A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DTelevision by William H. Dunlap, Stan OpotowskyTelevision, the transmission and reception of sound and visual images by electronic means. It is the primary entertainment and information medium in the United States and much of the industrialized world. More than 98 percent of U.S. households contain at least one television set and more than 61 percent receive cable television. Industry sources estimate that the average household watches television for about seven hours a day. Major advertising agencies consider television not only the most effective conveyor of their messages but, despite high total costs, the most economical way of reaching a mass audience.
Technical Developments No single person can be credited with the invention of television. The perfection of the modern television system was the result of a number of isolated discoveries in the related fields of electricity, electromagnetism, and electrochemistry. The isolation of the element selenium in 1817, by Baron Jons Berzelius of Sweden, laid the foundation for television research. In 1873 Louis May, a British telegrapher, found that selenium, when exposed to light, was a strong conductor of electricity. Another important step was made in 1878, when Sir William Crookes invented a tube which produced cathode rays. The first working television system was devised by Paul Nipkow of Germany in 1884. Nipkow's mechanical scanning disk picked up fragments of a picture through small holes and re-etched them onto a light-sensitive selenium tube. The resulting picture, once reassembled at a receiving apparatus, was only the crudest of shadows. Additional gains in research were made in 1888, when W. Hallwachs demonstrated the possibility of using photoelectric cells in cameras, and in 1907, when Boris Rosing of Russia and A. A. Campbell-Swinton of Great Britian, working independently of one another, suggested the use of cathode rays for the reconstitution of the image at the receiver. The work of the pioneers in radio--Heinrich Hertz, John Fleming, Thomas Edison, and Lee De Forest--was also essential to the progress of television, since it developed the methods of broadcasting needed to relay the signals to distant points. The first men to attempt to market television sets were John Baird, a Scot, and Charles F. Jenkins, of the United States. During the 1920's Baird and Jenkins conducted experiments using the mechanical- scanning-disk principle along with vacuum-tube amplifiers and photoelectric cells. Their devices transmitted tiny orange-and-black pictures that were too small and too uneven for public acceptance. At the same time, large American corporations--notably Westinghouse, General Electric (GE), Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T)--entered into television research. This move marked the beginning of group scientific research, fully financed by corporations. The foremost scientist working in these research programs was Vladimir K. Zworykin, a Russian immigrant to the United States, who worked first for Westinghouse and subsequently for RCA. In 1923 Zworykin patented the ``iconoscope,'' an electronic camera tube that was based on the Campbell-Swinton cathode-tube principle. At the same time, Philo T. Farnsworth, an American engineer, was working independently toward an electronic scanning system along somewhat the same lines as Zworykin's iconoscope. After a three-year battle with RCA, Farnsworth was awarded the patent on his pickup tube, also developed and called ``kinescope'' by Zworykin. Another independent experimenter, Allen B. Dumont, further developed the kinescope tube and marketed the first modern home television receiver in 1939. Experiments with color television began as early as 1940. In 1948 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) announced it had developed a system for color television, and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) followed in 1949. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) refereed the long struggle for a patent. The patent was finally awarded to NBC on the ground that its system was based on an electronic tube and therefore was compatible--that is, NBC color transmissions could be received in black and white on existing sets, as well as in color on specially designed sets. Commercial color television began operations in 1954. In black and white and color, the U.S. television picture consists of 525 horizontal lines in a 4:3 width-to-height ratio. Images are ``scanned'' onto the screen at the rate of 30 per second. Developed later, European television adopted a 625-line screen for better picture quality. In the 1990's both technologies were threatened by high-definition television (HDTV), a 1,125-line picture on a wider, 16:9 ratio screen that provides picture quality equivalent to that of motion pictures. HDTV, developed by the Japanese Broadcast Corporation (NHK), was demonstrated in the United States in 1982. In 1993 the companies competing for the right to develop high-definition technologies in the United States agreed to collaborate, making it likely that HDTV will be available to U.S. consumers in the near future. A system that transmits images and sounds in digital form was proposed for broadcasting the HDTV signal in the United States. (For a more detailed discussion of the technology of television, see Radio and Television Broadcasting and Reception.)
The first long-distance telecast in the United States was set up by AT&T on Apr. 7, 1927. On that date Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover spoke from a makeshift studio in Washington, D.C.; the sight and sound were received in New York, some 200 miles away. In 1928, General Electric received the first license for an experimental television broadcasting station, to be operated by WGY, the GE radio outlet in Schenectady, N.Y. A second experimental station, W2XBS, was established in New York in 1930 by the National Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of RCA. This station began its experiments using mechanical scanning equipment. The Columbia Broadcasting System initiated its experimental broadcasts in the following year. The world's first regularly scheduled television programs were launched by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London in 1936, but were interrupted a few years later by World War II. In the United States, the first regular schedule was begun in 1939 by NBC's station W2XBS, which now used all-electronic equipment. NBC's first broadcast was of Franklin Delano Roosevelt opening the World's Fair in New York. The public, however, did not respond eagerly to the new medium. After two years of BBC broadcasting, manufacturers in England had sold only 3,000 sets; after five months of NBC broadcasting, RCA had sold only 400 sets. The small group of men who were leading the infant television industry were confident that the new medium would some day dominate the entertainment field, but others felt that television's future lay in its industrial applications. AT&T, for example, thought that the true function of television ultimately would be commercial communication; they envisaged a television-telephone that would be used to send pictures, charts, and blueprints from one distant company to another. But it was the commercial radio industry that had gained control of television, and it proceeded to pattern television programing and financing on the same principles as that of radio. On July 1, 1941, NBC's New York station, now called WNBT, and CBS's station, WCBW, were licensed as the first commercial stations in the United States.
During World War II, the six stations that had been licensed remained in operation, although they broadcast only a few minor programs. During this broadcasting hiatus, however, many of the technical problems of television were eliminated. This was due, in part, to a convenient coincidence: the radar systems that were developed for the military were based on the same electronic principles as television, and thus each step forward for wartime radar was also an advance for peacetime television. War also ended the Depression of the 1930's, making it possible for many families to purchase television sets. By the end of the war there were, in the United States, a total of 7,000 receiving sets. Stations were located in only five cities: New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Schenectady. There was a two-year delay in the expansion of television after the war while the FCC considered proposed color systems, but these early color-television plans were rejected in 1947, and black-and-white receivers began to be manufactured in large quantities. By 1948 more than 25 new stations were in operation. Four networks had been established: in addition to CBS and NBC there were the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and the Dumont Television Network (Dumont later ceased operation, in 1955). Manufacturers were producing 140,000 sets a month, and the coaxial cable linking the scattered stations in network systems had spread halfway across the nation. The television industry generally accepts 1948 as the year it attained complete public acceptance. During that year, comedian Milton Berle became the first important star to have a regular program, the tremendous success of which helped lift television from its previous status as a medium for amateur theatricals to a position of professional entertainment. It was in 1948, too, that the number of receiving sets reached a proportion where the stations felt they could charge their advertisers sizable fees rather than the token payments that had previously been accepted for experimental programs. Consequently, television advertising rates were increased by 25 to 50 percent during 1948. By 1950, there were 104 television stations broadcasting to over ten million sets. By the end of 1972 the number of television stations in the nation had increased to over 600. For over 35 years the broadcast television industry grew and prospered, led by the three national networks, which together commanded as much as 90 percent of the viewing audience on any given evening. But in the 1980's, cable television intruded on the networks, providing viewers with alternative programming. Many of cable's new channels were targeted to specific audiences, such as sports fans, and taken together they chipped away at the networks' audiences. Further, a new spurt in television station growth took place in the early and middle 1980's, when more than 200 independent stations not affiliated with the three networks signed on the air and attracted substantial audiences. In 1986 more than 100 of the independent stations became affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, a unit of Fox Inc., to form a fourth television network. The three traditional networks saw their combined share of the prime- time audience drop from 80 percent in the early 1980's to just over 60 percent in the early 1990's.
The first step in live global communications by earth satellite was made on July 10, 1962, when the National Space Agency launched the Telstar I satellite. The first trans-Atlantic broadcast was of Vice- President Lyndon B. Johnson and other officials speaking in Washington, D.C. This broadcast was sent by telephone wire to the American Telephone and Telegraph ground station at Andover, Me. The broadcast was relayed to Telstar I, which in turn relayed it to stations at Pleumeur-Bodou, France, and Goonhilly Down, England. The following evening, the French station sent back via communications satellite a seven-minute taped program starring actor and singer Yves Montand. Early Bird, launched on Apr. 6, 1965, and operated by the Communications Satellite Corp. , was the first commercial communications satellite. From the middle 1970's the booming cable television industry became the driving force behind more and more communications satellites providing programming to thousands of cable systems across the country. By the middle 1980' s, most television stations received their network program feeds and much of their syndicated programming by satellite. In many areas without cable television, homeowners put up their own receiving dishes to take programming directly from the satellites. In 1982, the FCC authorized a new satellite service, direct broadcast satellite (DBS), which would consist of high-power satellites broadcasting directly to homes equipped with small inexpensive satellite dishes. Eight DBS applicants were awarded construction permits, but seven of the eight dropped out after a few years. In 1988 the FCC granted channels to a new round of eight applicants, but in the early 1990' s there were only two potential DBS providers--Hubbard Broadcasting' s United States Satellite Broadcasting and Hughes Communications' DirecTv. Early in 1993, both services signed contracts with program suppliers and said they would begin service in 1994. Viewers would need an 18-inch (46-cm) dish antenna and related hardware with a total cost projected at $700. As many as 150 channels could be offered. (For information regarding the technical aspects of communications satellites, see also Communications Satellite.)
Local Stations There are approximately 1,150 full-power commercial television stations in the United States--about 640 stations affiliated with the three traditional networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC), about 140 affiliated with Fox, about 40 affiliated with the Univision or Telemundo Spanish-language networks, and about 330 others, including traditional independents, religious broadcasters, and home-shopping services. All are licensed by the FCC and assigned a channel designation from 2 to 69. Channels 2 to 13 are designated VHF channels, for very high frequency, and are the more desirable slots because they cover wider geographical areas than UHF, or ultra high frequency, channels 14 to 69. Most, but by no means all, ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates are on the VHF band, primarily because they were generally the first stations in their respective cities. Most, but not all, Fox and independent stations were built more recently and assigned channels on the UHF band. The growth of cable television has tended to make the distinction between VHF and UHF less important by equalizing the picture and sound quality of all stations carried into the home. Affiliates of ABC, CBS, and NBC generally offer network programming for about 12 hours a day. On weekdays a typical affiliate will present two hours of morning news and talk, such as NBC's venerable Today show, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. (All times refer to Eastern or Pacific time; Mountain and Central times are an hour earlier for most programs. ) In the early afternoon, they generally offer up to three and a half hours of ``soap operas.'' The late afternoon consists of syndicated programming purchased by the station, often high-profile talk shows like Donahue, followed by local news and network news. At 7 p.m. stations program an hour of syndicated or locally produced programming. In recent years, the hour has become one of the most lucrative for stations, with syndicated programs such as game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune and pseudo-news shows such as A Current Affair and Entertainment Tonight drawing large audiences. Network prime time runs from 8 p. m. to 11 p.m. followed by a half hour of local news, two or more hours of network late-night entertainment, and an overnight news broadcast. On Saturday mornings the networks traditionally offered children' s programs until NBC began a Saturday version of Today. Sunday morning fare is mostly public service news shows. Weekend afternoons are made up of a mix of network sports and syndicated shows. Independents program their whole broadcast day with syndicated or locally produced programs. Most offer children's programs weekdays in the early mornings and late afternoons. Few provide an early evening news. Prime time traditionally meant movies on independents, but in recent years many have opted for original syndicated dramas such as Star Trek: Voyager. A growing number of independents offer a local news broadcast at 10 p.m., an hour before the affiliates go to news. Late night generally means older syndicated programs and movies. Fox started its network service for independents with a late-night talk show starring comedian Joan Rivers in 1986, followed the next year by two hours of original programs on weekend nights. The talk show failed, but by 1993 Fox affiliates could present at least two hours of prime-time network shows every night and a two-hour afternoon block and a Saturday morning block of children's programs.
The big three television networks--ABC, CBS, and NBC--remain the most powerful, most watched distributors of television programming. However, throughout the late 1970's and the 1980's their dominance was severely eroded. Independent stations flourished, home video became an option for many viewers, and cable television grew rapidly. In the early 1990's, despite the emergence of Fox as a network, the decline of the big three seemed to level off. Fewer new independents were signing on the air and cable became a mature business. As their fortunes seemed to plummet in the 1980's, all three of the traditional networks changed hands. In 1985, Capital Cities Broadcasting, owner of several television stations, agreed to acquire ABC. General Electric bought RCA Corporation and its NBC subsidiary in 1986. At CBS, Loew's Corporation Chairman Laurence Tisch, who controlled 11 percent of CBS stock, won control of the company in a 1986 boardroom struggle that ousted President Thomas Wyman and eased out founder William Paley, who died in 1990. All three networks and Fox also own groups of television stations in the country's largest cities. Capital Cities/ABC has the largest group, eight stations serving almost one-fourth of the country's television households. During the formative years of television, the three networks utilized a programming system first developed for radio. Network time was sold to advertising agencies, which then took full responsibility, financial and artistic, for producing a program for a client. By the 1960's this system had disappeared completely. Networks decided it was financially dangerous to surrender control of their time and when programming shifted from the relatively inexpensive variety and live drama shows to more costly filmed shows, broader financial support was needed. Networks began to buy their shows from major studios and independent producers. To spread the costs, networks sold commercial time. The networks sell all the commercial time within a program, allowing their affiliates to sell the intervals between programs, which came to be called "stations breaks.'' In addition to supplying programming to their affiliates, the networks also pay the stations "compensation'' an amount based on the programs the stations carry and the size of the metropolitan areas served by the stations. Such a system resulted in a strong bond between the networks and their affiliates, but as stations and networks came under economic pressure in the late 1980' s, compensation was reduced and affiliates became more likely to preempt a weak network show with syndicated programs or local sports events.
In the early days of television, whether an agency or a sponsor was responsible for a network show or not, the actual production was usually in the hands of what was then called a packager. The packager could be an individual star, such as Bob Hope, whose own production company would accept a flat fee for a program and pay expenses out of that fee; or it could be an established motion picture studio, such as Paramount, whose sound stages were well suited for television production. A third category of producer was the independent production company, which most often produced exclusively for television. More recently, most prime-time network television has come to be produced by a major studio or by an independent producer with financial backing from a major studio. As television production costs rose, as the network arena became more competitive, and as regulatory restraints were relaxed, the production business became more complicated. The big three networks had traditionally produced their own daytime soap operas and news programming, but in the early 1990's they increased their in-house production of prime- time shows. In a few instances, one network was even producing programs for sale to another. And competitors like the premium cable service Home Box Office were producing for the networks and syndication. The tight economics of television forced production companies to take a long-term look at the programs they made. Where they could once produce a half-hour comedy or an hour drama series and sell it to a network at a profit, the 1980's brought change. As the networks' audience declined so did their ability to pay for programming. To get a show on the air, producers most often had to accept a license fee that was below production costs. But they retained ownership of the shows they produced and the potentially lucrative syndication rights. Such a situation tended to concentrate production in the major studios, which could afford to absorb the costs of failed series while waiting for the elusive hit that would give them bargaining leverage at network renewal time and could later become a syndication goldmine.
Television syndication is the sale of programs directly to television stations for scheduling as the station sees fit. It is made up of off-network series--those that have had a successful run on a network- -and first-run series--those that are produced specifically for syndication- -as well as movies, sports, and special events. In general, successful off-network syndication requires at least a three-year run on the network to provide audience familiarity and a sufficient number of episodes. Because most syndicated product is designed to be run five times a week rather than the once-a-week network run, a minimum of 65 episodes is needed to provide a full quarter of a year without repeats. The most successful usually have considerably more episodes. Cheers, for example, was on NBC for 11 seasons during which 271 episodes were produced. Traditionally, network reruns and movies were sold in syndication for cash payment. The station would buy a specified number of airings over a period of time and it would sell all the commercial time in the program or movie. Programs created for syndication, because they were unproven and thus a riskier investment, were generally provided at no cost to the station, but rather for "barter.'' That means the producer or distributor would retain about half of the commercial spots in the program and sell them to national advertisers. As television became more competitive in the 1980's, such distinctions faded and the most popular shows generally required cash and one or two barter spots. The 1980's were boom years for syndication as hundreds of independent stations signed on the air. Such stations had to buy or produce all their programming and in many metropolitan areas they bid prices for top shows and movies to ridiculous heights. New program suppliers sprouted up and the syndication arms of the major studios prospered. In its first five years of syndication, license fees and national advertising sales for the hit NBC series The Cosby Show generated more than $1 billion for the owners and distributors of the series. At the end of the decade, however, when Fox began providing network programming to many independents, demand for syndicated shows fell and a soft economy forced stations into more realistic buying habits. A number of syndicators went out of business and others consolidated.
Advertisers may buy television time in several ways. For a national advertiser whose products are available across the country, network television and barter syndication are the most attractive vehicles. Although the costs may be high, the size of the audiences reached can make it economical. Syndication is generally less expensive than network for an advertiser, but the advertiser has less control over when its spots will run or what station in a city will run them. An advertiser who wishes to advertise only in selected cities or regions of the country is known as a ``spot'' advertiser and must buy time directly from individual stations. To make such purchases easier, virtually every station has a sales representative with offices in the advertising capitals of the country. A handful of major ``rep firms'' with scores of station clients, but no more than one in each metropolitan area, sell advertising time for their stations on a commission basis. Local advertisers in a station's viewing area deal directly with salespeople on the station's staff. In some cases, the station will even help local clients produce the commercials they run as part of a package deal.
Conceived in the late 1940's as a way to bring television to communities that had trouble receiving clear signals, cable television eventually grew into a multibillion-dollar industry that competes vigorously with over-the-air stations. The first community antenna television (CATV) systems, as cable television was then known because the cables are connected to a powerful antenna that serves a large area, were built in Astoria, Ore., and in Mahanoy City, Pottsville, and Lansford, Pa. In the early 1960's, cable systems began originating local weather information, advertising placards, and community announcements. In 1972 Home Box Office (HBO) delivered by microwave relay its first pay television programming, a movie and a hockey game, to 365 subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The satellite era began in 1975 when HBO presented the Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fight from Manila. The following year, Atlanta broadcaster Ted Turner put the signal from his independent station on the satellite, making it the first so-called superstation. In the early 1980's, a host of new cable networks were created. By 1985 there were 50 national cable program networks operating via satellite. From 1975 to 1985, the number of local cable systems grew from about 3,500 to 6,600 and the number of cable customers grew from 9.2 million to 39.9 million. In 1987, for the first time more than half of the country received its television through a coaxial cable rather than by antenna. The 1980's were cable's greatest growth years, with penetration leveling off at a little above 60 percent in the early 1990's. Cable is available to about 96 percent of U.S. households. The vast majority of cable homes receive more than 30 channels and a third have 54 channels or more. Although over-the-air television stations remained the most watched channels--even in cable households--the multitude of cable channels cut into the network shares of audience. In the early 1980' s, the networks still commanded about 70 percent of the total day' s viewing audience, but that had dropped to less than 65 percent in the early 1990's. Independent station and public television viewership were relatively steady through the period. Most cable programming falls into three categories. Basic cable networks are advertiser-supported program services that are offered to subscribers for a monthly fee as part of a basic cable package. They include such popular services as sports channel ESPN, Cable News Network, USA Network, MTV: Music Television, and the Arts & Entertainment Network as well as local TV stations. Pay or premium cable refers to channels that each charge an additional monthly fee to be viewed in the home. The leaders are HBO and Showtime, which present uncut theatrical movies, original productions, and some sports events without commercial interruption. In many areas, local sports channels offer home team coverage on a pay basis, but with commercials. Pay-per-view cable charges for each program watched, from a few dollars for a movie to $20 or more for a major sports event. The most popular events have generally been championship boxing matches. Pay-per-view requires cable households that are ``addressable,'' meaning the cable system can turn on and off a home's access to the pay-per-view channel.
An oxymoron, wireless cable refers to multichannel programming provided via direct microwave links using small, line-of-sight receiving dishes. Programming generally consists of cable networks and premium services such as Home Box Office. Wireless cable has been most popular in areas not served by conventional cable systems.
Types of Programs Television shows in the first decades of the medium were fairly easy to categorize. Then, as in later years, the most popular program form was the continuing, weekly series. There were dramas, comedies, musical and variety shows, panel and quiz shows, talk shows, sports, and documentaries. Early on, the series came to be favored by sponsors because it tended to develop a loyal audience. In addition to their series, the networks also offered specials, single programs that often permit the networks to present well-known and costly performers who would not be affordable on a series basis. Many sponsors, especially those with seasonal sales, use specials to concentrate their advertising at a time of year when it will be most effective. A network staple has been the Christmas Special. In recent years, those kinds of ``spectaculars,'' as they were often called, tended to lose some of their appeal.
In the early years, television drama usually meant live broadcasts. Live television shared with the legitimate theater a sense of spontaneity and immediacy coupled with some of the techniques of motion pictures, such as close-ups, fade-outs, crosscutting of different angles, and other methods for making transitions. In the years of live television drama (as exemplified by programs such as Studio One, The Kraft Television Theater, and Playhouse 90), playwrights such as William Gibson (The Miracle Worker), Reginald Rose (Twelve Angry Men), and Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) created original plays for television that were later adapted for theater and film. By the late 1960's, live television drama had virtually disappeared from the airwaves, replaced by filmed series usually shot on location rather than in a studio. Most television drama fell into four categories: Westerns, police and detective, law, and medicine. Each genre had its heyday. For Westerns it began in 1955 with Gunsmoke on CBS. By the 1958-1959 season, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train with Ward Bond, Have Gun Will Travel with Richard Boone, and The Rifleman were the four most watched shows, followed not far behind by Maverick with James Garner, Tales of Wells Fargo, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. So-called adult Westerns remained popular through the 1960's, led then by Bonanza. The last Western to make the top ten list was Gunsmoke, number eight in the 1972-1973 season, two years before it ended its 20-season run. No genre had the same boom and bust cycle as the Western, but courtroom and medical dramas also had their days. Perry Mason, a combination courtroom drama and detective program, premiered in 1957 and was followed in 1961 by The Defenders. For a few years, courtroom trial scenes, in soap opera format, were extremely successful. Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, had a nine-year run initially and was later revived in both series and TV movie formats, the latter as recently as the early 1990's. Although it lasted only two seasons (1954-1956), Medic starring Richard Boone set the stage for a spate of popular medical shows, including Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare in the 1960's, Marcus Welby, M.D. and Medical Center in the 1970's, and St. Elsewhere in the 1980's. The police and detective genre got off the ground impressively in 1952 with Dragnet, starring Jack Webb as laconic Los Angeles police detective Joe Friday. The prototype of the realistic actions series, Dragnet marked a major turning point for U.S. television, which had in its first few years been dominated by comedy and vaudeville. The half-hour show ran until September 1959, but was revived for three seasons in the late 1960's. By that time, the genre had caught on with hour-long dramas such as Ironside with Raymond Burr, Hawaii Five- O, The Rookies, Mannix, The Rockford Files with James Garner, Kojak with Telly Savalas, and Barnaby Jones with Buddy Ebsen. Later came Magnum, P.I.; Cagney & Lacey; Hill Street Blues; Miami Vice; and others. An important development in weekly programming during the early 1980' s was the popularity of the prime-time soap opera, notably Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest. These rivaled their daytime counterparts in facile sensationalism and surpassed them in extravagance. Dallas and Dynasty were regularly among the most watched shows of the 1980's and the ``Who Shot J.R.?'' episode of Dallas in 1980 drew what was at the time the largest audience in television history. The era ended when CBS canceled Knots Landing after the 1992-1993 season.
Early television comedy resembled vaudeville stage shows. Programs like Texaco Star Theater starring Milton Berle, Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, the Red Skelton Show, and the Colgate Comedy Hour dominated the ratings in the late 1940's and early 1950's. But just as Dragnet broke dramatic ground, I Love Lucy, created by and starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, paved the way in 1951 for decades of situation comedies. Breaking with common practice, Ball and Arnaz insisted on shooting the shows on film in Hollywood and retaining ownership of them rather than doing live shows from New York. Although only in production for six seasons, I Love Lucy was the top-rated show four of those seasons and reruns of the shows have earned millions in syndication. The Ball-Arnaz marriage failed, but Ball went on to star in subsequent situation comedies, including Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show. I Love Lucy inspired countless family-oriented situation comedies in the 1950's and later, including Father Knows Best, The Danny Thomas Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and more recently, Family Ties and The Cosby Show. They were universally cheerful, homey stories of families headed by warm, insightful parents. That model changed in January 1971 with the premiere of All in the Family, starring Carroll O'Connor as the bellicose bigot Archie Bunker. The show brought a sense of hard reality to the situation comedy, as the outspoken, narrow- minded Archie continually clashed with his liberal son-in-law played by Rob Reiner. All in the Family was the top-rated show on television for its first five full seasons and inspired producer Norman Lear to develop a number of spin-off series, most notably The Jeffersons and Maude. Other situation comedies that found caustic humor in realistic, sometimes unpleasant, environments, were M*A*S*H, set in a combat hospital during the Korean War; Taxi, set in a seedy taxi garage in New York City; Cheers, set in a Boston bar; and Barney Miller, set in a gritty New York City police station. The final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983 remains the most watched show, with more than 121 million viewers. A number of situation comedies in the 1970's and 1980's featured black casts, following the 1968 lead of Julia, starring Diahann Carroll. The later shows included The Jeffersons, Good Times, and the most successful situation comedy to date, The Cosby Show, starring Bill Cosby.
Although this genre could probably be traced back to You Asked For It in the 1950's and to Real People and That's Incredible in the early 1980's--shows that featured the bizarre in a quasi-documentary format- -it did not really blossom until tight budgets in the 1990's prompted networks and producers to look for shows that were cheap to produce. One of Fox's most popular shows, America's Most Wanted, recreated crimes and sought viewer help in apprehending criminals on the loose, developing leads that resulted in hundreds of arrests. America's Funniest Home Videos and I Witness Video feature amateur videotapes. Several shows document and re-create police work.
The television talk show began as an informal interview show featuring entertainers who were willing to appear for union-minimum fees in search of exposure or to promote an upcoming book, movie, or other venture. NBC had the first successful talk show, The Tonight Show, hosted, beginning in 1954, by Steve Allen, who was followed by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and Jay Leno. During Carson's 30-year run as host from 1962 to 1992, the show was challenged on other stations by Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, and others, but outlasted all of them. In the 1980's, talk shows emerged as daytime syndicated programs, such as those hosted by Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, and Geraldo Rivera. With these shows and others, the focus shifted from celebrities to current events, the more lurid and sensational the better, with questions posed by the audience as well as the hosts.
At first, the major American movie studios feared television as a competitor and would only license old or second-rate movies to the networks. However, in the early 1960's the studios grew more comfortable with the new medium, to which they then were selling series programming, and they began making newer titles available. By the end of the decade there were as many as nine network movies on each week. The networks and independent stations relied heavily on theatrical movies until the 1980's when cable television movie channels and home video began to spread, offering multiple airings of popular movies long before they became available to the networks or independents. The networks turned more and more to movies produced specifically for television. When the networks shunned theatricals, the studios sold to independents first and then to the advertiser-supported cable networks.
Edward R. Murrow is considered the father of television documentaries. His See It Now series, broadcast in the early 1950's on CBS, is revered by those in the profession for both its quality and its examinations of difficult and otherwise taboo subjects. Although a regular feature on all three networks into the 1980's and a source of prestige for their news departments, low ratings and a new cost-consciousness at the networks pushed most long-form documentaries off the air late in the decade. Replacing them are news-feature shows such as 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and 20/20.
Some of the most watched television broadcasts have been sports events, most notably the National Football League's annual Super Bowl. Since the late 1970's, the Super Bowl has usually attracted the largest audience of the year and commanded the highest price for a commercial. The Olympics, baseball's World Series, the National Basketball Association championships, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's basketball championships, and major football bowl games also draw large audiences. However, in the 1980's cable became saturated with sports events, which cut network viewership and caused many advertisers to pull back. CBS and NBC, the primary NFL broadcasters, reported that they lost money on their first contract in the 1990's. CBS and cable sports channel ESPN, which teamed up to acquire four years of baseball in 1991, both reported losses on the deal.
Early children's programs were generally either theatrical cartoons repackaged for television, old comedies like The Little Rascals, or live-action shows such as Howdy Doody. Many included elements of all three and were locally produced rather than network programs. Early live-action children's shows were Captain Kangaroo on CBS and Romper Room, which was offered to stations as a locally produced franchise or in syndication. Those shows were precursors of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers on public television. More recent weekend and weekday afternoon shows are virtually all produced for television in half- hour animated episodes. Disney, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera have long been leaders in commercial children's programming.
This genre has had a long, varied, and checkered history on television. From the silliness of Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life to the number one ranking of The $64,000 Question, the 1950's were never without quiz and game shows in prime time. I've Got a Secret and What's My Line?, featuring celebrity panels in guessing games, had long runs. The $64,000 Question, The $64,000 Challenge, Twenty-One, and other big-money quiz shows had short bursts of popularity that fizzled in 1958 amid a scandal that some contestants were given answers in advance. Quiz and game shows were relegated to daytime until the middle 1980' s when Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! were offered to stations in syndication by King World Productions and became major hits, mostly in the lucrative 7-8 p.m. hour just preceding prime time.
Various industry surveys showed that as early as 1970 the American public considered television its primary source for news. On the networks, evening newscasters such as CBS's Walter Cronkite, ABC's Howard K. Smith, and NBC's team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley achieved great influence and became celebrities in their own right. The trend continued in the 1980's as Dan Rather of CBS, Peter Jennings of ABC, and Tom Brokaw of NBC took over the anchor seats. On the local level, news became a kind of programming in which the individual stations- -usually the network affiliates in a particular metropolitan area- -could compete against one another. News became a major profit source for many stations and many sought to maximize their investment in staff and equipment by offering extended early evening newscasts, some of which ran from 5-7 p.m. The development of lightweight and relatively inexpensive video cameras, called ``minicams,'' and the use of microwave relays from the scene of breaking news helped revolutionize local news in the 1970's. At the same time, advances in satellite communications across the country and around the world made network news more immediate and allowed local stations to cover events outside their regions. The networks each generally offer a two-hour morning news show--NBC' s Today, the pioneer, ABC's Good Morning America, and This Morning on CBS--an overnight news of two or more hours (broadcast in the early morning hours), a half-hour evening news, and Sunday morning news interview shows. Many local stations offer an early morning news and a noon news in addition to their evening news and late news. Historically, the networks have provided extensive coverage of important breaking news, from the Army-McCarthy congressional hearings of the 1950's to the first landing of astronauts on the moon in 1969 to the hearings of the Senate Watergate committee in 1973. Since the 1950' s, they have covered the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and election night results. Under new ownership in the late 1980's and facing a more difficult business environment, the networks began putting pressure on their news divisions to become more profitable. Documentary production was cut, domestic and foreign news bureaus were closed, staff was reduced, and budgets trimmed. For the 1992 conventions, the big three commercial networks scaled back their coverage and NBC joined forces with the Public Broadcasting System to cover both conventions. During the campaign itself, the network news departments lost prestige when, to a large extent, they were bypassed by the three candidates. Neither Governor Bill Clinton, President George Bush, nor businessman H. Ross Perot seemed entirely comfortable under the hard questioning of network newspeople. They were more likely to be found fielding call-in questions from talk-show viewers and taking friendlier interrogation from hosts. Perot, a Texas multibillionaire, simply bought the airtime he wanted in half-hour segments.
Congress Ever since the Radio Act of 1927 and the Communications Act of 1934, Congress has recognized the need for careful regulation of broadcasting- -from assigning broadcast frequencies and channels that do not overlap to charging broadcasters with special obligations to ``the public interest and necessity,'' in return for the benefits they realize from a license to broadcast over public airwaves. Congress authorized the FCC to carry out the regulation of broadcasting, but from time to time it has become involved on its own. In 1962, Congress passed legislation requiring television set manufacturers to equip their sets with tuners capable of receiving all UHF channels as well as the more popular VHF channels. Although the impact of this legislation, which took effect in 1964, was not immediate, it eventually made possible more than 800 UHF stations. One congressional action that underscored the power of television was legislation that took all cigarette and cigar advertising off television in 1971 on the grounds that the medium was too effective an agent for smoking. Congress stepped in again in 1984, when it passed the Cable Communications Policy Act, designed to remove local restraints on that emerging medium. The law, in effect, created an unregulated monopoly, giving virtually all cable companies exclusive franchises for their service areas with no local regulation of prices or business practices. Complaints from the public and competing broadcast stations prompted Congress to reregulate cable in 1992. Congress held its first hearings on children's television in the 1950' s and the issue has been intensely discussed ever since. In 1988, after years of advocacy and deliberation, Congress passed a Children' s Television Act, but President Ronald Reagan vetoed it. In 1990, a similar law was enacted, limiting commercials and directing the FCC to take into account how a station has met the informational and educational needs of children at license renewal time.
The day-to-day regulation of television, radio, and other electronic communications belongs to the FCC, now a five-person body appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress. The FCC licenses all television stations and much of its power rests in the commission's hold over license renewal. Most broadcast legislation is delegated to the FCC for interpretation and enforcement. In the early 1970's, a time when the three networks dominated the television airwaves, the FCC promulgated regulations designed to moderate their power and encourage diverse sources of programming--the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules and the Prime Time Access Rule. The former, often called ``fin-syn,'' barred the networks from the business of syndicating reruns of the programs they aired and, for the most part, excluded them from owning or having a financial interest in the programs carried. The networks sold their syndication arms, but continued to oppose the rules. In the 1980's, the networks argued that cable and other forces had diminished their power and income, making the rules unnecessary. The FCC relaxed the financial interest side of the rules, allowing the networks more in-house production for prime time and a stake in some other shows, but kept them out of actual sales to stations. The Prime-Time Access Rule restricted the networks to three hours of prime-time programming and forbade network affiliates in the 50 largest metropolitan areas from using network reruns in the 7-8 p. m. hour of prime time, which came to be called the ``access'' period. Although the FCC had hoped this rule would encourage more local production, the result turned out to be a boom for first-run syndicated programs. The deregulation of the 1980's was clearly felt in the highly regulated business of broadcasting. The FCC cut many record-keeping regulations, relaxed limitations on the number of stations one company could own, rescinded the so-called fairness doctrine, which required stations to provide airtime to those who opposed positions presented on the air, and essentially let the marketplace take the place of government regulation. Cable television also fell under the FCC's rules. Cable systems were required to carry all television stations in their service area--the so-called ``must-carry'' rule. They could not be co-owned with local television stations, with the networks, or with the local telephone utility. When cable was reregulated in 1992, the FCC was charged with overseeing the industry.
For years, the television industry's organ of self-regulation was the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Almost all television and radio stations belong to the NAB and for many years subscribed to its ``Code of Good Practices.'' The NAB code banned obscenity, nudity, and programs that might encourage violations of the law. It also set limits for the number of commercials a station could run, but in 1981 a federal judge ruled that such limitations unlawfully restrained trade. The NAB remains the chief lobbyist and advocate for the broadcasting industry.
Educational Television Educational television (ETV) came into being in 1951, when the FCC allocated 242 television channels to be set aside strictly for educational use. The first educational television station went on the air in Houston, Texas, on May 25, 1953. By the early 1990's, there were more than 350 such stations. The National Educational Television and Radio Center, founded in 1953, is the headquarters and programming agency for an established network of noncommercial stations across the United States. This network, known as the National Educational Television (NET) network, began with a system of distributing taped and filmed programming by mail to member stations. Public broadcasting in its present form was created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The law created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which exists primarily to channel federal funds to public stations for program development. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a network that now distributes programming primarily by satellite, began operations in 1970. Noncommercial television is financed by public memberships, grants, corporate underwriters, and the federal government. While most public stations continue to carry some daytime programming that is strictly educational, PBS affiliates are known as stations with high quality prime-time programming that is informative, entertaining, or often both. The most popular PBS series was the 12-hour documentary The Civil War, which first aired on consecutive nights in 1990. Other popular series, such as Upstairs, Downstairs; Mystery!; Masterpiece Theatre; and Monty Python's Flying Circus brought British programs into U.S. homes. Domestically produced series such as Sesame Street, The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour, Frontline, Nova, Great Performances, Nature, and The American Experience also have proved popular and durable.
There are two primary television networks in Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), as designated by the Broadcasting Act of 1958, is a Crown corporation, subsidized by the government with supplementary revenue from some commercial operations. The CBC is available to 99 percent of Canadian homes. It provides a French-language network, an English network, a national parliamentary network, and Newsworld, an English-language news service. The second network, CTV Television, is independent and privately owned. It is fully commercial with all programs financed by advertisers. A third national network, Television Northern Canada, serving 95 northern communities from the Yukon in the west to Labrador in the east, went on the air in 1992. It has satellite uplinks in Yellowknife, Whitehorse, and Iqaluit. There are several regional networks, including Global Television in Ontario, Le Reseau de Television Quatre Saisons in Quebec, and TVA Network serving Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. There are also a number of independent stations in the larger cities. Although there are more than 1,000 television stations spread across Canada, there are only about 140 that provide original broadcasts. The remainder are satellite stations that relay signals from the larger cities into the more remote countryside. There are some 1,400 cable systems serving about 7 million households with a variety of U.S. and Canadian cable channels. Although much of the programming of Canadian television is U.S. network and syndicated fare, Canadian broadcasting rules require that most programming originate in Canada. The 1968 Broadcasting Act requires stations to provide ``high quality programming using predominately Canadian resources.'' In 1983 the government established the Canadian Broadcast Program Development Fund to encourage television production by private Canadian producers. Each year it provides millions of dollars in television production money.
Ace, Goodman (1911-1982), comedy writer, one of the most prolific and inventive in the medium. Wrote for Milton Berle, Perry Como, and Sid Caesar programs. Allen, Fred (1894-1956), radio comedian, who made transition to TV in its earliest days after World War II. Pioneered game show programs, notably with What's My Line? (1954-1956). Allen, Steve (1921- ), TV comedian and talk-show host. One of first TV entertainment successes who had not brought reputation and celebrity from radio; Tonight Show (1954-1956); Steve Allen Show (1956-1961); Meeting of Minds (1977-1978). Arledge, Roone (1932- ), pioneer in TV sports broadcasting. Developed magazine format of sports broadcasting for Wide World of Sports (1968) and Olympic Games (1972 and 1976). President of ABC News and Sports from 1976. Ball, Lucille (1911-1989), comedienne, actress. Developed with husband Desi Arnaz TV's first major situation comedy, I Love Lucy (1951-1960). Continued to portray her scatterbrained, mischievous character in subsequent series, The Lucy Show (1962-1968), Here's Lucy (1968-1974), and Life With Lucy (1986). Benny, Jack (1894-1974), comedian who systematically made conversion from vaudeville to radio to films to television as each medium prospered. He carried the same penny-pinching, blowhard character through each program (1950-1974). Berle, Milton (1908- ), veteran stage and screen comedian generally credited with the first major TV entertainment program, Texaco Star Theater (1948-1956). Brinkley, David (1920- ), news correspondent and anchorman. As co- anchor of The Huntley-Brinkley Report (with Chet Huntley, 1956-1970), he inaugurated a more informal manner of presenting TV news. Co-anchor of NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor (1976-1979). Moderator of This Week With David Brinkley (1981- ), a panel discussion show with major political figures as guests. Burnett, Carol (1934- ), comedienne, actress, singer. Noted for her strong comic characterizations. The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978), featuring satirical skits in the tradition of Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, was the most popular variety show of the 1970's. Started on the Garry Moore Show (1959-1962). Caesar, Sid (1922- ), first major comedian developed by TV without previous stage or film celebrity. Your Show of Shows (1950-1954), with co-star Imogene Coca, was major step in evolution of programs designed particularly for television. Captain Kangaroo. See below Keeshan, Bob. Carson, Johnny (1925- ), most famous and successful of all talk-show hosts. Host of NBC Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. Clark, Dick (1929- ), youth-oriented TV personality. From 1957 to 1989 he was host of American Bandstand, which introduced contemporary music and its practitioners to network TV. Coe, Fred (1914-1979), producer. Leading figure in the ``Golden Age' ' of live TV drama in the 1950's. Goodyear TV Playhouse (1951-1955); Producers' Showcase (1954-1955); Playhouse 90 (1956-1959). Cooke, Alistair (1908- ), British journalist who became host of high- quality American TV programs: Omnibus (1953-1957), a pioneering cultural series; Masterpiece Theatre (1973-1993), a British production series aired on PBS. Cooney, Joan Ganz (1929- ), TV executive. President of Children's Television Workshop, which developed special programming for children for PBS, notably Sesame Street and Electric Company. Cosby, Bill (1937- ), comedian, whose family sitcom The Cosby Show (1984-1992) became the most popular as well as critically acclaimed program on commercial TV. As partner of Robert Culp in I Spy (1965- 1968), was first black to have a major role in a dramatic series. Cosell, Howard (1920-1995), most prominent of sports broadcasters in 1960's and 1970's. Known for independence and abrasiveness. Pioneered prime time sports broadcasting with Monday Night Football (1970-1984). Cronkite, Walter (1916- ), news correspondent and anchorman. United Press correspondent (1936-1951). Joined CBS in 1951. Anchorman of CBS Evening News (1962-1981). Hosted science and public event specials in the 1980's. Ranked as ``most trusted man in America'' by numerous public opinion polls. De Forest, Dr. Lee. See separate article. Donahue, Phil (1935- ), daytime talk-show host. His syndicated program Donahue (began 1969) is noted for its contemporary and often controversial topics, which are covered in an innovative discussion format that encourages audience participation. Dumont, Allen B. (1901-1965), inventor whose development of the cathode tube permitted sets to receive TV broadcasts; subsequently was manufacturer and pioneer broadcaster. Farnsworth, Philo (1906-1971), inventor whose development of the orthican in 1927 led the way to the electronic television system. Garroway, Dave (1913-1982), TV personality. Among first TV hosts to develop informal style best suited for medium. Garroway At Large (1949- 1951); host of Today Show (1952-1961); Dave Garroway Show (1953-1954); Wide Wide World (1955-1958). Gleason, Jackie (1916-1987), comedy actor. He developed one of television' s most popular characters, Ralph Kramden, in The Honeymooners series with co-star Art Carney; it was usually seen as a segment within The Jackie Gleason Show (1952-1959; 1962-1970). Godfrey, Arthur (1903-1983), radio star who converted to TV in its early development. Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (1948-1958); Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (1949-1959). Goldenson, Leonard (1907- ), founder of ABC and its chief executive from its organization in 1953. Steered ABC financially from extremely weak position until it became network with largest U.S. audience in 1977. Goodson, Mark (1922-1992), producer. Prime developer of game shows: Match Game, What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, The Price Is Right. Griffin, Merv (1925- ), talk-show host. Syndicated program began in 1965, was broadcast by CBS network from 1969-1972, and then resyndicated until 1986. Creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune game shows. Hanna, Joseph (1932- ), with partner Joseph Barbera, developed economical, sophisticated animated programs aimed primarily at children: The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear. Henson, Jim. See separate article. Hope, Bob (1903- ), successful radio and film comedian, who transferred popularity to TV in its earliest years (1951) and remained as perennial with periodic variety programs. Keeshan, Bob (1927- ), actor. Developed Captain Kangaroo educational series for pre-school children; first aired in 1955, program became television's longest-running series. Kovacs, Ernie (1919-1962), innovative comedian, who pioneered a style of slapstick effects that used the visual potential of the medium as no performer had before. Ernie Kovacs Show (1952-1956). Lear, Norman (1922- ), producer. His programs, such as All in the Family (1971-1983), Maude (1972-1978), The Jeffersons (1975-1985), and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1978), touched subjects previously taboo. Lewis, Jerry (1926- ), wildly inventive slapstick comedian. He converted vaudeville act, with partner Dean Martin, to TV appearances in 1950' s. Team separated in 1956. Moore, Garry (1915-1993), variety show host. The Garry Moore Show (1958-1964) was a showcase for many fine musical and comedy talents; it is credited with making Carol Burnett a star. Moore, Mary Tyler (1937- ), actress. Her Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970- 1977) is credited with advancing quality comedy writing and casting throughout TV. Previously, Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966). Murrow, Edward R. See separate article. Nielsen, A. C. (1897-1980), founder of company bearing his name, which measures TV audience through meters attached to sets of selected homes. Nielsen ratings are accepted throughout broadcasting and advertisng industries for gauging popularity of programs and prices that can be charged for positioning commercials within those programs. O'Connor, Carroll (1924- ), actor. He pioneered previously unacceptable ethnic humor on TV in role of bigoted Archie Bunker in All in the Family series (1971-1983, series name changed to Archie Bunker's Place in 1979). Also starred as Southern sheriff in the series In the Heat of the Night (1988-1994). Paar, Jack (1918- ), talk-show personality. Host of Tonight Show (1957-1962); generally credited with its original success. Paley, William (1901-1990), founder, CBS Radio, then CBS TV (1948). He developed fledgling network into world's largest communications combine. Pierce, Frederick (1933- ), TV executive. Became president ABC TV in 1974. Credited with rise of ABC to ratings superiority in 1977. Created format and directed development of Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man as TV's ``long-form'' style of dramatizing novels. Reiner, Carl (1922- ), writer, producer, actor. Began TV career with Your Show of Shows (1950) as writer-actor; thereafter Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) and numerous other programs. Roddenberry, Gene (1921-1991), writer, producer. Creator of the 1960' s science-fiction series Star Trek and its sequel Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987- ), which inspired legions of fans known as ``Trekkies. '' From 1953 to 1962 wrote scripts for The U.S. Steel Hour; Four Star Theater; Naked City; Dragnet; Have Gun, Will Travel; and others. Salant, Richard (1914-1993), TV executive. President CBS news (1961- 1964 and 1966-1979). Vice-chairman NBC from 1979. Leader in efforts to obtain full freedom of press rights for broadcasters. Sarnoff, David (1891-1971). Rose from position of wireless operator to founder and chief executive of Radio Corp. of America, parent company of NBC. Founded NBC radio network (1926) and NBC TV network (1946). Serling, Rod (1923-1977), writer, producer. Television's most prolific writer during its Golden Age of live drama. Later turned to the supernatural with The Twilight Zone (1959-1964). Sevareid, Eric (1912-1992), news correspondent, first on radio, then on TV. CBS news staff (1939-1978). Developed ``sagelike'' editorializing commentary for CBS. Shore, Dinah (1921-1994), singer. Star of early musical programs, Dinah Shore Show (1951-1957) and Chevy Show (1956-1963). Silverman, Fred (1932- ), TV executive recognized as particularly expert in program development and scheduling. CBS chief programmer (1971-1976); president ABC Entertainment (1976-1978); president NBC (1978-1981). Silvers, Phil (1912-1985), comedian. He helped develop situation comedy techniques with Sgt. Bilko series (1955-1959), based on a single strong characterization. Skelton, Red (1913- ), comedian. He brought stage slapstick to TV with The Red Skelton Show (1951-1971). Spivak, Lawrence (1900-1994), originator of ``newsmaker''-interviewed- by-reporters format, Meet the Press, which established a form of TV journalism widely imitated. Stanton, Frank (1908- ), TV executive. Rose to prominence first in radio, then in TV through pioneer audience research work. Recognized unofficially as premiere spokesman of broadcasting industry, particularly in relationship with government. President CBS (1946-1971); vice-chairman CBS board of directors (1971-1973). Sullivan, Ed (1902-1974), variety program host. The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971) introduced to TV The Beatles, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, opera stars, and many others who had previously shunned the medium. Susskind, David (1920-1987), producer. Founder of Talent Associates, Inc.; creator of Play of the Week (1965-1969). One of original talk show hosts: Open End (1958-1967) and The David Susskind Show (began 1967). Tinker, Grant (1926- ), TV executive. As president (1970-1981) of MTM Enterprises, an independent television production company, he directed development of such programs as the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Lou Grant, and Hill Street Blues. Chairman of NBC (1981-1986). Turner, Robert E. (Ted) (1938- ), TV executive. Owner of WTBS-TV Atlanta, first satellite-delivered superstation. Founder of Cable News Network (CNN), Turner Network Television (TNT), and other cable services. Wallace, Mike (1918- ), newsman. First developed hard interview for television (1956), then carried style to success in 60 Minutes program (began in 1968). Walters, Barbara (1931- ), commentator and interviewer. Rose on staff of NBC Today Show (1964-1976). Became first woman anchor on network news program, ABC (1976). Noted for interview programs with celebrities. Weaver, Sylvester (Pat), Jr. (1908- ), pioneer TV executive. President NBC (1953-1955). Established TV talk show form and thus was father of such programs as Today Show, Home, and Tonight Show. Later pioneered in pay TV as head of Subscription TV, Inc. (1963-1968). Welk, Lawrence (1903-1992), leader of traveling dance orchestra who developed TV prominence by catering to older audiences. First went on air in 1955. Winchell, Walter (1895-1972), newspaper columnist who became TV performer. Untouchables (1959-1963); Walter Winchell File (1957-1958). Zworykin, Dr. Vladimir (1889-1982), inventor whose development of electronic camera and picture tube led to existing TV technology. Source: William H. Dunlap, Stan Opotowsky, TELEVISION. Vol. 22, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-28-1996. Colliers Encylopedia : Copyright © 1996 P.F. Collier, A Division of Newfield Publications, Inc.
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