Television: An American Pastime

Television originally was meant to be a radio with visual projection capabilities. However, TV has changed American culture in many ways. Here are some details about important milestones. Tune in:

• In the late 1800s, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student in Germany, developed the first ever mechanical module of television. He succeeded in sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk. This technology was called the ‘electric telescope’ that had 18 lines of resolution.  
• Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system. From the experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems were created: mechanical television & electronic television. Philo Farnsworth is credited as the inventor of the first electronic television.
• The first television station in America was W3XK. This station was the brainchild of Charles Francis Jenkins, who is also remembered as the father of American television. The station aired its first broadcast on 2nd July, 1928. Yes. 1928.
• WRGB television station in New York is the first American station that has the honor of being a continuously operating station from 1926, when television was invented, until now.
• The first commercially produced television sets were based on the mechanical television system. These sets were made from John Baird’s designs for television. The sets were shown to the public in September of 1928.
• The first American electronic television sets were mass produced in 1938 and were an instant hit. All the early television systems were black and white.
• The first ever remote control for television was invented in 1948. Known as the ‘Tele Zoom’, it cannot be called a remote control in the true sense of the word, as the device could only enlarge the picture on the tube and not change any channels or turn the television set on and off. The Flash-matic from Zenith, produced in 1955, was the first ever real remote control that could do all of the above and was completely wireless.
• ‘The Queen’s Messenger’ is believed to be the first television program in America. It was broadcast by WRGB station in 1928.
• 1st July, 1941 is the day when the first ever commercial broadcast took place in America. All broadcasts prior to this day were regarded as experimental by the FCC, thus making this day very important in American TV history.
• 1941 is also when the first American advertisement was aired. The commercial was for a Bulova Watch and lasted all of 10 seconds. It was aired on the NBC network. 
• The color television war was fought by CBS and RCA. CBS was the first to develop a mechanical color television system, inspired by John Baird’s color TV design. By 1950, the FCC announced the CBS color system as the national standard. RCA sued CBS as their system could not be used with the millions of black and white televisions, most of which were RCA sets, thus creating a potential monopoly. RCA were finally available to the buying public in 1954. Although available, not many people bought color sets as there were not even a handful of color programs being broadcast. Star Trek was one of the first series to use color.
  
  Here's some facts and statistics about TV viewing in America from 1939 until now.