History of television

Erik Barnouw writes a very entertaining book about the history of television in the book, Tube of Plenty (384.554 BAR). He begins with a quick history of the radio.

U.S. companies wanted a monopoly on the field of radio technology, so an American company was formed, called RCA. RCA was a partnership between GE, AT&T, United Fruit, and Westinghouse.

With the quick, incredible success with radio stations, the pressure was on to invent a way of transmitting picture as well as sound.

By 1927, Herbert Hoover appeared in an experimental AT&T telecast. It's also the same year that a new magazine called "Television" was first published. The experimental sets only had a screen 4 inches wide and 3 inches high - what the author calls a "flickering snapshot."

There are all sorts of legal entanglements with GE, Westinghouse, RCA, and AT&T. In 1926, GE, Westinghouse, and RCA form NBC. In 1928,RKO (the movie company was formed by GE, Westinghouse, RCA, and other film interest. All of these joint ventures creates a legal mess later on.

This book continues with new developments and the cultural influences of the television through the mid 1970s.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007