TELEVISION: THE EARLIEST DAYS
RTV 3007 • Intro to Television
RADIO IS STILL
IN CHARGE
• Stations still used radio to
pay for TV programming
• In 1947 ABC allowed prerecorded material on radio,
creating first disk jockeys
by major network.
THE BOOM
• After World War 2, people saved money to buy TV sets.
• Improvements in picture quality
• Taverns rushed to acquire TV sets to show sports
• 1947 – Meet the Press
• Started as radio show in 1945: The American Mercury Presents: Meet
the Press
• First host:
http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/EmbeddedOffSite?guid=n_madd
ow_ablock_140905
• http://www.nbcnews.com/video/meet-the-press/33312057#33312057
• 1948 - Democratic and GOP National Conventions televised
THE COLD WAR
• 1947 House Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating film
industry workers with suspected ties to Communism.
• Public hearings underscored the propaganda potential of film.
• Studios fired suspected writers and actors ties. Beginning of Hollywood
Blacklist.
• J. Edgar Hoover warns FCC not to issue broadcast licenses to parties with
ties to Communism.
• FCC asked for proof. FBI said no, confidential sources.
• Birth of industry marked by “caution and cowardice.”
THE BLACKLIST
• Red Channels named dozens of TV and
radio writers, actors, producers, directors,
executives as Communist sympathizers.
• Shows began disappearing from TV and
radio.
• Actors and actresses were suddenly
dismissed from series.
• Blacklist management became part of the
industry.
US VS. PARAMOUNT PICTURES 1948
• Movie studios could no longer own movie theaters
• The US would no longer restrict imports of foreign films
• US movie industry reinvented itself
• Hollywood laid off hundreds of writers, directors, producers, actors
• These Hollywood expats migrated to New York to try their hand at
television
HIT TV SHOWS IN 1949
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=BEOSROHAHK8
• Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle (Uncle Miltie)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghqvldZ7Wso
• Toast of the Town with Ed Sullivan
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE8QPLk2zxI
HIT TV SHOWS IN 1949
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=BEOSROHAHK8
• “Law and order” television was popular
• Law and order series were produced as formulaic episodes.
• Because of Cold War, bankers and businessmen could not be portrayed as
bad guys on TV
• TV shows were live
FOLLOW THAT MAN 1949-1956
• Top-ranked TV show. Produced live.
• Could not gauge length of show. At the end of each episode a “search” scene
where the star looked for clues. He would time this scene based on how
much time was left
• Sponsored by Camel cigarettes.
• The bad guys could not smoke cigarettes.
• The show could not cover arson because fires might tie to cigarettes.
• No one could cough
• Doctors had to be shown in a positive manner
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZl5QV4pl9k
BIRTH OF PUBLIC BROADCASTING - 1950
• 1950 – Council on Educational Television is created
• President Eisenhower appoints Freida Hennock, first woman to the FCC,
who heads this commission.
• 1951 – Ford Foundation report showed that Americans witness more than
2970 acts or threats of violence on TV in one week
• In 1952 the FCC reserves
some TV channels
(both VHF and UHF)
for educational TV
AMERICA LOVES LUCY 1951-TODAY
• First scripted TV show filmed instead of broadcast live.
• Filmed before a studio audience (no laugh track).
• Pioneered multi-camera technique.
• Produced in Hollywood. (Ended NYC’s hold on TV)
• Lucy & Desi were TV’s first “interracial couple”
• Top-rated TV show after 1 year
• January 19, 1953 – Lucy character has her baby on TV. Nearly 70% of all TV
sets were tuned in to watch.
AMERICA LOVES LUCY 1951-TODAY
• Because Lucy & Desi owned the rights to the show, they became the first
multi-millionaire TV stars.
• Since its initial broadcast in 1951, I Love Lucy has never stopped airing on
TV.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Kcq1K-51M
TV IN 1952
• TV moves to pre-recorded content rather than live broadasts
• Political parties focus on TV over radio
• TV expands internationally – Europe, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba
• Eisenhower wins TV through scripted presentations: arrival of hero, speech,
departure of hero
• Nixon’s Checkers speech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqjwBDH-vhY
• Radio changes its format to compete with TV