The ‘Golden Age of Television’ is what many refer to as the period between the 1950s and 60s when the television began to establish itself as a prevalent medium in the United States. In 1947, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and the Du Mont Network were the four main television networks that ran stations with regular programming taking place. (Television, 2003) While regular television programming was a new innovation, the television itself had been commercially available for over twenty years prior to the 50s. It was conceived by many worldly innovators and went through several testing stages before it was finally completed in the late twenties. The three main innovators were Niplow - who first developed a rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern in 1884, Zworykin - who developed the Iconoscope which could scan pictures and break them into electronic signals (a primitive form of the Cathode Ray Tube) in 1923, and lastly Fansworth - who demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to transmit an electrical image in 1927. (Rollo, 2011) However, one of the many reasons why this medium was successful in the 50s was due to the fact that it became more accessible to the public. Television sets were more affordable to middle class citizens which created further interest in the new technology. Through an historical account of the medium, the spread of television across America throughout this particular decade will be examined.
Firstly, for the purposes of illustrating the cultural context of this decade, I will refer to Lynn Spigel’s writing entitled “Welcome to the Dreamhouse: Popular Media and Postwar Suburb”. After WWII...
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...ay, it has not stopped television from being one of the most successful mediums for the dissemination of information.
Works Cited
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Bretz, Rudy , 1957 “Video Tape: A TV Revolution” The Quarterly of Film Radio and Television , Vol. 11, No. 4 pp. 399-415 Published by: University of California Press Article Stable URL: www.jstor.org/stable/1210000
Ganzel, Bill. (2007). Television during the 1950s and 60s. Retrieved from http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/life_17.html
Rollo, Mike. 2011 ¬“Video History” Film/Video I Lecture Notes
Spigel, Lynn. 2001 Welcome to the dreamhouse : popular media and postwar suburbs / Lynn Spigel Duke University Press, Durham, N.C. :
The 1950s was the decade that saw the birth of the 'suburban dream'. It was an era dominated by
Technology in the 1950s started with many great innovations that shape the way we live now. Probably the most important innovation of television was the introduction of cable T.V., television broadcasting, sitcoms and talk shows. Television went though many changes in its younger years. The way T.V. Developed in the early years is the foundation for what we watched now days. Transitory radios became very popular in the fact that Music could be heard in any location because it was now portable. Still T.V. Innovations were what the 1950s were all about from a technology and the birth of the T.V. show.
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
"Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
"Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
In “Wires and Lights in a Box,” the author, Edward R. Murrow, is delivering a speech on October 15, 1958, to attendees of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. In his speech, Murrow addresses how it is his desire and duty to tell his audience what is happening to radio and television. Murrow talks about how television insulates people from the realities in the world, how the television industry is focused on profits rather than delivering the news to the public, and how television and radio can teach, illuminate, and inspire.
Television has long been a part of American culture. From its conception until today there have been people who believe that television is a waste of time and energy and there have been those in the opposite camp who believe that television should be a part of every American life. There is also a middle ground of people who watch television to keep informed on what’s happening in the world as well as entertained by the latest sitcom, or more popularly today, reality show.
The radio industry thrived during this time period, resulting in a growth from a few hundred thousand radio sets in 1921 to nearly 10 million in 1928 (King). Families relied on radios to provide entertainment through music and stories as well as information that was important in terms of politics and war. This reliance on the radio did not only affect the radio industry in the 1920s, but also changed the radio industry for future generations. Without the Radio Renaissance, radios very well could have been a lost technology and a lost industry. While the radio industry boomed, the television was just in its infancy during the 1920s. The television was invented in 1927, but it did not see a rise in popularity until years later (Cooley). At that time, the idea that television would take over the entertainment industry did not cross the minds of many people, but it would later overshadow the influence of radio and become one of America’s main transportations of media and information. These new ways to spread information created a new, smaller world because people around the country and the earth could now participate in the same television and radio shows, giving them a sense of interconnectedness. As new technology flooded into American homes, it continued to evolve and progress, making the lives of housewives much easier and their housework less time
The following year a Los Angeles radio station covered the ceremony and as time went by, the development of new technologies brought the rise of television during the 1950s. It was the year 1953 when the first TV broa...
Epstein, Dan. 20th Century Pop Culture: The Early Years to 1949. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. Print.
Before television existed people had to depend on Radio stations to receive their little bit of entertainment and news. But in 1878, the invention of TV began. The first TV made didn’t look anything like the way TV’s look today. It was a mechanical camera with a large spinning disc attached to it (Kids Work). But as over the years, of course, inventions of different TV’s progressed and by the 20th century about 90 percent of our population had a TV in their household (MGHR). Television today is mainly used for people take a break from their life by relaxing and enjoying some entertainment.
Vande Berg, L.R., Wenner, L.A., & Gronbeck, B. E. (1998). Critical Approaches to Television. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
This essay is about how televisions have developed over the years and how the technology of televisions has influenced people’s lives and how it has changed the way we share and receive information.
Make room for TV: television and the family ideal in post-war America. 1992. By Lynn Spigel. The University of Chicago Press, Ltd. London
Throughout the 1950s, executives experimented with the television and how to use it effectively. In the beginning, producers struggled with the new technology–introducing visual transitions or the beginning use of graphics to accompany news, which were mostly crude line drawing (Barkin 28-29). But, in 1963 (some pinpoint the exact day to be November 22, 1963) the television cemented itself as a mass medium–an integral part of American culture–and the “Big Three,” television networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) established themselves at the forefront of innovation in the field (35).