball game had to be
captured by a single camera, and the limitations of early cameras forced actors in dramas to work under
impossibly hot lights, wearing black lipstick and green makeup (the cameras had trouble with the color
white). The early newscasts on CBS were "chalk talks," with a newsman moving a pointer across a map
of Europe, then consumed by war. The poor quality of the picture made it difficult to make out the
newsman, let alone the map. World War II slowed the development of television, as companies like RCA
turned their attention to military production. Television's progress was further slowed by a struggle over
wavelength allocations with the new FM radio and a battle over government regulation. The Federal
Communications Commission's (FCC) 1941 ruling that the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) had to
sell one of its two radio networks was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1943. The second network
became the new American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which would enter television early in the next
decade. Six experimental television stations remained on the air during the warÑone each in Chicago,
Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Schenectady, N.Y., and two in New York City. But full-scale commercial
television broadcasting did not begin in the United States until 1947.
McCARTHYISM
In 1947 the House Committee on Un-American Activities began an investigation of the film industry, and
Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy soon began to inveigh against what he claimed was Communist infiltration of
the government. Broadcasting, too, felt the impact of this growing national witch-hunt. Three former
members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published "Counterattack: The Newsletter of Facts
on Communism," and in 1950 a pamphlet, "Red Channels," listed the supposedly Communist
associations of 151 performing artists. Anti-Communist vigilantes applied pressure to advertisersÑthe
source of network profits. Political beliefs suddenly became grounds for getting fired. Most of the
producers, writers, and actors who were accused of having had left-wing leanings found themselves
blacklisted, unable to get work. CBS even instituted a loyalty oath for its employees. Among the few
individuals in television well positioned enough and brave enough to take a stand against McCarthyism
was the distinguished former radio reporter Edward R. Murrow. In partnership with the news producer
Fred Friendly, Murrow began See It Now, a television documentary series, in 1950. On Mar. 9, 1954,
Murrow narrated a report on McCarthy, exposing the senator's shoddy tactics. Of McCarthy, Murrow
observed, "His mistake has been to confuse dissent with disloyalty." A nervous CBS refused to promote
Murrow and Friendly's program. Offered free time by CBS, McCarthy replied on April 6, calling Murrow
"the leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares
to expose Communist traitors." In this TV appearance, McCarthy proved to be his own worst enemy, and
it became apparent that Murrow had helped to break McCarthy's reign of fear. In 1954 the U.S. Senate
censured McCarthy, and CBS's "security" office was closed down.
THE GOLDEN AGE
Between 1953 and 1955, television programming began to take some steps away from radio formats.
NBC television president Sylvester Weaver devised the "spectacular," a notable example of which was
Peter Pan (1955), starring Mary Martin, which attracted 60 million viewers. Weaver also developed the
magazine-format programs Today, which made its debut in 1952 with Dave Garroway as host (until
1961), and The Tonight Show, which began in 1953 hosted by Steve Allen (until 1957). The third
network, ABC, turned its first profit with youth-oriented shows such as Disneyland, which debuted in
1954 (and has since been broadcast under different names), and The Mickey Mouse Club (1955Ð59; see
Disney, Walt).
The programming that dominated the two major networks in the mid-1950s borrowed heavily from
another medium: theater. NBC and CBS presented such noteworthy, and critically acclaimed, dramatic
anthologies as Kraft Television Theater (1947), Studio One (1948), Playhouse 90 (1956), and The U.S.
Steel Hour (1953). Memorable television dramas of the eraÑmost of them broadcast liveÑincluded
Paddy Chayefsky's Marty (1955), starring Rod Steiger (Ernest Borgnine starred in the film), and Reginald
Rose's Twelve Angry Men (1954). By the 1955Ð56 television season, 14 of these live-drama anthology
series were being broadcast. This is often looked back on as the "Golden Age" of television. However, by
1960 only one of these series was still on the air. Viewers apparently preferred dramas or comedies
that, while perhaps less literary, at least had the virtue of sustaining a familiar set of characters week
after week. I Love Lucy, the hugely successful situation comedy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had
been recorded on film since it debuted in 1951 (lasting until 1957). It had many imitators. The
Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason, was first broadcast, also via film, in 1955 (lasting until 1956 with
the original cast). The first videotape recorder was invented by Ampex in 1956 (see video; video
recording; video technology). Another format introduced in the mid-1950s was the big-money quiz
show. The $64,000 Question (1955Ð58) and Twenty-One (1956Ð58) quickly shot to the top of the
ratings. In 1959, however, the creator of The $64,000 Question, Louis C. Cowan, by that time president
of CBS television, was forced to resign from the network amid revelations of widespread fixing of game
shows (see Van Doren, Charles).
TELEVISION AND POLITICS
Television news first covered the presidential nominating conventions of the two major parties, events
then still at the heart of America politics, in 1952. The term "anchorman" was used, probably for the first
time, to describe Walter Cronkite's central role in CBS's convention coverage that year. In succeeding
decades these conventions would become so concerned with looking good on television that they would
lose their spontaneity and eventually their news value. The power of television news increased with the
arrival of the popular newscast, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, on NBC in 1956 (see Huntley, Chet, and
Brinkley, David). The networks had begun producing their own news film. Increasingly, they began to
compete with newspapers as the country's primary source of news (see journalism).
The election of a young and vital president in 1960, John F. Kennedy, seemed to provide evidence of
how profoundly television would change politics. Commentators pointed to the first televised debate
that fall between Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for president, and Vice-President Richard M.
Nixon, the Republican's nominee. A survey of those who listened to the debate on radio indicated that
Nixon had won; however, those who watched on television, and were able to contrast Nixon's poor
posture and poorly shaven face with Kennedy's poise and grace, were more likely to think Kennedy had
won the debate. Television's coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, and
of the events that followed, provided further evidence of the medium's power. Most Americans joined
in watching coverage of the shocking and tragic events, not as crowds in the streets, but from their own
living rooms. A newscast that would soon surpass the popularity of Huntley-Brinkley, The CBS Evening
News with Walter Cronkite, debuted in 1962 (and was broadcast until 1981). By the end of the decade
Cronkite had become not just a highly respected journalist but, according to public opinion surveys, "the
most trusted man in America." His role in coverage of the Vietnam War would be important. While the
overwhelming majority of television news reports on the Vietnam War were supportive of U.S. policy,
television news film of the fighting sometimes gave Americans back home an unfamiliar, harsh, and
unromantic view of combat. Many believed it contributed to growing public dissatisfaction with the war.
And some of the anger of those defending U.S. policy in Vietnam was leveled against television news. In
1965, CBS reporter Morley Safer accompanied a group of U.S. Marines on a "search and destroy"
mission to a complex of hamlets called Cam Ne. The Marines faced no enemy resistance, yet they held
cigarette lighters to the thatched roofs and proceeded to "waste" Cam Ne. After much debate, Safer's
filmed report on the incident was shown on CBS. Early the next morning the president of CBS received
an angry phone call from the president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, accusing the network of
a lack of patriotism. During the Tet offensive in 1968, Cronkite went to Vietnam to report a documentary
on the state of the war. That documentary, broadcast on Feb. 28, 1968, concluded with what Cronkite
has described as "a clearly labeled editorial": "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only
rational way out will be to negotiate," he said. President Johnson was watching Cronkite's report.
According to Bill Moyers, one of his press aides at the time: "The president flipped off the set and said,
`If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America.'"
THE THREE NETWORKS AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POWER
In 1964 color broadcasting began on prime-time television. The FCC initially approved a CBS color
system, then swung in RCA's favor after Sarnoff swamped the marketplace with black-and-white sets
compatible with RCA color (the CBS color system was not compatible with black-and-white sets and
would have required the purchase of new sets). During the 1960s and 1970s a country increasingly
fascinated with television was limited to watching almost exclusively what appeared on the three major
networks: CBS, NBC, and ABC. These networks purchased time to broadcast their programs from about
200 affiliates eachÑstations in each of the major cities or metropolitan areas of the United States. In the
larger cities, there might also be a few independent stations (mostly playing reruns of old network
shows) and perhaps a fledgling public broadcasting channel. Programming on each of the three
networks was designed to grab a mass audience. Network shows therefore catered, as critics put it, to
the lowest common denominator. James Aubrey, president of CBS television, doubled the network's
profits between 1960 and 1966 by broadcasting simple comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies (1962Ð71).
In 1961, Newton Minow, then chairman of the FCC, called television a "vast wasteland." Programming
became a little more adventurous with the arrival of more realistic situation comedies, beginning with
CBS's All in the Family in 1971 (broadcast until 1979). Along with situation comediesÑusually a half-hour
focused on either a family and their neighbors or a group of co-workersÑthe other main staple of
network prime-time programming has been the one-hour drama, featuring the adventures of police,
detectives, doctors, lawyers, or, in the early decades of television, cowboys. Daytime television
programming consisted primarily of soap operas and quiz shows until the 1980s, when talk shows
discussing subjects that were formerly taboo, such as sexuality, became popular.
The three major networks have always been in a continual race for ratings and advertising dollars. CBS
and NBC dominated through the mid-1970s, when ABC, traditionally regarded as a poor third, rose to
the top of the ratings, largely because of shrewd scheduling.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
In the 1980s, home videocassette recorders became widely available. Viewers gained the ability to
record and replay programs and, more significantly, to rent and watch movies at times of their own
choosing in their own homes. Video games also became popular during this decade, particularly with the
young, and the television, formally just the site of passive entertainment, became an intricate, moving,
computerized game board. The number of cable networks grew throughout the 1980s and then
exploded in the 1990s as improved cable technology and direct-broadcast satellite television multiplied
the channels available to viewers. The number of broadcast networks increased also, with the success of
the Fox network and then the arrival of the UPN and WB networks. The share the broadcast networks
attracted continued to erode, from well over 90 percent in the early 1980s to under 50 percent by 1997.
Although the population of the United States has continued to grow, the Nielson Media Research
company estimated that fewer people watched the highly publicized final episode of Seinfeld in 1998
(first aired in 1990; see Seinfeld, Jerry) than watched the final episode of MASH in 1983 (first aired in
1972). The trial of former football star O. J. Simpson in 1994 for the murder of his wife (he was
acquitted) further demonstrated the hold that cable networks had on American audiences. Some
stations carried almost every minute of the lengthy trial live and then filled the evening with talk shows
dissecting that day's developments. The effects of television on children, particularly through its
emphasis on violence and sex, has long been an issue for social scientists, parents, and politicians (see
children's television). In the late 1980s and 1990s, with increased competition brought on by the
proliferation of cable networks, talk shows and "tabloid" news shows seemed to broaden further frank
or sensational on-air discussion of sex In response to government pressure, the television industry
decided to display ratings of its programs in 1996. The ratings were designed to indicate the age groups
for which the programs might be suitable: TV-G (for general audiences), TV-PG (parental guidance
suggested), TV-14 (unsuitable for children under 14), and TV-MA (for mature audiences only). In
response to additional complaints, all the networks except NBC agreed the next year to add V (for
violence), S (for sex), L (for course language) and D (for suggestive dialogue) to those ratings. Also, the
"V-chip" imbedded in new television sets, in accordance with a provision of a telecommunications bill
passed in 1996, gave parents the power to automatically prevent their children from watching television
programs with inappropriate ratings. Critics of the ratings saw them as a step toward censorship and
questioned whether a TV-14 rating would make a program seem more, not less, attractive to an
inquisitive child. In 1997 the federal government gave each U.S. television broadcaster an additional
channel on which to introduce high definition television, or HDTV. Initial transmissions of this high-
resolution form of television, in which images appear much sharper and clearer, began in 1998.
Standard television sets cannot pick up HDTV and will presumably have to be replaced or modified by
2006, when traditional, low-definition television broadcasts are scheduled to end and broadcasters are
scheduled to return their original, non-HDTV channel to the government. The HDTV format approved in
the United States calls for television signals to be transmitted digitally. This will allow for further
convergence between computers, the Internet, and television.
In 1998 it was already possible to view video on the World Wide Web and to see and search television
broadcasts on a computer. As computers become more powerful, they should be able to handle video
as easily as they now handle text. The television schedule may eventually be replaced by a system in
which viewers are able to watch digitally stored and distributed programs or segments of programs
whenever they want. Such technological changes, including the spread of new cable networks, have
been arriving slower in most other countries than in the United States. Indeed, according to one survey,
it was only in the 1990s that the spread of television transmitters, television sets, and electricity made it
possible for half of the individuals in the world to watch television. However, television's attraction
globally is strong. Those human beings who have a television set watch it, by one estimate, for an
average of two-and-a-half hours a day.
Mitchell Stephens
Bibliography: Barnouw, Erik, Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television, 2d ed. (1990); Fisher,
David E. and Marshall J., Tube: The Invention of Television (1997); Stephens, Mitchell, Broadcast News,
3d ed. (1993), A History of News (1996) and The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word (1998); Watson,
Mary A., Defining Visions: Television and the American Experience since 1945 (1997).
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