"TREotM": TV Arrives in a BIG Way

The war was over in Europe in early May of 1945 amp160Europe lay in ruinsThe war was over in Asia just after Japan had been devastated by the atomic bombsamp160 It was August 1945The cold war beganAnd America geared upDuring the war six television stations stayed on the air regularly another ten backed off a bit and kept experimentingThe first local TV newscast was on NBC in New York City in late 1939 and early 1940 as Lowell Thomasamp8217 nightly radio newscast was simulcast for a few monthsamp160 The first TVonly newscasts were on CBS in New York in early 1941 consisting of 15 minutes at 230 pm and 730 pm of news read by Richard Hubbellamp160CBS in New York in 1941 was dark on Sundays to give the engineers a day off amp8230 but at 845 on Sunday December 7 1941 the station went on the air with a live 90minute report of the bombing of Pearl Harbor featuring CBS radio personalities with news and updates from their studios at Grand Central StationThe war shut down the news on TV thoughamp160 Radio carried live reporting from London and other locations making Edward R Murrow famousEven before the war ended NBC was creating the first network linking New York to Washington DC and Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1944amp160 The second network Dumont launched in 1946 CBS and ABC followed in 1948By the end of 1945 the FCC had 158 new license applications most from newspaper and radio companiesIn 1947 there were some 40 million radios and about 44000 TV sets 30000 in the New York City areaIn that year Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle debuted along with The Ed Sullivan Show or shew as he said Kukla Fran ampamp Ollie Candid Camera and Howdy DoodyThe 7th mass medium had arrivedamp160 For the record the 1st was the religious pamphlets 2nd was extracts of the Bible 3rd was newspapers 4th was magazines the 5th was radio the 6th was recordingsamp160 Billboards came a little lateramp160 Of note big jumps in media came from wars more than once and often from governments themselvesamp160 After billboards and some other stuff weamp8217ll get to the Internet which grew out of a US Defense Department desire for instant communications throughout the departmentBut back to basics by1948 34 stations were operating in 21 cities broadcasting to about a million TV setsamp160 And the FCC had so many applications they called a freezeamp160 That lasted until April 15 1952The incumbents boomedamp160 A third were owned by newspaper companiesBut signals from TV stations couldnamp8217t reach everyone they still donamp8217tamp160 So a number of entrepreneurs found a way to serve folks outside the broadcast contoursamp160 In Oregon Pennsylvania Arkansas and Texas tinkerers and TV retailers put antennas on high ground ran open paired wire of coaxial cable from the high points taking the signal to what is still called a amp8220head endamp8221 amplified the radio frequency signals and using mostly cable connected households for a feeNBCamp8217s network made it to the Mississippi River in 1949 and to the West Coast in 1951 with the other networks right behindamp160 CBS even tried an early color system in 1951 that didnamp8217t work so wellamp160 It was called a fieldsequential color systemamp160 Instead the NTSC placed its bet on RCAamp8217s system in 1953amp8220The Best TV Show of All Timeamp8221 according to a vote held by ABC News and People Magazine in 2012 debuted on October 15 1951 and ran until May 6 1957amp160 It was of course I Love Lucyamp160 Some 44 million viewers watched the debut of Ricky Ricardo Jr on January 19 1953Speaking of News Meet the Press debuted November 6 1947 on the NBC network and is still running amp8230 though it doesnamp8217t look the sameamp160 The first anchormoderator was Martha Rountree the current anchor is Chuck Todd the 12th to hold the chairIn 1948 the NBC Network began airing NBC Television Newsreel a program consisting of newsreels with voice over narrationamp160 The next year it became the Camel News Caravan with John Cameron Swayze as an oncamera anchoramp160 About the same time the CBS Television News debuted with Douglas Edwards it quickly was renamed Douglas Edwards and the Newsamp160 CBS also broadcast Longines Chronoscope a weekly 30minute newsmagazine from 19511955amp160 The DuMont Network also produced news shows from 1947 to 1955The real star in the early 1950amp8217s was CBSamp8217 Edward R Murrow and the issues that mattered included the Korean War and the amp8220Red Scareamp8221amp160 Fear of communism seemed to be everywhere from news to entertainment to Congressamp160 Blacklists proliferatedamp160 I Led Three Lives was a TV hitamp160 Congressional committees held hearings and amp8220outedamp8221 many a real not so real communist sympathizeramp160 Senator Joseph McCarthy RWI 19471957 rode the finger pointing to significant prominence wildly and publicly accusing just about everyone of being a communistamp160 In 1954 though Edward R Murrow on his weekly newsmagazine See It Now exposed McCarthy for the fraud he wasamp160 Later the DuMont and ABC networks carried the McCarthyArmy hearings live put a semiofficial stamp on the end of McCarthy matteringIn 1951 Pat Weaver dad to Sigourney created a morning show he called Rise and Shine today it is called Today and features a mix of news and entertainmentamp160 Weaver also created The Tonight ShowBut it wasnamp8217t all roses and ratings amp160The 64000 Question quiz show was a ratings blockbuster when it debuted in 1955amp160amp160 It was quickly followed by TwentyOneamp160 But that show was a shamamp160 Socalled contestants were briefed and provided with answersamp160 The resulting scandal hurt all of the likeminded shows that purported to show ordinary folks winning big cash prizesamp160 Charles Van Doren became the poster boy for fraud after amp8220winningamp8221 129000So what does all this meandering through programming meanamp160 Simpleamp160 The impetus of war bled into an emphasis on news which bled into multiple newscasts newscasters and sortanews game showsamp160 As shows and showers multiplied Tribbles anyoneamp160 Or in todayamp8217s world GOP presidential candidates anyone content became Kingamp160amp160 Which today is amp8230 ah weamp8217ll get to thatThis is a book in progress Go here to read the previous chaptersNext week Chapter 10 Part 3 amp160Drama Comedy and MoreThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Media Village management or associated bloggersamp160

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"TREotM": TV Arrives in a BIG Way

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Paul S. Maxwell

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