Television History

MIT 2000

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TV as “Problem Child” of Communication

1. Unidirectional2. Aesthetics3. Mass Audience

1. “Lowest Common Denominator”

4. Cognitive Impairment1. Postman –”Amusing

Ourselves to Death”

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Television

1. Leisure; Family Interaction2. Advertising/Consumerism3. Politics/Government4. Effect on Existing Media

1. Print2. Radio

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Still Image Transmission

1. Photofax Transmission (1880s-1900s)

1. Wire news photos, 1920s2. Radio Transmission of Photos

(1920s) 3. Facsimile machine (1930s)

1. “broadcast newspapers”2. Telefon Hirmondo

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Moving Image Transmission

1. John Baird (1926)1. spinning disk as

electrical information 2. first demonstration of

television3. BBC 1929-1935 early

experiments

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Patent Fight/TV Sets

1. Vladimir Zworykin (1932)1. Cathode rays/images on

fluorescent screen2. experimental

broadcasts3. RCA

2. Philo T. Farnsworth1. “boy genius”2. earlier patents

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Early Television

1. BBC: 1936-392. RCA at 1939 NY

World’s Fair3. NBC broadcasts in New

York, 1939-4. Slow Growth/Limited

Use (1930s-40s)

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Why Delayed Development?

1. Patent/legal fights2. Depression3. World War II4. Line-of-Sight

Transmission1. Stratovision2. 300-mile

Transmitter

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Rapid Growth, 1948-1959

TV Sets• 1940: 3,000 (NYC)• 1949: 1million • 1951: 10 mil.• 1959: 50 mil.

TV Stations• 1941: 23 (experimental/

limited range)• 1948: 52 (freeze by

FCC)• 1952: 108

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Post-1948 Growth Factors (US)

1. End of WWII Rationing

2. Pent up Advertising Demand

3. Prior Model of Commercial Radio

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Post-1948 TV (US)

1. Limited State Role1. Assign/license frequencies 2. “Limited Spectrum” Doctrine

2. Economic Concentration/Duopoly1. VHF scarcity2. High Profits of Networks3. NBC, CBS, (ABC)

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Growing Popularity, 1948-

1. Suburbanization2. Baby Boom3. More Leisure Time4. Rising Disposable Incomes5. From Upper to Middle to

Lower classes1. 60% TVs sold (1950) on

credit2. “poor man’s theatre”

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TV: Utopian Promise1. Unify and Separate:

1. New suburban family unit1. private social relations2. nuclear family3. Postwar ‘family

values’

2. Separate gender roles/social functions1. Day parts/schedules2. Market segmentation

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TV and 1950s Family Life

1. TV as 'new family hearth' 1. replace fireplace2. (Xmas Eve logs)

2. Displace piano 3. “Cultural symbol par

excellence of family life”

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TV & “Family Room”

1. Term first used in 19462. Organize household

space 1. ideal of family

togetherness3. “Family-Television Room”

1. semi-circle family/TV

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TV and Childrearing (1950s)

• Remedy for “problem children”– juvenile delinquency

moral panic– keeping kids at home

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TV: Dystopian Outcome?

• Demands Total attention (unlike radio)– not backdrop to bridge,

conversation, etc.• Disrupt family/home

– less time for housework– kids avoid outdoor play – complex adjustments to

domestic life– viewing choice conflict

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“The Honeymooners”

• Episode: “TV or Not TV” (1955)– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

EMgIH9t62OI– domestic isolation/social

integration– spatial confinement– productive work and leisure (TV

viewing) – gender conflicts– assigned domestic roles– passive viewing/ TV “addiction”

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