Blog Post #4

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Development of the Television

I want you to think about how many TVs you have in your home. Most of us can't imagine how we would function if we didn't have TV in our lives. TV has become essential to our society, impacting our politics, consumerism, and culture. But how exactly did this machine come to be?

The creation of the first TV can be credited to a combination of contributed ideas. Many engineers and scientists were looking at components to make the television. John Baird gave the world's first demonstration of a mechanical television in 1927. This mechanism scans an object and then generates the image. This was the step in the right direction, and The Baird Televisor is considered the first television sold commercially later in 1929. From the mechanical television came the electronic television set that converted images to electrical waves and transmitted an image. This was created by Philo Farnsworth in 1927. Philo Farnsworth is credited for creating the television since later developments came from his original design.

Russian Scientist Zwarykin demonstrated his all-electronic television in 1929. The RCA (Radio Corporation of America - the biggest communications company at the time) saw this demonstration and invested 50 million dollars into developing electronic television. However, this erupted into a legal battle against Farnsworth. RCA claims Zwarykin's patent for his electronic television had priority over Farnsworth's design. After three years, Farnsworth ultimately won the suit with the help of an old teacher who had kept a picture resembling the design in 1935. 

The development continued, and the American public was introduced to television when NBC broadcasted the 1939 World Fair in New York. This included a speech from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who subsequently became the first president to appear on TV. After this, NBC started regularly broadcasting television, CBS followed, and then ABC. 

Televisions were initially only available to the privileged few since they were so expensive. Also, these TVs were at most 12-inch screens. Development and purchases slowed for a few years as attention was drawn to World War Two. However, by the 1940s to the 1950s, TV had entered the mainstream. By 1955, TV replaced radio as the primary source of home entertainment. Over 5 million sets in US homes, which stated from the History channel article, is "more than half of all American homes owning a TV set". Then, by 1960, when satellite became available, this increased the number to over 40 million TV sets in America. This was a drastic increase in popularity in just a couple of years. For reference this years number is at 123 million TVs in American homes. The graph below shows the upward trajectory of American homes owning a TV set from its creation.

Throughout this time, the RCA and the NTSC (National Television System Committee) worked to develop an all-electronic color system. Before you know it, color TVs became common in the 1970s. In the blink of an eye, flat screens were introduced in the late 1990s, and then smart TVs in the 2010s.

This invention has continually evolved to where we are today, with flat-screen smart TVs, 85 inches and beyond. The first TV was a starting point for the entertainment industry and has skyrocketed since. It has completely changed the way the world gets access to information. TV has become the bond between the world, where we can all come together and watch significant events unfold. Some major events that have been televised are the first televised baseball game, the first televised debate, the JFK assassination, the moon landing, and 9/11. 

The next time you sit down to watch TV, I challenge you to think about what it would've been like watching on one of the first TV sets.