The Story Of Television.

[Music] the signature of every century has been its skyline the very ancient the old the medieval the modern [Music] imprints of man's never-ending path of progress silhouetted against the ageless canvas of the sky our day our times our signature our skyline metal fingers beckoning to the invisible calling to sound the ear cannot hear and sight beyond the range of the unaided eye our era the era of television the dream of television had persisted for centuries the human eye is a miraculous instrument perceptive sensitive forever tuned to the pulsating wavelengths of light yet the eye is hemmed in by horizons it cannot see over a hillside or beyond the haze of distance to extend the range of human eyesight man developed marvelously sensitive instruments binoculars [Music] giant telescopes to probe the furthest span of space [Music] but always there were barriers distance could man fling pictures to the sky and gather them in at a distant point it was a provoking challenge and nowhere did the challenge provoke more unending experiment and research then at RCA as far back as the 1920s two men took up this challenge they shared the irresistible dream of television David Sarnoff chairman of the board of RCA dr. Vladimir Zworykin honorary vice president and technical consultant of RCA doctors workin every now and then I like to put the calendar back and remember another important occasion when you came to my office you're a good salesman and I was a good dreamer we talked about broadcasting moving images by electronics and I remember that I asked you what it would cost to develop an all-electronic television system do you recall your estimate cuz I remember I asked something like hundred thousand dollars your estimate missed by quite a bit it cost RCA more than fifty million dollars to create develop and introduce America's first all-electronic television system and since that time as you know RCA has spent another seventy million dollars to pioneer and develop the compatible color television system but how well that money was spent we succeeded in extending human sight and far beyond the horizon yes this wonderful thing about television the extension of our side you are better acquainted with this progress general and anyone because of your participation and leadership in so many cases of television development it was nearly 30 years ago and I came to your office with that too the first I of television yes I well remembered nearly 30 years ago and what a great invention this too has become it certainly has fulfill its destiny well general this is the grandfather of the pickup - do we want to see the newest grandchild I'm all for grandchildren let's have a look at it well here it is well this certainly looks very interesting what do you expect this grandchild to do well that's what they call me immature vidicon and I hope you ain't sure it will replace all the existing pickup tubes for all the purposes well that's very interesting and certainly is very promising because what we need to do is to reduce the size and the cost of these components so that television color television both at the transmitting and the receiving end may be within the reach of everyone that is my hope the turning point came in 1923 when doctors warwick and invented the Icona scope this tube after years of further development became the image orthicon the electronic eye of the modern television camera in 1929 doctors Warren and his associates announced the first successful electronic kinescope forerunner of today's television picture tube the circuit was complete all electronic television was achieved it worked how the lens of the television camera acts like the iris of the human eye it gathers in the light rays and focuses them on a mosaic of light-sensitive material that is built into the picture tube the light-sensitive material converts the light into electrical impulses a reaction varying with a strength of the light the optic nerve of the camera picture tube is the electron beam controlled by electromagnets the beam scans the picture which is on the plate in rapid sweeping motions from side to side from top to bottom when the beam hits the image it loses varying amounts of electrons and then bounces back to the opposite end of the picture tube where it is amplified millions of times it is led off to the transmitter in the form of electric current [Music] the signals are broadcast as radio impulses into space [Music] heart of the receiving set is the kinescope here the action is reversed the stream of electrons synchronized perfectly with those of the camera tube literally paints the picture information on a chemically treated screen line by line the glow is bright when the beam is strong less bright when it is weak thus the picture is reassembled 19:31 atop the Empire State Building the National Broadcasting Company a service of RCA erected the transmitting antenna for experimental television station W to XPS [Music] now RCA's technicians and scientists tackled the next goal improvement of picture quality hitherto using a mechanical process the best that could be transmitted was a crude signal of 60 scanning lines RCA turned to the new science of electronics discarded the mechanical spinning disk and soon doubled tripled in the scanning lines now television was really on its way in 1937 television strode out of the studio with mobile vans developed by RCA and NBC versatile self sustaining new eyes new vision for the world a man could sit at home yet his eyes could scan the countryside a bright new era dawning a new dimension and communications distance reduced to microwaves walls barriers mountains erased television the ultimate triumph in man's search for sight beyond the range of the human eye [Music] 19:39 television is ready to make its official public debut the setting could hardly be more perfect the New York World's Fair it seemed the world of tomorrow and the world of tomorrow became the world of today the RCA exhibit building where on April 29th 1939 David Sarnoff stated we have added radios site to sound NBC cameras probed explored scrutinized viewers watching the 3000 television sets then in New York so the first president ever televised Franklin D Roosevelt officially opening the world of tomorrow [Music] via television the viewers toured with a king and queen of England through pavilion and Midway day-by-day television produced new adventures new vistas new excitement new thrills NBC presented the first baseball game ever televised august 1939 1940 the nerve tingling drama of a national political convention the first ever televised Philadelphia and New York were knit together by the electronic miracle of television radio relays pioneered by RCA and the telephone company coaxial cables wiped out the horizon as the far limit of telecasting still in the trial-and-error stage television began studying its own future as a tremendous new medium of entertainment the first programs were simple unpretentious proving grounds for technicians cameramen directors writers and performers slowly the know-how was gained bit by bit creative imagination began to give form and substance to the new art form called television 1941 a fateful year war and the beginning of a 4-year blackout for commercial TV and television enlisted for the duration research went forward at war tempo at RCA's David Sarnoff Research Center Princeton New Jersey 24-hour shifts explored every corner of the new world of electronics [Music] RCA electronics scientists and engineers made important contributions to the development of radar sonar for submarine detection the sniper scope that made it possible to see a target in darkness thus the progress of perhaps a peacetime decade was compressed into four short years 1945 the war over after four years of unparalleled war effort denial sacrifice the American public hungry for the rewards of peace and television with its promise of endless hours of enjoyment entertainment was part of the peacetime dream [Music] our CA although by far the leading producer of television sets and television tubes realized that the future health of the industry required the vital bloodline of competition so in a move without precedent in American industrial history it opened its blueprints to licensed competitors this was a shot in the arm the industry needed television came of age in the NBC Studios the cameramen lighting experts set designers writers directors were experiencing studying learning the new techniques of a great new medium [Music] programming was better more varied more entertaining [Music] 19:49 an historic television first a presidential inauguration as Harry Truman took the oath the event was carried over the 16th city NBC television network extending from Washington north to Boston and West to st. Louis television was moving with giant strides and in less than half a dozen years a flip of a switch in master control could send the television image coast-to-coast [Music] a dynamic industry employing more than a million television an unparalleled blending of science and art invention and engineering private incentive and public service by television American business has found the most effective advertising medium and in turn advertising has provided the resources that sustain the standards of programming and permit the never-ending research that is the heart of the television industry television servicing alone has become a major industry employing nearly 100,000 people [Music] yes a little more than a wink of Time television has entered our homes our lives imprinted new silhouettes on our skyline and all this has been just the beginning there was still another dream to be realized still another dimension to be added black-and-white television had been The Herald it put millions of TV sets into our homes built hundreds of TV stations created an industry an art a public service an exhilarating component of our American Way of life [Music] it provided the foundation for the next giant step forward color this is a world of color and the men of television long dreamed of capturing the full paint part of nature and brushing it on the screen how could it be done it was not an easy triumph as general Sarnoff recalls when we first began to think of television in the early 20s we would have been content if only the Rose could have been televised in black and white that miracle had no sooner been achieved when the eye sensitive to color observed that the Rose in monochrome lacked its true beauty and the cry went up for color never had scientists been put under such pressure and demand it has been my privilege and a fascinating experience to watch the scientists at work on color television I marvel at their accomplishment in bringing into focus the principles of radio optics electronics photography chemistry and many other essentials so that they might all work together to make color television practical I congratulate the ica scientists research men and engineers who pioneered and developed this new science and art and then created the compatible color television system and the famed color picture tube color color the touchstone of reality the vivid pulsating miracle that gives substance to shadows beauty Grace and enchantment to a picture problem how to harness a stream of electrons for color early general Sarnoff had set forth the fundamental goals for colored television first it must be all electronic second it must be completely compatible these were the goals the road was long difficult but it led to one of the historic inventions of our times the RCA tricolor television tube the tube with a heart of a rainbow the lens of the color television camera collects light rays in full color from the scene being televised within the camera an ingenious system of mirrors breaks down the light rays into televisions three primary colors blue green and red they are focused through the lens system to the special camera tubes provided for each primary color and the primary color signals thus produced are simultaneously processed for transmission [Music] by the miracle of compatibility color programs can be seen on standard black and white sets without any change or adjustment [Applause] color receivers which can also pick up standard black and white broadcasts decode the color information and apply the picture in all its vivid Beauty to the tricolor to the world of color color captivates attention and brings the beauty of creation close to home [Music] color transforms the commonplace into the beautiful it makes the humdrum memorable gives new power to advertising and merchandising color the fabric of the rainbow riding piggyback on an invisible stream of electrons the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena California telecast in color by 21 stations of the NBC network in the first west2east transmission in color on New Year's Day 1954 [Music] all the glory all the reality of nature [Music] with the added dimension of color television programming probed new horizons once again technicians and artists accepted the challenge in an incredibly short time they had devised the techniques to integrate color into television programming an old word took on new color new meaning spectacular an adjective made over into a noun spectacular the finest in television programming into the home came the greatest in drama such as the four-poster starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy [Music] the list of spectaculars continues to grow to imposing proportions an entirely new adventure and entertainment for the American public for compatible all electronic color television pioneered and developed by RCA is counted as one of the outstanding scientific and artistic triumphs of the 20th century it has added a new dimension to the entertainment arts and has intensified television as a social and educational force [Music] mobile units in a coat of many colors transmit outdoor color telecasts adding new sparkle a new buoyancy to television coverage of great sporting events the first world series ever color televised 1955 [Music] [Applause] [Music] another color television first the Davis Cup matches 1955 [Music] football the youngest art form the easiest understood the liveliest the brightest television in full and captivating color [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for I dipped into the future far as human eye can see saw the visions of the future and all the wonders that would be [Music] one day through television the entire world will stream into our living rooms with a velocity of light [Music] not too far beyond the horizons international television to span oceans capture all the vivid beauty of Far Lands find people of all nations tied together by better understanding better knowledge through instantaneous communication of sight and sound [Music] motion color vibrancy people in the twinkling of an eye it is caught by the lens of the color television camera transmitted by invisible waves to all points of the compass atop a million homes antennas plucked the pictures from the sky and by a flick of a switch or the turn of a dial the scene reappears on the television screen to perform the split-second magic with true fidelity of color of sound of reality this is the wonder of color television compatible color television an historic example of RCA's continuing efforts to open new horizons of electronics for living electronics that make life happier easier and safer television truly the miracle that has put its signature on our century [Music]