Not many people believed that the "picture box," now called television would amount to much. After all, there was a radio in every home and who needed a television? This is Part One in a series of three parts that explores the connection between society and television from 1950 to the present.
In 1928, Vladimir Zworykin while working with RCA invented the “iconoscope”, which was a primitive camera tube and eventually evolved into the television.
Initially, the quality of the picture on television was poor and the public's response to it was not positive. Little did Vladimir know, but his invention would change the world.
In 1945, they were less than ten TV stations and about 8,000 American homes with a television.
By 1955, there were almost one hundred stations and almost 35 million homes with a television.
The 1950's was called “The Golden Age of Television.” Popular shows were “Ed Sullivan” a variety series, “The Milton Berle Show,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Legend of Wyatt Earp.”
Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan
Elvis Presley on Milton Berle
Gunsmoke
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan
By the 1960's over 95% of all households in America had a television. Millions tuned into television news and witnessed world-changing events like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Live News-Breaking News-JFK Assassination in Dallas
The Civil Rights Movement also was reported on television news, as was the Vietnam War. Probably the most world-changing event occurred in the live broadcast of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969. Educational programming made its debut in this decade with PBS as did cable television.
Popular television shows of the 1960's were “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Green Acres,”
“Bewitched” and “My Mother the Car.”
The 1960's bolted television onto the world scene in a catapult fashion. The 1950's were a time of peace and almost a naivety, which was reflected in television programming. The accepted norms of society mimicked what was on television. Suddenly in the 1960's television became a mirror of what was happening in society and television was influencing society. An evolution was taking place.
