Tune in and Learn Something: The Remarkable History of Television

Television is something that most people in the world are familiar with. Whether you call it TV, the box, the tube, or the telly, chances are you have watched television at least once in your life. So where did it all start?

Well, the first television actually made an appearance as early as 1907! Read on to learn more about the history of television and how it developed through the years.

The History of Television
In 1897, a man named Ferdinand Braun invented the cathode ray tube, and in 1907 the cathode ray tube was first used to show images. However, Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin’s followed with the development of the image dissector and iconoscope. The iconoscope was the first video camera tube to be used in televisions, and the image dissector is the video camera tube that creates an electron image before scanning it and producing a visual image; both being the first of television technology. 

When television took off in the United States, there were four primary television media stations: NBC, CBS, ABC, and DuMont. These stations came from a larger radio network, so most of the early shows on TV were take-offs of popular radio shows.

Cable TV
Cable TV was a very early development. They used it in the 1950s to expand the reach of television shows and networks to different areas that had problems with television broadcasting signals.

Now, in 2020, we have both cable TV and a new type of broadcast TV called satellite TV. Satellite is like broadcast; however, instead of sending signals from towers to antennas, they send signals through space using satellites. We are now also able to get free TV channels through Vast satellite setup.

TV Shows
When cable TV was introduced, TV really took off, and they made some classic television shows. The most popular TV shows in the 1950s included I Love Lucy, The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, and Leave It To Beaver.

In 1957, television had hit a plateau; it was neither improved nor deteriorating. There were no big changes, no new television shows, and no big new stars. However, the TV market was larger than ever, with about 544 commercial stations in operation.

In 1957, we also saw a decline in comedy and drama shows as musicals and westerns took their place. With the rise of the western series came what they called “adult westerns,” which were aimed directly at men and women. These starred men who were handsome and tall (to gain female watchers), and more mature storylines.

Color TV
Although talk of a color TV was happening as early as 1904, the first color television system came to fruition sometime between 1946 and 1950. It was in 1956 when NBC used color film, which was when color TV really took off. However, in 1961 there was a turning point in TV history that persuaded customers to get out there and buy color TVs; this was the premiere of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.

By 1979, they had converted almost all TVs to color televisions, although there were still low cost black-and-white portable TVs. By the 1980s, all of those had switched over to color as well.

The Evolution of Television
Through reading this article, we hope you’ve become better educated about the history of television and its evolution in its infant years. TV has come so far that now it is in almost every home in the developed world. Most people watch hours of television a day, especially now with services like Netflix and other streaming services.

If you liked this article and are looking for more to read on other technological advances, then you need to check out the rest of our blog!

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