Month: July 2014

Many factors contributed to the delayed launch of Commercial television in North America.

Certainly, the Great Depression was a contributing factor. Television was an expensive novelty, not something the average person could afford. As well, Television was as yet under publicized and not widely understood in ways that would encourage people to buy receivers. This was one of the problems that RCA wished to tackle leading up to the 1939 World’s Fair. But the most significant delay was caused by the bitter patent wars between RCA, Farnsworth and other competitors.

Finally, after the paten wars ended, a bruised by determined RCA, led by David Sarnoff, launched Commercial Television at the 1939 World’s Fair. The FCC could not stop RCA from announcing the “Birth of an Industry” and was forced to accelerate its decision on an official standard of broadcasting.

The official authorized launch of Commercial Television in the US would have to wait two more years for the FCC to approve the NTSC standard (525 lines snd 30 frames per second) and officially authorize Commercial Television to begin on July 1, 1941.

Many factors contributed to the delayed launch of Commercial television in North America.

Certainly, the Great Depression was a contributing factor. Television was an expensive novelty, not something the average person could afford. As well, Television was as yet under publicized and not widely understood in ways that would encourage people to buy receivers. This was one of the problems that RCA wished to tackle leading up to the 1939 World’s Fair. But the most significant delay was caused by the bitter patent wars between RCA, Farnsworth and other competitors.

Finally, after the paten wars ended, a bruised by determined RCA, led by David Sarnoff, launched Commercial Television at the 1939 World’s Fair. The FCC could not stop RCA from announcing the “Birth of an Industry” and was forced to accelerate its decision on an official standard of broadcasting.

The official authorized launch of Commercial Television in the US would have to wait two more years for the FCC to approve the NTSC standard (525 lines snd 30 frames per second) and officially authorize Commercial Television to begin on July 1, 1941.

RCA wasn’t the only manufacturer offering television to the public. In 1938 Allen B DuMont Laboratories, established by the inventor and entrepreneur of the same name, had already offered the first electronic TV sets for sale to the public with their 180 model. Manufacturers other than RCA also exhibited their television receivers at the 1939 World’s Fair. In their own pavilions, Westinghouse Electric and General Electric offered competing lines of consumer televisions. These companies also built studios with live cameras for conducting interviews. Even Ford Motor Company got into the act, placing television receivers in its executive lounge. Conspicuously missing was Farnsworth Television. Although Philo T Farnsworth was the first to demonstrate electronic television technology in 1927, his company was not yet manufacturing commercial television receivers.

RCA wasn’t the only manufacturer offering television to the public. In 1938 Allen B DuMont Laboratories, established by the inventor and entrepreneur of the same name, had already offered the first electronic TV sets for sale to the public with their 180 model. Manufacturers other than RCA also exhibited their television receivers at the 1939 World’s Fair. In their own pavilions, Westinghouse Electric and General Electric offered competing lines of consumer televisions. These companies also built studios with live cameras for conducting interviews. Even Ford Motor Company got into the act, placing television receivers in its executive lounge. Conspicuously missing was Farnsworth Television. Although Philo T Farnsworth was the first to demonstrate electronic television technology in 1927, his company was not yet manufacturing commercial television receivers.

RCA offered four types of television receivers for sale in 1939: the TRK-12, the TRK-9, the TRK-5 and the TT-5. The set prices, ranging from $199.50 – $600 US, were considered high. Advertising was initially aimed at the wealthy, depicting viewers who were dressed in suits and evening gowns while watching their TVs.

John Vassos designed all of the RCA sets during this period. The hand crafted, highly polished wood cabinets took their cue from the newly popular “streamline” style. The sets received channels 1 to 5 (the frequency for channel 1 had not yet been taken over for military use).

The RCA sets were offered for sale in Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Wanamaker’s department stores in the New York Metropolitan area. Although shoppers were curious, prices were high and the ensuing sales in 1939 and 1940 were disappointing for retailers and manufacturers.

Programming was broadcast from the NBC studios (or the mobile camera trucks) to a transmitter that was connected to an aerial at the top of the Empire State Building. Programs included operas, cartoons, cooking demonstrations, travelogues, fashion shows and footage of skaters at Rockefeller Centre. DuMont Televents posters from 1939 and 1940 promote films, live events and sports. There were also numerous live telecasts relayed from within the Fair itself.

NBC was RCA’s broadcasting wing. It began regular US television broadcasting on April 30, 1939 with an historic event: a telecast of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt opening the Fair. The event was the first televised Presidential address in the United States.

The logistics of the broadcast were quite complex, especially considering the newness of the television broadcast industry. The signal was sent by Telemobile (RCA’s mobile television van) to the Empire State Building transmitter and then rebroadcast. David Sarnoff claimed FDR’s address was the first televised news event in the United States.

As visitors traveled farther into the RCA Pavilion they could enter the “Hall of Television” that contained thirteen of RCA’s finest TRK-12 receivers. These receivers displayed images almost constantly in order to allow each visitor to sample the new medium. Also in this room was an experimental projection television receiver, which used a very bright five-inch cathode ray tube and a large lens to project television pictures onto a special light reflective screen. The pictures generated by this unit are believed to have been at least three feet high and four feet wide. A large Nipper the Dog statue (that familiar dog who listens to “His Master’s Voice” on the RCA logo) overlooked the room from a pedestal.

In the Hall of Television, visitors crowded together to watch National Broadcasting corporation (NBC) broadcasts or internal closed circuit demonstrations.