Hungry Horse news., 1953-01-02
Advent of TV

A hop skip and jump from here finds televis
ion going into many homes as Spokanes new TN
stations go the air.
The Flathead may be last frontier for reg
ular TV reception, but certainly we should think
in terms of its eventually coming here.
We were interested to note the reaction of the
well edited weekly newspaper at Ritzville, Wash.
the Journal-Times, to the coming of TV. Ritzville
is well within the range of Spokane
The Ritzvle editor contacted the weekly news
paper at Lees Summit, Mo-, town Is miles south
east of Kansas City, Mo- that has had elevision for
two years.
The Missouri editor Paul M. Gould wrote the
following piece. eff you think the advent of tele-
vision to your community is going to cause i'm
mediate upheava in the ordinary routine of every
day living, then you overrating what is at pres
ent new and exciting form of entertainment, but
nevertheless, which has its limitations.
''Think of television an improved form of
radio and you get an idea of what to expect when
televison is introduced into your area.
"Think of television first as a form of enter
tainment, rather than revolutionary news media.
Think of televsion progression from the silent
to the talking movies, rather than as whole new
field of endeavor.
''When televiSion comes to area, rarely
are there more than a small percentage of the peo
pie ready with receiving SETS Households with sets
discover lots of friends and neghbors will drop in
for visit and to watch TV.
Gradually the number falls off and after a.
while only outstanding special events will draw
visitors.
meanwhile, about the time the newness has
worn off in one household, another set is installed
nearby, and the new set owner goes through the
same experience
members of the household watch every poss-
ible broadcast; meals eaten in the living room
off of card tables all other activities take back
seat.
Then all at once people begin to be little
harder to please They use more selectivty in their
viewing; and households return to much the same
routine as pre-TV.
"Television does not come to an entire COM
munlty the day the broadcasts are begun Nor does
Just everyone have televison, even after several
years. 1t is usually slow process which softens
any impact the media may bring.
How does it affect community life in general? |
Only in few fields the advent of television |
be felt Probably the first commercial field to be /
affected is the neighborhood movie house. People
with televison sets do not attend the movies with
their accustomed regularity.
sale OF radio sets is undoubtedly affected but
since the same agencies that sell radios usually
handle televsion sets, there is increase rather
than loss of bushes. Households with television
sets do not throw away their radios but televew-
ng is definitely substituted for radio listening.
probably the best TV fans the children.
They are fascinated by any kind of a program and
will sit for hours watching just any thing.
"Teenagers little more selective and rar-
y Will they miss party, school activity, football
'ame or any of the regular youth events, Just to
tay home and witness TV. 6
Perhaps the greatest impact of televison lies
the future Despite the fact that broadcasts have
een going on in some parts of the country for
raj years. the medium is still in its infancy. l.
"It is possible that with the development of r
eW techniques and new equipment television may 2
evolutionize our way of living, but at the present
tage, that is not the case"
Lowell Shirts at Martin City's Glacier Radio :
hop has a TV set. When atmospheric conditions are
ght, he picks up TV stations The broadcasts that r
sually follow line of sight pattern do bit of
tmospheric bouncing to reach northwestern Mon t.
ana. n
Shirts believes that the Spokane TV stations
re apt to be heard in open parts of the Flathead
alley with possible regularity, and that the beams "
ill arrive here in a or less conventional line
sight way.
However at this time, there is nothing to indi- q
lte that having TV set here would bring salts
ctory reception. MR. te