Factors that Shaped the Invention and Development of Television in the UK Up to 1939
In this essay I intend to discuss the factors that shaped the
invention and development of television in the UK up to 1939; these
include the social, cultural, political and scientific factors that
took place as well as the many technological changes. I will then
conclude by determining the most important aspects of its development.
Technological developments
==========================
The essence of the television began in the early nineteenth century
with the development of the telephone and the telegraph. These
communication devices can be seen as a more technical version to the
way Native American Indians communicated via their smoke signal
technique. The early telegraphs were large outdoor mechanical
structures that proved to be very expensive to produce. During the
1840’s there came a great discovery and this was of electromagnetism,
electric current was found to be of great use within wiring. It was
this discovery that inevitably led to the development of the ‘electric
telegraph’. The electric telegraph was a transmitter of messages and
signals through electric wiring and was transmitted via connections
throughout the world. One of its earliest forms of communication was
with the use of Morse code and this was greatly used within the
railway system; before this invention the railways found it difficult
to co-ordinate the transport thus creating many accidents on the rail
tracks.
The telegraph and the telephone were then developed further
between 1842 and 1862 with the use of photography and this culmination
became ‘tel...
... middle of paper ...
...hat was an integral part of the
development of the television. Social and technological aspects have
been intertwined for a long period of our history and history is
always being re-thought as is technology.
References
Briggs (1995): ‘The Birth of Broadcasting’. Oxford University Press.
Cardiff, David & Scannell, P. (1991): ‘A Social History of British
Broadcasting’.
Oxford Press, Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Chant, C. (1989): ‘Science, Technology and Everyday Life 1870-1950’.
Routledge.
Sinclair, I., Wilmslow & Cheshire (1995): ‘Birth of the Box-The Story
of Television’.
Sigma Press.
Winston, Brian (1998): ‘Media, Technology and Society’. Oxford Press.
Wyver, J. (1989): ‘The Moving Image: An International History of Film,
Television
and Video’. Oxford Press, Basil Blackwell Ltd.
How many people today watch family sitcoms to imitate or compare values with their own? Probably not as many as there were in the 1950s. In Stephanie Coontz's "What We Really Miss about the 1950s", she discusses why people feel more nostalgic towards growing up in the 1950s, and how she disagrees that 1950s wasn't the decade that we really should like or remember best. Apart from economic stability, family values played an important part then. Through television sitcoms, such as "Leave it to Beaver", "Father knows Best", families watched them to make sure they were living correctly. It was like guidance and somewhat reassurance. However, values of families have changed, and this is shown on sitcoms today. We watch sitcoms today for entertainment, and sometimes we can relate to them because the setting is realistic. In the modern sitcom, "Gilmore Girls" characters and plot are used to demonstrate family values such as gender roles, children roles, economic status, morals, ethics and general organization of a family that differ from the values shown in the 1950s sitcoms.
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.
Obviously the television isn't a new technological development; it's been around since at least the turn of the 1920’s and was readily available for public sale by the late 1930’s (Stephens). After the Second World War, the television expanded with its introduction into the commercial mainstream, and by 1955 it was estimated that roughly half of all American homes had at least one (Stephens). Although certainly impressive, this statistic would only continue to burgeon throughout the decades with the rise of color TV and cable b...
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 early 1960s saw the expansion of television. The television had become a common household
There was also the popularization of television sets. Their convenience appealed to many people, and by 1950, nearly 10 million families owned a TV. Well, if people had access to film at home, why would they need to go out to the cinema? This caused a prominent decline in movie theater acclaim, which resulted in the film industry losing money. To adapt to these measures, Hollywood studios began producing film for TV in order to make up for the money lost from movie theatres. And with this, Hollywood met television.
were able to afford them. If you had a television it was a symbol of
In the article “The Trouble with Televisions”, Robert MacNeil states different textual evidence. According to the author, by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20,000 hours of television. Television is a waste of time, Robert MacNeil says that, “he/she could be learning different language.” Also he explains that television diverts us only to divert to make the time pass without pain. After a while television becomes addicting. Robert MacNeil results in inefficient communication.
Readability of text: The grade level I chose is fifth, and the material comes from McGraw-Hill’s Reading Wonders. “The Boy Who Invented TV” by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Greg Couch is the text I used to apply Fry’s Readability Formula. The Lexile Text Complexity Range is set at 860 and the Text Evaluator is at 38 for this particular story. “The Boy Who Invented TV” was an appropriate biography for fifth grade, however I was surprised to use the Fry’s Readability Formula and find that it was actually graphed at an upper seventh grade level. After doing this readability I have a newfound understanding as to why students, especially lower level, can really struggle with the text found in their books. It is much more evident that after reading
Before analyzing the history of Rock n’ Roll television, the history of how watching television came to become a popular must come into question. To summarize briefly, the invention of television was in development since the 1870s, however the first demonstration of live transmitted images in motion was in 1925 lead by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird (Radio Shows Far Away Objects in Motion). The image was of Baird’s business partner Oliver Hutchinson (Television), showing a mere five frames per second, it was an impressive sight for the time. With perfection of the invention, electronic televisions had been developed by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin with the help of the RCA radio...
The 1940's and 1950s Cable Television originated in 1948 as a service to households in mountainous or geographically remote areas where reception of over the air television signals was poor. Antennas were erected on mountaintops or other high points, and homes were wired and connected to these towers to receive the broadcast signals.
Up until 1935, televisions were not electric as they are today. They were mechanical, powered by a small motor with a spinning disc and a neon lamp. The picture projected was very small, sometimes half the size of a business card, and only showed shades of orange and red. From 1935 up until World War II, the electric television was perfected and made ready for public distribution. The electric television provided a much larger, clearer screen with a full range of colors. In 1948-1949, during the post-WWII spending craze, the television became a must-have item for every American family, bringing a world of information and entertainment into living rooms across the country and changing the way Americans viewed many things.
The television and the printing press are two very essential and widely used media products. In order to determine which one could be named the superior of the two I have researched and studied both topics extensively .In this essay I will explain why I have come to the conclusion that the printing press is more influential, vital, and educational to society than the television.
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.
The invention of television affected filmmaking in America in a couple of ways. The first big effect was the financial side in that watching TV was free and you had to pay to see a movie. Sounds simple and but it’s true. Post World War II nothing sounded better for a person who just work a long day to come home and sit down in front of their own TV. By the time the war ended and going into the 50’s and 60’s TV’s where a common household item. Along with Paramount decision it really hurt the big Hollywood filmmakers. The second is more how TV kind of started to revitalize the film industry and it was started by Walt Disney who made a deal with ABC to produce a Disney TV show that would air weekly. (p.234)