The world’s first television stations first started appearing in America in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
It would take until 1938, however, before American electronic television sets were produced and released commercially. They were an instant hit after release.
The world’s first television remote control was called the Tele Zoom, and it can barely even be categorized as a remote control. The Tele Zoom was only used to “zoom in” to the picture on the television. You could not use it to change any channels or turn the TV on or off. The Tele Zoom was released in 1948. The first “true” remote control was produced by Zenith and released in 1955. This remote control could turn the television on or off and change the channel. It was also completely wireless.
Today, American networks play thousands of different programs every day. Every single one of these programs, however, owes its existence to America’s first television program, which was called The Queen’s Messenger. That program was first shown in 1928 by WRGB station. We’re not 100% sure that The Queen’s Messenger was the first TV program shown in America. In 1928, the program was thought to be broadcast only to four television sets. Not 400. Not 4,000. Four. Thus, we have some ambiguity and debate over whether this was actually the first television program.
The first television station in America started broadcasting in 1928. For the first 13 years of its existence, television remained blissfully commercial-free. The first commercial broadcast in America did not take place until July 1, 1941, which is when the first American advertisement aired. The ad was for a Bulova watch and lasted for 10 seconds. It aired on NBC.
Color television traces its roots as far back as 1904, when a German inventor received a patent for color television. However, that inventor did not actually have a working color television – it was just a patented idea. A conceptualized color television system appeared in 1925 from inventor Vladimir Zworykin. However, this system was never converted into reality. All attempts to convert it into reality did not succeed. Color television was placed on the backburner for about 20 years. In 1946, the idea of color television was renewed in earnest. By 1946, the Second World War was history, and people in America wanted to make up for all the time lost to the war. Black and white television was thought of as old and it was time to do something new. This is when color television systems first began to be considered seriously. The color television war in America was fought between two industry giants: CBS and RCA. CBS was the first company to create a color television set. However, the main drawback was that it was a mechanical television based on John Baird’s original system. Thus, it was not compatible with black and white TV sets in use across America. Despite this major flaw, the FCC declared that the CBS color television was going to be the national standard.
RCA protested, stating that it was unfair to make CBS color TV the standard when it could even be used by millions of customers across America (most of whom owned RCA televisions). Unfazed, RCA continued to develop their own color television system that would be compatible with its customers RCA sets. In 1953, the FCC acknowledged that RCA’s color TV system was better. Starting in 1954, color RCA TV systems were sold across America.
Color TV had a similar initial problem as 3D TV and other technologies: people owned the color TV technology, but broadcasters weren’t producing color TV content. Few people owned color TV sets between 1954 and 1965. However, starting in 1966, color TV programming was broadcast across America, leading to a surge in sales of color television sets.
Between the 1950s and 2000s, television turned from a niche technology into a critical form of communication found in living rooms across the nation. A vast number of changes and improvements took place in the second half of the 20th century to make the television into what it is today. Here’s a timeline: