“TREotM”: The Sixties

This is a work in progress Go here to read the previous chaptersThe Sixties were eventfulamp160 For all forms of mediaamp160 At the beginning of the decade there were almost 46million TVHH or 87 penetration with 650k community antenna television subscribers CATV later called cableamp160 At the end of the decade penetration was over 95 with some 585million TVHH and 45million connected to cable systemsAmong the key events of the SixtiesThe American Football League joined the National Football League on Sunday afternoonsIn October of 1960 the first Presidential debate was carried live on radio and televisionamp160 TV viewers were more impressed with John F Kennedyamp160 Radio listeners were more impressed with Richard M Nixonamp160 Television prevailed and President Kennedy gave the first live televised Presidential press conference the next yearamp160Later that year Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minnow decried televisionamp8217s amp8220vast wastelandamp8221 at the National Association of Broadcasteramp8217s annual meetingamp160 The TV new season launched with a multitude of doctors including Ben Casey and Dr Kildareamp160 Meanwhile JCR Liklider who had earlier published ManComputer Symbiosis became the founding director of the Defense Departmentamp8217s Advanced Research Project Agency ARPAamp160 He later suggested an amp8220intergalactic computer networkamp8221Telstar I launched in 1962 creating instant global television distributionamp160 Johnny Carson succeeded Jack Paar and Walter Cronkite began news anchor duties at CBSamp160 The Students for a Democratic Society was formed at the University of Michigan Ann ArborThe next year more people reported television as their first news source beating newspapers for the first timeamp160 AM radio stuck to amp8220top 40 news weather and sports on the half houramp8221 as FM radio begins more freeform programmingamp160 Record albums overtook singles as popular music began some big changesamp160 Network TV news moved to a half hour from 15minute segments and in a giant step the FCC mandated television sets receive both UHF and VHF channelsamp160 The advent of UHF began where the signals worked well the slow chipping away of the dominance of the major networks something that didnamp8217t accelerate until cable MSOs began backing new channels a decade and a half laterFormer menswear accessories entrepreneur and all around gentleman the late Ralph Roberts bought his first cable system in Tupelo Mississippi and called it Comcastamp160 The late Dan Aaron from whom he negotiated the buy joined as manageramp160 Julian Brodsky joined as the financial guyamp160 Comcast began to grow amp8230 and growThe assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas united the nation around television sets for four solid days that late November of 1963amp160 An aside I was a student at SMU in Dallas working that afternoon at Dreyfus ampamp Son overlooking the motorcade route I ran to a window in the storage room on the 3rd floor and watched as Kennedy and the motorcade passedamp160 It was only a few minutes later when the radio reported the first of the shots amp8211 a moment Iamp8217ll never ever forgetamp160 A startling footnote came as Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being transferred from the Dallas city jail on live television the first live telecast of a murderInstant replay came to live sports television and the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964amp160 TV advertising got a big political jolt as Presidential candidates Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater spent bigamp160 Johnsonamp8217s campaign ran amp8220Daisy Girlamp8221 a startlingly successful scare tactic adamp160 The Cold War brought spy stories to TV with I Spy The Man From UNCLE and Mission Impossibleamp160 amp160I Spy in particular had a lasting influence as a white and black man formed a successful teamEdward R Murrow died in 1965 and his producer Fred Friendly later quit CBS the next year for its failure to telecast the Senate Foreign Relations Committeeamp8217s hearing on the Vietnam Waramp160 Chuck Dolan who had built a TV network of hotels in Manhattan called Teleguide won the cable franchise for lower Manhattan he later called it Sterling Manhattan an ancestor of Time Warner CableARPANET was fundedamp160 Donald Davies coined the term packet switchingThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting formed in 1967 PBS launched later in October of 1970amp160 1967 also was the first broadcast of the Super Bowl as the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 3510 and 244million folks watched it on CBS listening to Frank Gifford and 268million on NBC with Curt Gowdyamp160 A 30second commercial cost 42k on both networksIn 1968 Intel was founded and Andy Grove joinedamp160 Steward Brand published the first Whole Earth Catalogamp160 Walter Cronkite opined the best result the US could get in Vietnam would be a amp8220stalemateamp8221amp160 Lyndon Johnson got depressed for amp8220losing Cronkiteamp8221amp160 America seemed in flamesamp160 Rioting broke out in Detroit and other cities when Martin Luther King Jr was murdered in Memphisamp160 The National Guard was called outamp160 Later in the year the Weathermen sort of descendants of SDS rallied at the Democratic Convention in Chicago as Mayor Richard Daley cracked downamp160 National Guard troops and even regular Army helped attempted to calm the rioting crowdsamp160 The Yippies staged street theater and then a small group of protesters were arrested and became the Chicago Seven the trial was just more street and TV theateramp160 Everything it seemed was televisedamp160 60 Minutes debuted September 24th and is still airingamp160 Rowan ampamp Martinamp8217s LaughIn also began airing and changed the attention spans of comedy fansThe last year of the decade saw the broadcasting live of mankindamp8217s first step on the moonamp160 720million people watched Neil Armstrongamp8217s lunar strollamp160 Sesame Street launchedamp160 The first extensions of ARPANET out of the lab were installedamp160 And ABC introduced madeforTV moviesNext week Chapter 10 Part 5 amp8211 The SeventiesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage management or associated bloggersamp160

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“TREotM”: The Sixties

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Paul S. Maxwell

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“TREotM”: The Sixties

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