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CBS and New York’s Grand Central Terminal
When I was in elementary school I occasionally suffered from childhood ailments that kept me home from school. If I felt well enough to come downstairs I would take my usual position on the sofa so I...
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Television’s On Screen Graphics
There is very little we do with a television today that does not require some amount of reading from the screen. We take for granted being able to easily read material as it pops up as a show’s title...
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WDTV, DuMont Network and The 1948 FCC “Freeze”
Television has been with us since July 1, 1941. That is the day commercial television began with the American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approving the first stations permitted to sell...
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A (Short) Broadcast History of the Tournament of Roses Parade
January 1, 2019, marks the 130th Tournament of Roses Parade in the California city of Pasadena. Meanwhile, the Eastern and Midwest portions of North America shiver from cold and snow. Over the years a...
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Television Firsts Surround the Crowning of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June of 1953 was a flawless production. Rehearsed, reverent, professional, everyone agreeing to what had to be done to make it the classic ceremony that had...
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When Hollywood declared war on Television
By the end of World War II, motion pictures were coming to the end of their Golden Age. In three different surveys, 1956 movie attendance was down almost 50 percent from its peak in 1946. Television...
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Television Arrives in Germany
It is widely accepted that RCA was the preeminent broadcast supplier in the early days of television. The RCA public relations machine would have everyone believe they were the only supplier. In fact,...
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Drive-in Movies
When was the last time you went to a drive in movie? Admittedly, the pickings are pretty scarce these days. At last count there were only 559 drive-in screens at 317 locations remaining in the United...
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First Steps On the Moon
In July of 2019 it will be fifty years since man first set foot on the earth’s only natural satellite. On July 20th it would also be the most viewed event in television’s brief history as Neil...
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The US Army’s Syndicated Television Program “The Big Picture”
In 1951, the U.S. Army produced and made available a thirty-minute television show to all television stations in the U.S. and its possessions. In some markets it had institutional sponsorship by a...
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Invention of Sound for Movies
Having seen “Making Waves,” I am thrilled to see the attention being paid to film sound. Certainly sound effects, music and even the human voice have never played so large a role as they do in today’s...
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