History of Television

tvHistory's Television History - The First 75 Years
"Once you are inside a major time period, you will find photographs of television sets from around the world, year-by-year links to important facts, magazine covers and advertising. See examples of the world's first television sets, up to and including HDTV models."

Amanda's History of Television

This is the Museum of Broadcast Television and there is a link on the homepage to a VERY extensive encyclopedia of televison.
Museum of Broadcast Communications (now including radio—since this page was made, that site has changed. The older site is saved here, but it's not all working. Sorry!)

And the wikipedia article on the history of television is quite informative as well.
History of Television

From what I can tell from the short time I spent reading (about 1/2 hour) the first broadcast was made in 1936 from New York to London and was just stationary images. Then, "Television broadcasting, tentatively begun prior to the American entry to World War II in 1941, was suspended for the duration of the war, and did not resume until the first wave of station activations in 1946 through 1948. " From what I can tell "Howdy Doody" was the first broadcast televison show (aside from things like political figures, the opening to the 1939 New York State Fair and sports programs) in 1947. "The Ed Sullivan Show" was not far behind in 1948.

Here is a timeline too.

History of Television

History of TV at the Dodd House

Written in response to a letter Joyce Fetteroll received from Croatia telling her she was wrong about TV. (TV and Other Addictions)

Joyce's response contained the line: "I don't, by the way, watch TV any more than I read books. I don't turn the TV on and watch what happens to be on any more than I pick up a random book and read whatever it contains."

When I'm in a waiting room I will pick up a random book and read whatever it contains. I've done that recently at the orthodontist and at an auto repair shop in Oklahoma on the way home from St. Louis. I certainly do NOT do it at my house.

Keith and I were together for eight years or so before Kirby was born. We had a little black and white TV at first which I had brought. He didn't have one. Then we spent $400 on a Sony color portable, probably a 17" or smaller. NICE color. That was our TV until Kirby was six or so and we bought a used one from a guy Keith worked with who was moving out of town. We still have that. We don't have cable; we're downhill from TV transmitters and just use that.

But in those early years of pre-kids and one small TV, Keith and I decided to subscribe to TV Guide and not "channel surf." For one thing, we were missing good stuff, and sometimes one of us (usually Keith) would be looking to see what was on, and get involved in something random. So we donated to the local public television station so we got their monthly schedule, and we subscribed to TV Guide. Sometimes an issue would go by unread. Sometimes one of us would look through, find a few good shows, write them down and tape a note or put a sticky note on the TV. Just because something was noted there didn't mean we'd watch it.

That was for our scheduling convenience, and most of the things we posted were shows like NOVA (science) or National Geographic. Sometimes a new series came on and we'd watch for a while but rarely completed the season unless it was especially good. We had lots of hobbies with nighttime get-togethers. In the days before VCRs, we'd watch movies sometimes.

Kirby came along and we were still more often out of the house than in. Marty came along and it was winter and Keith got me our first VCR. We were able to watch cartoons when we wanted to, and watch our own favorite shows when we wanted to, and life changed.

What some people villify as "TV" is watching shows while they're first broadcast (or "cabled in"), paying special zombified attention to the commercials. Those days have been gone a long, long time for ANYone. Making 1970's arguments against 21st century media is lame. Those who are doing so are not critically analyzing data from the real world, and are just passively storing images created over 20 years ago by a few people whose experience was even then outdated.

Sandra
UnschoolingDiscussion list August 19, 2006

Part of the Museum of Broadcast Communications website.

GONE, except there is a loading screen that demonstrates two realities of early broadcast televisions—"snow" and "roll." For those too young to have seen those, or older folks who missed them, go on and click that link.

2024 Note from Sandra:

The box below is now a list of closed museums, I am sorry to report. Every webpage was gone when I edited this page in August 2024. I will try to replace the links from the internet archive. Though the physical museums are probably all closed and gone, there was a time, in the early 21st century, that there were some museums.

MUSEUMS Early Television Foundation museum near Columbus, Ohio The Museum of Television, Beverly Hills The Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, West Yorkshire New TV exhibit opening July 21, 2006: "A brand new free interactive gallery at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television dedicated to the past, present and future of television. Watch your absolute favourite TV moment from hundreds of programmes in a newly revamped TV Heaven. could not bring a good link; 2024

Television, Video and Unschooling



Connections



Strewing



Parenting Considerations