The rise of television began in 1897 when a man named K. F. Braun made the cathode-ray tube. This invention was the beginnings of television. Fourteen years later, a Scottish engineer, A. A. Campbell, met with the London Rontgen Society. He suggested to them that cathode-ray tubes could be used to transmit pictures. However, in 1911, the technology wasn't sufficient to experiment with this idea. A. A. Campbell's ideas would have to be used later in time. In 1925, C. Francis Jenkins had used some of Campbell's ideas to create actual transmitted pictures on screens. Jenkins even presented the Secretary of the Navy with a demonstration of the world's first television system. The Navy used this information to transmit images from one ship to another ship while at sea.
The picture here does not show cathode-ray tubes, but rather old vaccuum tubes. They were used in making the first television sets, but are not used at all today. They stopped being put into television sets around 1960. They came in different sizes and models depending on what they were used for. Each one would do something for different parts of the TV, such as the picture or the sound.
In 1936, after several networks were formed, the British Broadcasting Corporation started the first television service. Programs were shown for only about three hours each day. During the following year, the United States made eleven stations that experimentally transmitted television pictures. And in 1940, the Columbian Broadcasting Station presented an example of color TV in New York. A year later, a championship boxing match was shown. This was the first time that the public watched TV through a theater size television camera.
In 1942, television broadcasting was somewhat brought to a halt. Programs were shown only four hours a week and most were used to inform the public of news from World War II. The next year, no televisions were sold because the materials that they were made with were needed for the war. Once the war was over, NBC broadcasted the first made for television movie. When NBC made another one, the title: "We're Having A Baby, My Baby And Me" was thought of as too suggestive and not permitted. This was the first example of censorship.
The first Emmy Awards were presented in 1949 because by then, over one million television sets had been made. The following year, morning children programs began being shown. And after six more years, television's gross income was finally higher than radios, about 590 million. The next year, the first color programs were broadcast nightly during the week. In 1957, a news cast was videotaped instead of broadcasting live. After that, video tape was used more than ever. Later in 1967, Public Television was formed.
The history of television is a long and interesting one. Although many people think of television as a waste of time, many inventions would not be possible today if it were not for their discoveries during the making of television.
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