introducing electronic, radio transmitted television
Changing US Demographics
people moved away into suburbs
away from downtown theaters
families became more selective about entertainment
initially they listened to radio
National Television Standards Committee
electronics firms, including RCA
formulated interoperable standard for television
analog TV standard
1941
525-lines
60 Hz (field per second)
30 frames per second (later 29.97 for color)
interlaced
Color Format War
CBS system, 1951
RCA system, 1953
CBS was not compatible with black and white TV, but RCA color was
NTSC adopted RCA color, 1954
first national color broadcast was 1955 Tournament of Roses Parade
Ultra High Frequency
FCC chose intermixture of VHF and UHF
VHF
Channels 2–13
higher power (wattage)
greater geographic reach
most network stations were on VHF band
UHF
Channels 14–69
less power
require less channel separation
stations would often be less-watched independent or
educational
FCC did not mandate TVs to receive both VHF and UHF until 1960
UHF stations did not thrive like VHF stations
Popularity of Television
Sales of TV would be strong throughout the 1950s
less than 10% of American households did not have TV in 1950
about 90% of American households had TV in 1960
New dominant visual medium
by 1954 there were 32 million
1960 90% of homes had TV
TV would radically alter many media industries
movies
newspapers
magazines
radio
Live vs. Recorded Programming
television is the only medium that could broadcast live pictures
instantly over great distance
networks preferred live television
kept stations dependent on networks for content
kept movie studios out of television
recording technology did not exist
videotape would not be invented until 1958 (Ampex)
kinescopes were of low fidelity, inferior to live television
Live Anthology Dramas
U.S. Steel Hour (1945–1953)
Kraft Television Theater (1947–1958)
Playhouse 90 (1956–1960)
acting style
Gilbert Seldes: “The style of acting in television is
determined by the conditions of reception. There is no place
for florid gesture, the overprojection of emotion, the
exaggeration of voice or grimace or movement, inside the
average American living room” (1950)
Marty
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
Directed by Delbert Mann
Goodyear Television Playhouse
aired on NBC May 24, 1953
Hollywood and TV
movie studios were kept out of television by radio networks
movies thought TV was a threat to attendance
smaller movie studios sold movies to television
Disneyland (1954) on ABC
Disney was a minor studio
ABC was third to CBS and NBC
other major studios followed suit
20th Century-Fox Hour (1955)
MGM Parade (1955)
major movie studio revenues came from television by the end of
the 1950s
Cable TV
CATV: Community Antenna Television
distant signal importation
1940s
help sell television sets in localities with rough terrain