1. Television History
MIT 2000
15/06/2018
MIT2000

2. TV as “Problem Child” of Communication
Unidirectional
Aesthetics
Mass Audience
“Lowest Common Denominator”
Cognitive Impairment
Postman –”Amusing Ourselves to Death”
15/06/2018
MIT2000

3. Television Leisure; Family Interaction Advertising/Consumerism
Politics/Government
Effect on Existing Media
Print
Radio
15/06/2018
MIT2000

4. Still Image Transmission
Photofax Transmission (1880s-1900s)
Wire news photos, 1920s
Radio Transmission of Photos (1920s)
Facsimile machine (1930s)
“broadcast newspapers”
15/06/2018
MIT2000

5. Moving Image Transmission
John Baird (1926)
spinning disk as electrical information
first demonstration of television
BBC early experiments
15/06/2018
MIT2000

6. Patent Fight Vladimir Zworykin (1932) experimental broadcasts
RCA/David Sarnoff
Philo T. Farnsworth
earlier patents
15/06/2018
MIT2000

7. Early Television BBC: 1936-39 RCA at 1939 NY World’s Fair
NBC broadcasts in New York, 1939-
Slow Growth/Limited Use (1930s-40s)
15/06/2018
MIT2000

8. Why Delayed Development?
Patent/legal fights
Depression
World War II
Line-of-Sight Transmission
Stratovision
300-mile Transmitter
15/06/2018
MIT2000

9. Rapid Growth, 1948-1959 TV sets TV Stations 1940: 3,000 (NYC)
1949: 1million
1951: 10 mil.
1959: 50 mil.
TV Stations
1941: 23 (experimental/limited range)
(freeze by FCC)
1952: 108
15/06/2018
MIT2000

10. Post-1948 Growth Factors (US)
End of Rationing
Manufacturers & Advertising
Prior Model of Commercial Radio
15/06/2018
MIT2000

11. Post-1948 TV (US) Limited State Role Economic Concentration/Duopoly
Assign/license frequencies
“Limited Spectrum” Doctrine
Economic Concentration/Duopoly
VHF scarcity
High Profits of Networks
NBC, CBS, (ABC)
15/06/2018
MIT2000

12. Growing Popularity, 1948- Suburbanization Baby Boom More Leisure Time
Rising Disposable Incomes
From Upper to Middle to Lower classes
60% TVs sold (1950) on credit
“poor man’s theatre”
15/06/2018
MIT2000

13. TV: Utopian Promise Unify and Separate:
New suburban family unit
private social relations
nuclear family
Postwar ‘family values’
Separate gender roles/social functions
Day parts/schedules
15/06/2018
MIT2000

14. TV and 1950s Family Life TV as 'new family hearth' Displace piano
replace fireplace
(Xmas Eve logs)
Displace piano
“Cultural symbol par excellence of family life”
15/06/2018
MIT2000

15. TV & “Family Room” Term first used in 1946 Organize household space
ideal of family togetherness
“Family-Television Room”
semi-circle family/TV
15/06/2018
MIT2000

16. TV and Childrearing (1950s)
Remedy for “problem children”
juvenile delinquency moral panic
keeping kids at home
15/06/2018
MIT2000

17. TV: Dystopian Outcome? Total attention (unlike radio)
not backdrop to bridge, conversation,
Disrupt family/home
less time for housework
kids avoid outdoor play
complex adjustments to domestic life
viewing choice conflict
15/06/2018
MIT2000

18. “The Honeymooners” Episode: “TV or Not TV” (1955)
domestic isolation/social integration
spatial confinement
productive work and leisure (TV viewing)
gender conflicts
assigned domestic roles
passive viewing/ TV “addiction”
15/06/2018
MIT2000