1927: Philo Farnsworth, (born near Beaver, Utah, raised in Rigby, Idaho), develops the electronic television picture.
Network TV
1930's
1939: World’s Fair in New York City—NBC begins broadcasting from Rockefeller Plaza.
1940's
1948: The Ed Sullivan Show begins it’s 23 year run as post-WWII TV entertainment “explodes.”
1949: A girl falls into a well in Los Angeles. Live TV news coverage is born.
1950's
1955: The $64,000 Question premieres, and the TV game show is born.
Satellites
1960's
1962: Satellites are launched, and 15 min. news programs become 30 min. programs.
Documentary programs are developed
1967: Public Television and Talk shows are launched.
1970's
1970: More Americans now receive their news from TV than from newspapers.
Mid 1970’s: PBS becomes a serious news organization
Reality shows and miniseries began
Cable TV
Mid 1970’s continued: Home Box Office becomes the first pay cable network
1980's
The Cable News Network—CNN—founded by Ted Turner. Ironically, CNN makes a name for itself by providing around-the-clock news coverage of the rescue of "Baby Jessica," a Texas toddler who fell into a well in 1987.
TV News Anchor Walter Cronkite is named “the most trusted man in America.”
1990's
1990-91: CNN becomes a leader in world news coverage during Gulf War. Because of an earlier investment in infrastructure, CNN was the only news network that was able to communicate inside Iraq during the beginning hours of the war.
Citizen Journalism
1992: Amateur videographers provide images of the Rodney King riots.
In Summary
The big three Networks, namely:
ABC
CBS
NBC
(and later PBS added their "flavor" to the mix.)
were in control during the first "half century" of television.
What is driving the medium: the content or the channel?
During the Reign of the Networks, everyone was watching the same programming, everyone was sharing the same events:
Cultural
Social
News
The networks created the content, and the audience "consumed" it.
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