TV History (The Rest)

# 1920's

## 1924–1925

American Charles Jenkins and John Baird from Scotland each demonstrate the mechanical transmissions of images over wire circuits.

John Baird becomes the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a mechanical system based on Nipkow's disk.

Charles Jenkin built his Radiovisor and in 1931 and sold it as a kit for consumers to put together.

Vladimir Zworykin patents a color television system.

## 1926–1930

John Baird operates a television system with 30 lines of resolution system running at five frames per second.

## 1927

Bell Telephone and the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted the first long-distance use of television that took place between Washington, D.C., and New York City on April 7. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover commented, “Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world’s history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in (this) new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown.”

Philo Farnsworth files for a patent on the first completely electronic television system, which he called the Image Dissector.

## 1928

The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television station license (W3XK) to Charles Jenkins.

## 1929

Vladimir Zworykin demonstrates the first practical electronic system for both the transmission and reception of images using his new kinescope tube.

John Baird opens the first TV studio; however, the image quality is poor.

# 1930's

## 1930

Charles Jenkins broadcasts the first TV commercial.

The BBC begins regular TV transmissions.

## 1933

Iowa State University (W9XK) starts broadcasting twice-weekly television programs in cooperation with radio station WSUI.

## 1936

About 200 television sets are in use worldwide.

Coaxial cable—a pure copper or copper-coated wire surrounded by insulation and aluminum covering—is introduced. These cables were and are used to transmit television, telephone, and data signals.

The first experimental coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first regular installation connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in 1941.

The original L1 coaxial cable system could carry 480 telephone conversations or one television program. By the 1970s, L5 systems could carry 132,000 calls or more than 200 television programs.

## 1937

CBS begins its TV development.

The BBC begins high-definition broadcasts in London.

Brothers and Stanford researchers Russell and Sigurd Varian introduce the Klystron. A Klystron is a high-frequency amplifier for generating microwaves. It is considered the technology that makes UHF-TV possible because it gives the ability to generate the high power required in this spectrum.

## 1939

Vladimir Zworykin and RCA conduct experimental broadcasts from the Empire State Building.

Television was demonstrated at the New York World's Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition.

RCA's David Sarnoff used his company's exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair as a showcase for the first presidential speech (by Franklin D. Roosevelt) on television and to introduce RCA's new line of television receivers, some of which had to be coupled with a radio if you wanted to hear the sound.

The Dumont company starts making TV sets.

# 1940's

## 1940

Peter Goldmark invents 343 lines of the resolution color television system.

## 1941

The FCC releases the NTSC standard for black and white TV.

## 1943

Vladimir Zworykin develops a better camera tube called the Orthicon. The Orthicon has enough light sensitivity to record outdoor events at night.

## 1946

Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated his color television system to the FCC. His system produced color pictures by having a red-blue-green wheel spin in front of a cathode ray tube.

This mechanical means of producing a color picture was used in 1949 to broadcast medical procedures from Pennsylvania and Atlantic City hospitals. In Atlantic City, viewers could come to the convention center to see broadcasts of operations. Reports from the time noted that the realism of seeing surgery in color caused more than a few viewers to faint.

Although Goldmark's mechanical system was eventually replaced by an electronic system, he is recognized as the first to introduce a broadcasting color television system.

## 1948

Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania as a means of bringing television to rural areas.

A patent was granted to Louis W. Parker for a low-cost television receiver.

One million homes in the United States have television sets.

# 1950's

## 1950

The FCC approves the first color television standard, which is replaced by a second in 1953.

Vladimir Zworykin developed a better camera tube called the Vidicon.

## 1956

Ampex introduces the first practical videotape system of broadcast quality.

## 1956

Robert Adler invents the first practical remote control called the Zenith Space Commander. It was preceded by wired remotes and units that failed in sunlight.

# 1960's

## 1960

The first split-screen broadcast occurs during the debates between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

## 1962

The All-Channel Receiver Act requires that UHF tuners (channels 14 to 83) be included in all sets.

## 1962

A joint international collaboration between AT&T, Bell Labs, NASA, British General Post Office, the French National Post, Telegraph, and Telecom Office results in the development and launch of Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts. Broadcasts are now internationally relayed.

## 1969

On July 20, 600 million people watch the first TV transmission made from the moon.

# 1970's

## 1973

Giant screen projection TV is first marketed.

## 1976

Sony introduces Betamax, the first home video cassette recorder.

## 1978

PBS becomes the first station to switch to an all-satellite delivery of programs.

# 1980's

## 1981

NHK demonstrates HDTV with 1,125 lines of resolution.

## 1982

Dolby Surround Sound for home sets is introduced.

## 1983

Direct Broadcast Satellite begins service in Indianapolis, Indiana.

# 1990's

## 1993

Closed captioning is required on all sets.

## 1996

The FCC approves ATSC's HDTV standard.

TV sets are in excess of 1 billion homes across the world.