Broadcast Video Production I ACCT-BVP 1 -1 HISTORY OF

Broadcast/Video Production I ACCT-BVP 1 -1 HISTORY OF MASS MEDIA

ACCT-BVP 1 -1. Students will identify inventions and technical and social developments that led to the creation of radio and television in a broadcast environment. • What does it mean? It means that you should be able to tell about how things like television and radio got started and how they got to where they are today.

The Growth of Communications • As long as humans have been around, we have had to communicate with each other. Before we learned an actual language, we used grunting noises and crude sign language or charades to communicate. • As we became more advanced, we began to communicate in other ways.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • The Ideas that Made Radio Possible • By the late 1800's, Americans had nearly 50 years of experience with a new communication device that used electricity and magnets to instantly "write at a distance. " The success of the telegraph led Alexander Graham Bell to develop an "electrical speech machine" in 1876 that also used electricity and magnets to capture and send the sound of the human voice over long distances. But as wonderful as these amazing devices were, they shared a common weakness - their messages could only go where their wires led.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • So what was a ship at sea or a sheriff on an open range to do when they urgently needed to summon help? Could mankind communicate over great distances without wires? Today we know that wireless communication using the radio frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum answered these questions. But, in 1885 German physicist Heinrich Hertz thought his proof of Maxwell's theories; 1. that electromagnetic waves behave in the same way as light, and

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) 2. that light itself is electromagnetic in nature; had no practical value since he could only send signals a few yards. Further, he saw no way of improving or amplifying the signal so that it could be received at a greater distance. Finally, his experiments showed that if two transmitters operated in the same proximity, the nearby receiver found both signals, producing nothing but static and hiss. • Thus, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi's 1901 transmission of a wireless signal from Ireland to Canada was an expression of faith as well as applied science. Marconi later described the prevailing skepticism of learned individuals by noting that achieving long distance wireless transmission of sound:

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • • ". . . had been declared to be impossible by some of the principal mathematicians of the time - (the) chief question mark (being) whether wireless waves would be stopped by the curvature of the earth. . . some eminent men held that the roundness of the earth would prevent communication over such great distances as the atlantic. " But the "pip-pip" (Morse code for the letter "s") that Marconi reported he heard at 12: 30 p. m. on December 12, 1901 was just one of many remarkable events that gave true meaning to Oliver Lodge's proclamation that wireless communications had created a new "epoch in history. " For wireless telegraphs had begun to appear on ocean-going vessels as early as 1891 - many of them donated for demonstration purposes by Marconi. For it was the opportunity to save lives and property on large ships that provided much of the early impetus to develop wireless communications via the radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic radiation.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • The 1899 collision between the coal-laden R. F. Matthews and the East Goodwin Lightship was just the first instance where the use of wireless radio saved lives. Because of the extremely dense fog and strong tides present that day, the lifeboats that came to the rescue might not have seen flares in time to get to the crash site prior to some loss of life. Thankfully the Trinity House Corporation, owner of the East Goodwin, was participating in a demonstration of Marconi radio systems and the ship's captain was able to quickly signal for help.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • Thus, Marconi's integration of the work of Hertz, Righi, Branly, Lodge, and others led to an improved radio system based upon: – Using a coherer to improve detection of the signal, – Designing both the transmitting and receiving antennas so that they could be tuned to a specific frequency, – Increasing the power, and – Decreasing the transmitting frequency into the medium or short wave range.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • These innovations paved the way for the next big breakthrough in wireless radio transmissions - sending the sound of a human voice over the air waves instead of just the dots and dashes of wireless telegraphy. Canadian Reginald Fessenden was the larger than life man whose work, in combination with those discussed in the next section, introduced, in 1906, what we think of today as radio: music, news, talk, in fact any sound human beings can make. Experiences as the chief chemist in Edison's labs, work at Westinghouse, professorships in electrical engineering at Purdue University and the University of Pennsylvania, research in North Carolina for the U. S. Weather Bureau, and, finally, a founding partnership in the National Electric Signaling Company uniquely qualified him to solve the riddle of how sound waves traveled and what was necessary to transmit those waves wirelessly from one point to another.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Although best known for his 1906 Christmas Eve broadcast of music and voice from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, Fessenden actually made the first transmission of voice in 1900 while under contract to the Weather Bureau. His continuous wave theory whereby a sound wave is combined with a radio wave and transmitted to a receiver where the radio wave is removed so that the listener hears only the original sound - describes how radio works today. Fessenden proved his theory on December 23, 1900 from an island in the Potomac River. Speaking to an associate who was a mile away with a receiving unit, Fessenden said: "One - two - three - four, is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? If it is, would you telegraph back to me? " Thiessen replied in the affirmative and the rest, as they say, is history.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • With technologies for both long-distance and voice transmissions in place, one final event served as the capstone that made radio an essential technology for the 20 th century. That event was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The "unsinkable" Titanic was equipped with a state-of-the-art Marconi radio system: a rotary spark transmitter, powered by a 5 kilowatt alternator that fed off the ship's lighting circuit, a four wire antenna hoisted 250 feet in the air between the ship's masts, and even a battery powered emergency transmitter. There was a guaranteed transmission range of 250 miles, but at night transmissions could go up to 2000 miles. The two radio operators expected to spend all their time sending and receiving personal communications from the wealthy passengers. And, in fact, from the April 12 sailing until the ship hit the iceberg just past midnight on April 15 they sent 250 such messages. During the two hours from the first distress call until the radio operators abandoned the radio room they sent 30 -35 messages, which were heard as far away as Italy; but not by a ship four miles away, because the radio operator was off duty.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • While over 1, 500 people were lost in this tragedy, about 700 survived - with credit going, largely, to the wireless distress messages that the Titanic broadcast. In the aftermath of this international event several new regulations were put in place for every ship carrying more than 50 people. Included among these were requirements to provide sufficient lifeboats, hold drills, and maintain round the clock radio coverage. Radio had truly come to stay.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • The Power that Made Radio Realistic • In 1909, when Marconi shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Karl Braun, there was no question about the many significant innovations he had brought to the world of wireless radio. There was also no question that his achievements would likely not have been so great if not for the pioneering energy generation work done by Nikola Tesla, whom some consider the real father of radio. Tesla, a Serbian-American of wide-ranging interests, immigrated to the United States at the age of 28 having already thought through one of his greatest scientific contributions how to best use alternating current. Since Thomas Edison's company (later General Electric) was the primary advocate for and builder of direct current systems in the United States, it was natural that upon his arrival Tesla first went to work for Edison. But, it was not long before the two parted ways. Tesla then sold his patent rights for a polyphase system of alternating-current dynamos to Edison's biggest business rival - George Westinghouse.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Today we know that the alternating-current (AC) approach prevailed and that Tesla-type induction motors are found in almost all appliances and power operations. While alternating current prevailed because it minimizes power loss across great distances, at the time, the competition between direct and alternating current systems was fierce. One of the factors that helped the alternating current approach was Westinghouse's winning the contract to provide electrical light at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. This Expo is identified by many scholars as one of the key events in America's burgeoning sense of itself as a major industrial power, leading the way in new technologies.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • • The successful lighting of the Expo was then a factor in Westinghouse winning the contract to install the first hydroelectric power machinery at Niagara Falls. All of the enormous motors at the power station bore Tesla's name and patent numbers. After selling his patents to Westinghouse in 1885, Tesla set up his own lab and worked on a wide variety of projects. These ranged from a carbon button lamp to experiments on the power of electrical resonance. This last set of experiments, on what Tesla called "a simpler device" for the production of electric oscillations, resulted, in 1891, in the device known today as the Tesla Coil. A Tesla Coil is a transformer made up of two parts - a primary and secondary coil, one inside the other. When electrically charged the interaction between the two coils produces a voltage high enough to make the air conduct electric currents. Getting the power high enough to make the air an effective conductor of currents is key to wireless transmission of radio waves.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • • Tesla pursued the application of his coil technology to radio. By tuning a coil to a specific frequency he showed that the radio signal could be greatly magnified through resonant action. However, before he was able to fully demonstrate sending a radio signal 50 miles, his laboratory and equipment were destroyed in a fire. Thus, when Marconi made his famous 1901 Trans. Atlantic transmission, the power portion of his system was based on Tesla's findings. In fact, Tesla and Marconi remained in legal battles for patent priority even after both men died. Just as Tesla made the foundational breakthroughs in power generation which allowed radio to happen, Sweden's Ernst Alexanderson made the power breakthrough that allowed Fessenden to transmit the human voice across a long distance in 1906.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • For the first two decades of radio (1885 -1906), spark gap machines served as the transmitters for most wireless telegraphy. A spark gap transmitter worked in combination with an induction coil, a Morse key, some power source - usually a battery, an earth ground, and an aerial. Power was applied to the coil with the Morse key acting as the on/off device for the power. Once power was received, a capacitor was charged, which caused a spark to jump across the gap between the two metal balls of the spark gap transmitter. This, in turn, caused a current to flow in a tuned circuit, which produced oscillations. By adding an aerial and earth ground, these oscillations could be sent through the atmosphere. Tuning the frequency of the oscillations was dependent on the type and properties of the capacitor and coil.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • Alexanderson came to the United States in 1902, at the age of 24, to work with General Electric on the new and exciting alternating current approaches to power generation. One of his early assignments was to build a transmitter that Reginald Fessenden could use to produce enough power to generate a continuous wave carrier. Fessenden's plan was to attach the sound waves from a human voice to this carrier wave and transmit this mix to radio receiving sets. To do this Fessenden knew that he needed a much higher frequency than the 60 Hertz produced by alternating generators of the time. To get a higher frequency he needed more power.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Through his own developments Fessenden had not been able to create a power generator that would produce even 1, 000 Hertz. Nevertheless, in 1904, Fessenden contracted with General Electric for a machine which would generate a frequency of 100, 000 Hertz. The work took two years. In 1906 the Alexanderson Alternator, a 2 kilowatt, 100 kilohertz alternator, was used by Fessenden to carry out the first long distance broadcast of the human voice. Radio operators hundreds of miles in the Atlantic Ocean were astonished to hear a Bible and poetry reading. They were also treated to a woman singing opera, and a violin playing a Christmas carol.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Always knowing a good thing when he saw it, Marconi purchased 50 and 200 kilowatt Alexanderson Alternators for his trans-Atlantic transmissions. Marconi's Alexanderson Alternators, located in New Jersey, were used in 1918 to broadcast President Wilson's ultimatum to Germany at the close of WWI. Unassuming Ernst Alexanderson produced over 300 patents and served as a leading figure in the development of facsimile communication and television as well as radio. Development of his alternators continued through the mid-1920's when 500, 000 watt transmitters were developed. As great as these longwave alternators were they gave way in the late 1920's to vacuum tube shortwave transmitters that operated at a fraction of the cost and power.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • The Quality that Made Radio Popular • • Although it was the late 1920's before vacuum tube shortwave transmitters began to replace Alexanderson's mighty alternators, exploratory work using vacuum tubes as amplifiers in radio receiving equipment began around 1900. Lee De. Forest, an Iowa preacher's son who earned a Yale Ph. D, announced his Audion vacuum tube in a Scientific American article in 1906. Although he acknowledged in this article that he didn't have a "completely satisfactory theory" as to why the tube amplified the reception of radio signals, understanding this curious tube led other researchers, such as Edwin Armstrong, to significant breakthroughs in amplifying both radio transmissions and reception before, during, and after WWI.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Armstrong was 11 years old when Marconi's trans. Atlantic transmission occurred. It fired his imagination and he became a collector and creator of homemade wireless equipment. As a teenager his patient parents allowed him to build a 125 foot antenna in the yard so he could further his studies on radio. He was 16 when De. Forest announced his Audion tube and one of these fragile, expensive tubes was added to his study equipment. In 1912, as a junior at Columbia University he continued his interest in radio and the Audion tube by inventing a regenerative circuit that fed part of the current back to the grid in the tube. This strengthened the incoming signal. In fact, Armstong received distant stations so loudly that he could hear them without headphones - something unheard of at that time.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Further experiments led him to discover that by increasing the feedback into the tube even more he could produce rapid enough oscillations for the tube to act as a transmitter as well as a receiver. From this work Armstrong's regenerative circuit became the basis for continuous wave transmitters that are still at the heart of radio operations today. When Armstrong entered the Army Signal Corp in WWI he did not leave the development of radio behind. Instead, as in so many areas of technology, work done for the U. S. military during times of war led to significant breakthroughs for civilian industry once the war was completed. So it was with vacuum tubes and radios during and after WWI.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • In 1917, when the U. S. entered WWI, as a result of powers given to it by the Radio Act of 1912 (a law motivated in part by the Titanic disaster), the federal government shut down all private radio operations in the United States. This was not as drastic a measure as it might seem today since the commercial broadcasting we now know did not begin until 1920. But it was major blow to the thousands of amateur or "ham" radio operators who had discovered and begun to popularize the new medium of radio. Many of these men, like Armstrong, joined the Army, Navy, or Merchant Marine in order to put their now precious skills to work on behalf of the United States.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • Whereas communication in previous wars had been dependent on runners, flags, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and other methods, WWI's commanders wanted quicker, more reliable communication with the soldier in the field. And radio had advanced enough to believe this a feasible objective if the Army Signal Corp, working with General Electric/De. Forest Radio and Telephone and Western Electric, could devise a way to go from the pre-War situation in which about 400 vacuum tubes were manufactured per week to making about 20, 000 reliable, powerful tubes a week. As often happens in times of war, the impossible was achieved and General George Squier, Chief Signal Officer of the Army, reported in 1919 that:

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • ". . . engineering advancement accomplished in less than two years represents at least a decade under the normal conditions of peace, and our profession will, it is hoped, profit by this particular salvage of war, which offers perhaps the most striking example extant of a minimum "time-lag" between the advanced "firing line" of so-called pure physics and applied engineering. “ Thus, by the end of WWI, vacuum tubes were developed to the point where they were used for "electric-wave detection, radio-frequency, and audiofrequency amplification, radiotelephony, particularly in the airplane radiophone, continuous-wave radiotelegraphy, voltage and current regulators on generators, and for other miscellaneous purposes. "

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • • Armstrong's work for the Army signal corp fell into another area. His task was to develop a way to detect enemy shortwave communications. In the process of meeting this objective, in 1918 he developed an eighttube receiver that could amplify radio signals to a degree never known before. He named this receiver the superheterodyne circuit and it remains the basic circuit used in nearly 100% of radio and television receivers today. Armstrong had one other great invention up his sleeve FM radio - which both greatly improved the quality of broadcasting and played a major role in making today's cellular and PCS phones possible. An Amplitude Modulation (AM) wave is only about as long as a football field, but an FM wave is as long as the line of sight (horizon), which would greatly improve the quality and distance of radio broadcasting.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • In 1935 Armstrong revealed his final great work, motivated by his own dislike of the static he constantly heard on the radio. His original paper on frequency modulation was entitled "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation. " Likely he did not imagine that this advance would be resisted. But, afraid that FM would make AM radio obsolete and slow down new developments in television, Armstrong's major financial backer withdrew its financial support. So Armstrong established his own distribution channel by building a demonstration inter-city FM relay for New England's Yankee Network. A shift in the location of the FM radio frequency, to accommodate the spectrum needs of the new television industry, made all Armstrong's FM equipment obsolete. It was not until the 1960's, after Armstrong's death, that the quality advantage of FM combined with stereo was enjoyed by most Americans.

Radio Pioneers & Core Technologies (From the FCC) • • • But, beyond the quality that FM brought to radio broadcasting, it also played a role in development of Motorola's 1973 Dyna. TAC - the first cellular phone invented by a Martin Cooper and his team. Although mobile telephones had been around since 1946, it wasn't until the 1980's that the quality of frequency modulated sound, combined with reasonably priced microprocessors, digital switching, and a final decision on celluar system spectrum combined to make it feasible to offer the first commercial cellular phone services in the United States. Today, an unbounded future for wireless radio transmissions remains as much an article of faith in innovative science as it was for Marconi and Fessenden over a century ago. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3 G phones, and cognitive radio are just a few of the technologies that will carry wireless transmissions successfully through radio's second century.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Visionary Period, 1880's Through 1920's • Television was actually invented long before the technology to make it a reality came into being. As early as 1876 Boston civil servant George Carey was thinking about complete television systems and in 1877 he put forward drawings for what he called a "selenium camera" that would allow people to "see by electricity. " In the late 1870's, scientists and engineers like Paiva, Figuier, and Senlecq were suggesting alternative designs for "telectroscopes. " The excitement over the possibility of "seeing at a distance" was promoted even further in a March 1877 New York Sun letter to the editor that said:

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • “An eminent scientist of this city. . . is said to be on the point of publishing a series of important discoveries, and exhibiting an instrument invented by him by means of which objects or persons standing or moving in any part of the world may be instantaneously seen anywhere and by anybody. ”

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Other developments throughout the late 1870's and 1880's included: • Eugen Goldstein's introduction of the term "cathode rays" to describe the light emitted when an electric current was forced through a vacuum tube (1876). • Sheldon Bidwell's experiments in telephotography (1881). • And, in Germany, Paul Nipkow submitted a patent application for a way to electrically transmit images using spinning metal disks; calling it the "electric telescope. "

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Thus, the key ideas for what we know as television were being discussed at the same time that Bell and Edison were becoming famous for their inventions. In fact, many historians believe that the original intent for what we now know as television was to see the person you were talking to on the telephone at the same moment you were speaking. Bell was so concerned that someone would beat him to the punch on such an invention that in 1880 he deposited a sealed box containing a "photophone" with the Smithsonian Institution in case he needed to prove his priority of invention.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • But others did not limit their ideas to just providing images of telephone speakers. An 1890's trading card in the One Hundred Years Hence series depicted people listening to a live concert at home while a device projected the image of the performers on the wall. In fact, there were so many ideas about "distance vision" that it was a major subject at the 1900 World's Fair (Paris), where the 1 st International Congress of Electricity was held. At those August meetings, Russian Constantin Perskyi made the first known use of the word "television. "

• The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) Soon after, the momentum shifted from ideas and discussions to physical development of television systems. Two paths were followed: 1. Mechanical television - based on Nipkow's rotating disks, and 2. Electronic television - based on the cathode ray tube work done independently in 1907 by English inventor A. A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing. • American Charles Jenkins and Scotsman John Baird followed the mechanical model while Philo Farnsworth, working independently in San Francisco, and Russian émigré Vladimir Zworkin, working for Westinghouse and later RCA, advanced the electronic model.

• The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) Jenkins, in the U. S. , and Baird, in England, got the 1 st television programming on the air in the 1920's, even if all they initially broadcast were stick figures and silhouettes. Charles Jenkins also claims two other firsts in regard to American television: – He received the 1 st U. S. television license for W 3 XK (1928), operating out of Wheaton, MD; and – He broadcast the 1 st television commercial in 1930, for which he was promptly fined by the Federal Radio Commission, the predecessor of the FCC.

• • The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) Meanwhile, also in the 1920's, Farnsworth was demonstrating an electronic pickup and image scanning device he called the Image Dissector, and Zworkin introduced his first iconoscope camera tube, which he called an "electric eye. " Yet, because there were no commercial manufacturers of television sets at this time, all of this work went on largely out of the public eye until April 9, 1927. On that day Bell Laboratories and the Department of Commerce (home to the Federal Radio Commission) held the 1 st longdistance transmission of a live picture and voice simultaneously. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was the "star" of the show. He said:

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • • “Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world’s history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown. ” In 1929 RCA's first experimental TV transmissions began showing pictures of the cartoon character Felix The Cat.

• • The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) Golden Age, 1930's through 1950's It was in the years immediately preceding WWII that the television industry we know today was born. RCA's David Sarnoff used his company's exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair in New York as a showcase for the 1 st Presidential speech on television and to introduce RCA's new line of television receivers – some of which had to be coupled with a radio if you wanted to hear sound. In addition, anybody visiting the Fair could go into the RCA pavilion and step before the cameras themselves.

• The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) The excitement about television generated by the 1939 World's Fair carried the interest in television through WWII when development of the medium took a back seat. By the time the war was over the electronic system of television had clearly proven its greater capacity and a period of intense growth took place. Between 1945 and 1948 the number of commercial (as opposed to experimental) television stations grew from 9 to 48 and the number of cities having commercial service went from 8 to 23. And, sales of television sets increased 500%. By 1960 there were 440 commercial VHF stations, 75 UHF stations, and 85% of U. S. households had a television set.

• The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) Thus, in the years after WWII, television became not just a subject for inventors and hobbyists but the focus of entrepreneurs, creative artists, and journalists. – – – • Sarnoff and Alan Du. Mont are representative of the entrepreneurs. Playwrights such as Arthur Miller and Paddy Chayevsky introduced Americans to high drama in programs like Kraft Television Theater, Studio One, and the Actors Studio, beginning in 1947. John Cameron Swayze introduced America to weekday news programming via the Camel Newsreel Theater in 1948. But the scientists and engineers had not gone away. Zworkin developed better camera tubes - the Orthicon in 1943 and the Vidicon in 1950. And other new inventions and technologies furthered the outreach of television. Notable among these were:

• The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) The introduction of coaxial cable, which is a pure copper or copper-coated wire surrounded by insulation and an aluminum covering. These cables were and are used to transmit television, telephone and data signals. The 1 st "experimental" coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first “regular” installation connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, WI in 1941. The original L 1 coaxial-cable system could carry 480 telephone conversations or one television program. By the 1970's, L 5 systems could carry 132, 000 calls or more than 200 television programs.

• • The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) Brothers and Stanford researchers Russell and Sigurd Varian introduced the Klystron in 1937. A Klystron is a high-frequency amplifier for generating microwaves. It is considered the technology that makes UHF-TV possible because it gives the ability to generate the high power required in this spectrum. In 1946 Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated his color television system to the FCC. His system produced color pictures by having a red-blue-green wheel spin in front of a cathode ray tube. This mechanical means of producing a color picture was used in 1949 to broadcast medical procedures from Pennsylvania and Atlantic City hospitals. In Atlantic City, viewers could come to the convention center to see broadcasts of operations. Reports from the time noted that the realism of seeing surgery in color caused more than a few viewers to faint. Although Goldmark's mechanical system was eventually replaced by an electronic system he is recognized as the 1 st to introduce a color television system.

• • The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) In 1945 the 1 st experimiental microwave relay system was introduced by Western Union between New York and Philadelphia. This distribution system transmitted communication signals via radio along a series of towers. With lower costs than coaxial cable, microwave relay stations carried most TV traffic by the 1970’s. In 1948 there were early tests of cable television in the rural area of Lansford, PA. This and other early cable systems primarily provided improved reception of broadcast programming from nearby large cities. Thus, cable television was basically a redelivery system until the late 1960’s.

• The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) In 1956 the Ampex quadruplex videotape replaced the kinescope; making it possible for television programs to be produced anywhere, as well as greatly improving the visual quality on home sets. This physical technology led to a change in organizational technology by allowing high-quality television production to happen away from the New York studios. Ultimately, this led much of the television industry to move to the artistic and technical center of Hollywood with news and business operations remaining on the East Coast.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • In 1957 the 1 st practical remote control, invented by Robert Adler and called the "Space Commander, " was introduced by Zenith. This wireless, ultrasound remote followed and improved upon wired remotes and systems that didn't work well if sunlight shone between the remote and the television.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • This "Golden Age" of television also saw the establishment of several significant technological standards. These included the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) standards for black and white (1941) and color television (1953). In 1952 the FCC made a key decision, via what is known as the Sixth Report and Order, to permit UHF broadcasting for the 1 st time on 70 new channels (14 to 83). This was an essential decision because the Nation was already running out of channels on VHF (channels 2 -13). That decision gave 95% of the U. S. television markets three VHF channels each, establishing a pattern that generally continues today.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Thus the "Golden Age" was a period of intense growth and expansion, introducing many of the television accessories and methods of distribution that we take for granted today. But the revolution – technological and cultural – that television was to introduce to America and the world was just beginning.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Wired, Zapped, and Beamed, 1960's through 1980's • The 1960's through 1980's represented a period of expansion and maturation for television with the addition of a few exciting new technologies like satellite delivery of programming. For example, at the start of this period color television had been introduced but there was little color programming. By 1967, most network programming was in color. And, by 1972 half of U. S. households had a color television.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • 1962 brought the 1 st transatlantic reception of a television signal via the TELSTAR satellite. A 1961 multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Labs, NASA, the British Post Office, and the French National Post Office set in motion efforts to develop, launch, and utilize two mobile telecommunications satellites. TELSTAR was the 1 st of these satellites. TELSTAR was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on July 10 th. The next day the world's 1 st satellite transmission of a short television program took place between Andover, MN and Pleumeur-Bodou, France.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • TELSTAR and later communication satellites began to significantly change American's relationship with and understanding of the world. No longer did it take days or weeks to learn about events in distant lands. This was made vividly clear in 1975 when the fledgling Home Box Office company bought the rights to live transmission of the "The Thrilla from Manila, " the heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. While the broadcast networks would have to wait a day or so for tapes of the fight to be flown in, subscribing cable viewers saw this historic fight as it was happening.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Most experts agree that this transmission, which clearly demonstrated the ability of satellite communications to show realtime images from around the world, forever changed the cable industry and; thus, the television industry.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Satellite delivery of programming was also a major factor in the growth of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). PBS was established as the video arm of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which Congress created in 1967 by passing the Public Broadcasting Act. Although educational television had been around since 1933 when University of Iowa (W 9 XK) was the 1 st educational institution to produce and broadcast video programming (you heard the audio on radio station WSUI), the establishment of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting signaled a statutory commitment to public and educational television. In 1978 PBS was the 1 st network to deliver all its programming via satellite instead of landlines.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • But satellites and the explosive growth of the cable industry they engendered were not the only major technologies of this period. Home videotaping was another major technology introduced during this time. In 1972 the Phillips Corporation introduced video cassette recording (VCR) for the home. From this concept Sony introduced the Betamax format of VCR in 1976 at a suggested retail price of $1, 295. A year later RCA introduced the 1 st VHS format VCR in America. By 1985 the VHS format dominated the U. S. home market.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • The introduction of efficient fiber optic cable in 1970 by Corning's Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz also improved the delivery of television programming to American homes and businesses. These transparent rods of glass or plastic are stretched so they are long and flexible and transmit information digitally using rapid pulses of light. This breakthrough work allowed cable to be created that could carry 65, 000 times more information than conventional copper wire.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • High definition television (HDTV) was also introduced during this period. In 1981 NHK, the Japanese National Broadcasting company, demonstrated their 1, 125 line HDTV system to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers at their Winter conference in San Francisco. This constituted a major breakthrough in the visual quality of television pictures because the sharpness of a television picture is a function of the number of lines per screen – the more lines the sharper and more vivid the image. Think about the technological breakthrough this signaled: – – 60 years before (1921) Jenkins and Baird had been broadcasting at between 30 and 60 lines, and 40 years before (1941) the FCC first required that the NTSC standard of 525 lines be used.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • Finally, this period also saw several significant statutory and regulatory actions. In 1962 Congress passed the All Channel Receiver Act, requiring the inclusion of UHF tuners in all television sets. Also in 1962, as a reflection of the growth and importance of cable television as a means of transmitting television programming, the FCC began regulating cable television. In 1966 these regulations included "must carry" rules requiring cable operators to carry local broadcast programming. In 1972 the FCC issued its "open skies" decision authorizing domestic communications satellites, which significantly expanded the feasibility of using satellites to disseminate television programs. The “open skies” decision led to the 1982 authorization of commercial Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) operations. The 1 st such service began in Indianapolis in 1983.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • • Digitally Networked, 1990's Through Today While it is entirely too early to write a history of television technology over the past decade it can be noted that: – – – The visions for television remain as grand today as they were in the beginning. Pundits still say the frontier remains limitless and predict that the marriage of digital technologies, broadband networks, and television will finally allow television to reach its greatest potential of being an interactive medium. The reach of television is so pervasive (by 1994, 99% of US households had at least one TV) that presidential candidates buy television time to hold "town meetings. " Scientists and engineers still create technologies that expand the capabilities of television.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • In the past decade closed-captioning has opened up television to millions of hearing-impaired viewers and V-Chips have enabled parents to take control over what their children watch. Digital video recorders are empowering television viewers at the same time they challenge traditional assumptions about television financing and viewing.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • The FCC continues to play an active role in this changing television environment. In 1994 HDTV standards were established and a plan for the transition from analog to digital transmission of television programming has been rolled out throughout the decade.

The Technological History of Television (From the FCC) • The challenge ahead for viewers, members of the television industry, and the FCC will be to work together to harness television’s still evolving technologies in such a way that they ensure that all Americans share in the benefits of the digital revolution. • A recent addition to this information might also be the transition from analog to digital television signals in 2009.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • This section of the History site summarizes and highlights aspects of the more recent history of the Internet and recognizes some of the Internet's key inventions and inventors. Through the information on these pages, the FCC hopes to inform and, possibly, inspire with a few reminders of the great achievements that make the Internet as we know it today possible. Information and links on this web page are designed to provide a fuller understanding of the history and technology of the Internet.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Something to Share • When the Defense Department issued a $19, 800 contract on December 6, 1967, for the purpose of studying the "design and specification of a computer network, " the world didn't take notice. But it should have. For, from that small, four-month study grew the ARPANET. And, from ARPANET emerged the Internet.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Like many information and communications technologies, the Internet we know today grew from seeds planted by the U. S. government. Specifically, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was established in 1957 to respond to the perceived scientific and technological advantage then-Soviet Union displayed in launching the Sputnik satellite. ARPA was charged to "direct or perform such advanced projects in the field of research and development as the Secretary of Defense shall, from time to time, designate by individual project or by category. " In plain language this meant that ARPA, along with the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was to regain technical superiority for the United States.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Some of those employed by ARPA realized the only way this goal could be achieved was to bring together the brain-power resident in discrete pockets at universities and research institutions spread across the United States. To maximize this sharing of brainpower, it quickly became clear that significant advances in computing technology were required. These computing advances had to provide avenues for both the sharing of ideas and the sharing of computing power and programs. So, an Information Process Techniques Office (IPTO) was created within ARPA in 1962 to achieve this purpose.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • The first head of that office was J. C. R. Licklider. He envisioned an "intergalactic" community which could emerge from a single computer time-sharing system. He thought such a community possible because he held a different view of computers. Instead of thinking of computers as giant calculators, Licklider laid out a vision in which computers would fulfill their greatest promise as a "communication medium between people. "

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • About this same time, a RAND researcher by the name of Paul Baran was working on a classified U. S. Air Force contract, whose purpose was to identify ways to strengthen the Nation's telecommunication infrastructure so that it could survive a nuclear strike. Part of his solution was to develop distributed telecommunication networks. If information was truly distributed, instead of everything flowing into and out of central points, then a network could still work effectively even if some legs of the network were damaged or removed. Implementing such a distributed network involved a technique called packet switching.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • While this classified early-1960 s work was not directly known to ARPA staff, its ideas of a distributed network using packet switching were key concepts for the ARPANET. Thankfully, for the development of the ARPANET, unclassified work on these concepts was also being done independently by other researchers, such as Donald Davies and Leonard Kleinrock.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Packet switching is an approach that breaks a message down into separate, discrete pieces or packets. Each packet then moves from its point of origin to its destination over any open route, regardless of which path the other packets take. When all the packets arrive at the destination they are reassembled -and the message is delivered intact.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • With these ideas -- packet switching and computers as galactic communication devices -- in place, what was needed were technologies that allowed different computers, from different manufacturers, with different operating systems to communicate with each other. To meet this technological need ARPA decided to "contract out, " using a competitive bidding process among 140 potential bidders.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • In 1968, $563, 000 was committed to a contract with the purpose of designing, constructing, installing, testing, and maintaining four interface message processors (IMPS) that would link computers at the Stanford Research Institute, UC-Santa Barbara, UCLA, and the University of Utah. The contract promised that these IMPS would: – "Provide the communications capability required for the ARPA computer research facilities but. . . also be a unique prototype of future communications systems. "

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Thus, from these beginnings the ARPANET was born. On October 15, 1969, on the second try, the IMPS installed at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute connected and began a communication revolution with the words "log in. "

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • • Common Standards In 1969, when the ARPANET eventually connected computers at Stanford, UCLA, UCSanta Barbara, and the University of Utah, it was a significant step toward realizing the vision of the computer as an extender of human capabilities. But, four connected computers did not constitute a "galactic" network. How ARPANET created the foundation upon which today's true "galactic" network, the Internet, is built is a story about using common standards and protocols to implement vision.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • One historian of the Internet says, "In the beginning was - chaos. " And so it often is when people are trying something so new that many can't even find words to describe it. But, while chaos can bring great energy and excitement, differing techniques, media, and protocols have to give way to common approaches if a build-up of chaotic energy is to result in something other than an explosion.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Excerpts from Request for Comments (RFC) 100 (August 1987) give a peek into how the original ARPANET team harnessed the energy of their new creation. These insights also show that, from its very beginning, today's Internet was conceived and established as a peer-to-peer network: – "At this point we knew only that the network was coming, but the precise details weren't known. That first meeting was seminal. We had lots of questions. . No one had any answers, we did come to one conclusion: We ought to meet again. The first few meetings were quite tenuous. We had no official charter. Most of us were graduate students and we expected that a professional crew would show up eventually to take over the problems we were dealing with. . later. . . it became clear to us that we had better start writing down our discussions. . I remember having great fear that we would offend whomever the official protocol designers were. . . (so we labeled our decisions) "Request for Comments" or RFC's.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • "Over the spring and summer of 1969 we grappled with the detailed problems of protocol design. Although we had a vision of the vast potential for intercomputer communication, designing usable protocols was another matter. . It was clear we needed to support remote login for interactive use -later known as Telnet -- and we needed to move files from machine to machine. We also knew that we needed a more fundamental point of view for building a larger array of protocols. With the pressure to get something working and the general confusion as to how to achieve the high generality we all aspired to, we punted and defined the first set of protocols to include only Telnet and FTP functions. In December 1969, we met with Larry Roberts in Utah, and suffered our first direct experience with "redirection". Larry made it abundantly clear that our first step was not big enough, and we went back to the drawing board. Over the next few months we designed a symmetric host protocol, and we defined an abstract implementation of the protocol known as the Network Control Program. ("NCP" later came to be used as the name for the protocol, but it originally meant the program within the operating system that managed connections. The protocol itself was known blandly only as the host-host protocol. ) Along with the basic host-host protocol, we also envisioned a hierarchy of protocols, with Telnet, FTP and some splinter protocols as the first examples.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • "The initial experiment had been declared an immediate success and the network continued to grow. More and more people started coming to meetings, and the Network Working Group began to take shape. Working Group meetings started to have 50 and 100 people in attendance instead of the half dozen we had in 1968 and early 1969. . In October 1971 we all convened at MIT for a major protocol "fly-off. " Where will it end? The network has exceeded all estimates of its growth. It has been transformed, extended, cloned, renamed and reimplemented. But the RFCs march on. "

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Indeed they do. Today there are nearly 4000 RFC's and they are just one of several mechanisms used to propose and decide on standards for the Internet – a network of networks that learned from the ARPANET but had to be created and developed on its own terms. Because of the increasing complexity the Internet’s TCP/IP protocols represented when compared to ARPANET’s NCP protocol – simply put, the difference between creating one national network versus linking multiple, world-wide networks several additional methods and organizations were established in the 1980 s and 1990 s to deal with protocol and standards. First among these was the 1986 establishment of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF took over responsibility for short-to-medium term Internet engineering issues, which had previously been handled by the Internet Activities Board. The Internet Society (ISOC), begun in 1992, provides an organizational home for the IETF and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) (previously IAB stood for the Internet Activities Board).

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Another organization, the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) -- established in 1998, is a public-private partnership that is "responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address. "

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • These, and other, organizations employ a variety of working groups, task forces, and committees to work through a multi-stage process of suggesting, reviewing, accepting, and issuing standards for the Internet. When a specification reaches the point that it "is characterized by a high degree of technical maturity and by a generally held belief that the specified protocol or service provides significant benefit to the Internet community" it is released as an Internet Standard. Today there are 63 Internet Standards.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • By making common standards a routine practice from the beginning, ARPANET began pouring a strong foundation. In fact, ARPANET was so dedicated to common standards that RFC 1 was issued on April 7, 1969, six months before the first network connection was made. By 1982, when ARPANET transitioned to the use of the TCP/IP inter-networking protocols, the foundational footings had fully settled and the way was open for broader public involvement.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • In 1987, the National Science Foundation (NSF) took over the funding and responsibility for the civilian nodes of the ARPANET. In addition, NSF had built their own T 1 backbone for the purpose of hooking the Nation's five supercomputers together. While the slower ARPANET nodes continued in operation, the faster T 1 backbone of the NSFnet, increasingly called the Internet, began to get lots of attention from private enterprises. Officially sanctioned civilian demands upon the NSFnet/Internet included: – – MCI Mail and Compu. Serve, first formally sanctioned commercial email carriers connected to the Internet, 1988 and 1989; and The World Comes On Line, first public dial-up Internet Service Provider, 1989.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • By the time the ARPANET was formally decommissioned in 1990, the NSFnet/Internet was poised for explosive growth. When the NSF lifted all restrictions on commercial use of its network backbone in 1991, today's Internet was begun.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Making the Connections • The ARPANET, predecessor to the Internet, started with an inspiring vision of a "galactic" network, practical theory about packet switching, and a suite of standardized protocols. But none of this would have mattered if there hadn't also been a way to make and maintain connections.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Author Ronda Hauben described some of the early concerns about network transmission quality this way: – "In 1966 -67 Lincoln Labs in Lexington, Massachusetts, and SDR in Santa Monica, California, got a grant from the DOD to begin research on linking computers across the continent. Larry Roberts, describing this work, explains,

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • "Convinced that it was a worthwhile goal, we set up a test network to see where the problems would be. Since computer time-sharing experiments at MIT (CTSS) and Dartmouth (DTSS) had demonstrated that it was possible to link different computer users to a single computer, the cross country experiment built on this advance. " (i. e. Once timesharing was possible, the linking of remote computers was also possible. ) Roberts reports that there was no trouble linking dissimilar computers. The problems, he claims, were with the telephone lines across the continent, i. e. that the throughput was inadequate to accomplish their goals. "

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Packet switching resolved many of the issues identified during the pre-ARPANET, time-sharing experiments. But, higher-speed phone circuits also helped. The first wide area network demonstrated in 1965 between computers at MIT's Lincoln Lab, ARPA's facilities, and the System Development Corporation in California utilized dedicated 1200 bps circuits. Four years later, when the ARPANET began operating, 50 Kbps circuits were used. But, it wasn't until 1984 that ARPANET traffic levels were such that it became more cost-effective to lease T 1 lines (1. 5 Mbps) than to continue using multiple 50 Kbps lines.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • The increasing connection speed of T 1 lines brought with it increasing demand, particularly from private sector businesses. By 1991, when all restrictions on commercial use of the Internet were lifted, the National Science Foundation (NSF) -- who from 1987 to 1995 helped the U. S. make the transition from the ARPANET to today's Internet -- had its entire network backbone connected to 45 Mbps T 3 lines. In 1994, a year before the private sector assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the Internet backbone, the NSF upgraded the Internet backbone to Asynchronous Transmission Mode, 145 Mbps.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • While large institutions, governments, and businesses have found it economically worthwhile to pay for highspeed connections for most of the past forty years, in most American homes - where the Internet became of interest after the introduction of the graphically-oriented World Wide Web in 1993 - affordable Internet access has been limited to 56 kbps modems operating over public phone lines. However, recently introduced broadband products and services offer North American households the possibility of getting access to a bit more of the bandwidth and connection speed actually available on the Internet. North American household's access to broadband began in 1996, when Rogers Communications introduced the first cable modem service in Canada.

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • Broadband encompasses several digital technologies (cable, satellite, DSL, power line, and wireless) that provide consumers with integrated access to voice, high-speed data, video-ondemand, and interactive delivery services. The Congressional Research Service says that:

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • “Broadband access, along with the content and services it might enable, has the potential to transform the Internet. . . For example, a two-way, high-speed connection could be used for interactive applications such as online classrooms, showrooms, or health clinics, where teacher and student (or customer and salesperson, doctor and patient) can see and hear each other through their computers. An “always on” connection could be used to monitor home security, home automation, or even patient health remotely through the web. The high speed and high volume that broadband offers could also be used for bundled service where, for example, cable television, video-on-demand, voice, data, and other services are all offered over a single line. ”

The Internet: A Short History of Getting Connected (From the FCC) • A growing percentage of U. S. households seem to agree that broadband connections have many advantages. Between 2000 and 2001, broadband subscriptions rose over 50%, with an additional 48% growth in 2003. And, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 39% of adult Internet users have broadband access at home.

Study Questions • Directions: WRITE the answers to the following questions on your own paper. You do not have to write the questions. 1) What inventions, technical advancements, and social developments led to the creation of the radio as we know it today? What was the telegraph, and how did it work? Who was Guglielmo Marconi and why is he so important? 2) 3) 4) Why was Westinghouse's winning the contract to provide electrical light at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 so important in American History? 5) Many people have said that Tesla was actually a smarter man that Einstein. Why do you think people might think this? Why was the development of FM radio so important? What were the social and political impacts caused by the development of the radio? What are some recent technological developments that have changed radio? What are some recent programming developments and the future of radio? What inventions, technical advancements, and social developments led to the creation of the television as we know it today? 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

Study Questions • Directions: WRITE the answers to the following questions on your own paper. You do not have to write the questions. 11) What were the social and political impacts caused by the development of the television? What are some recent technological developments that have changed television? What are some recent programming developments and the future of television? Why is it said that television was actually invented before the technology to make it really existed? How is this possible? What is thought to be the original purpose for the development of the television? When did the internet as we know it today become something that everyone could use? What inventions, technical advancements, and social developments led to the creation of the internet as we know it today? What were the social and political impacts caused by the development of the internet? What are some recent technological developments that have changed the internet? What are some recent programming developments and the future of the internet? 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20)

VOCABULARY/TERMINOLOGY • Directions: WRITE the word and the definition on your own paper. 1) Radio 2) The wireless 3) Coherer 4) Frequency 5) Direct Current (DC) 6) Alternating Current (AC) 7) Patent Priority 8) “ham” radio 9) Television 10) telectroscopes 11)Cathode Rays 12)telephotography 13)photophone 14)Coaxial Cable 15) Klystron 16) fiber optic cable 17)Internet 18)ARPANET 19)Packet Switching 20)Broadband

PROJECT • • Directions: Develop a Communications Time Line using any software on the computer you feel comfortable with. Your time line should include the development of all types of communications, such as language, written communications, radio, television, and the internet. You should include pictures or video where appropriate. Be prepared to present your Time Line to the class.