The other day I went
over to my grandma’s house and we spend at least two to three hours every time
we go over. Threw that whole time she had the TV on. First it was news here in
the United States of America but after that she put on the news from Argentina because
she wanted to know how the weather was in her home country. Shortly after that I
got the remote control and flipping through channels I came across I love Lucy
my grandmas favorite show and we all sat laughing watching Lucy get herself
into trouble. I could not help but think about the blog I did about the radio
and I wanted to learn more about how TV affected the lives of families when it
first came out.
After the technological
advancement of the radio it was only a matter of time till someone would want
something better and that would be the birth of television. The idea of
television started as far back as 1820’s but it was not till 1940- 1950 when
the television would become as big if not a bigger part of the American
families lives. In 1952 a simple 20 inch TV went for 300 dollars, which wouldbe a little over 2,500 dollars in our time. For that price now you can get a 65
inch flat screen smart TV. I would love to see the face of a kid from 1950 to
time jump and see what his/her grandkids would be looking at. Between 1949 and 1969, the number of families thathad at least one TV went from less than a million to 44 million. The number ofcommercial TV stations rose from 69 to 566.
It was in 1947 that the
TV started to gain its popularity over the radio. By the 1950’s there was more than
seven million TV sets in the living rooms of homes. Instead of the family
gathering around listening to the words of the radio and creating a picture for
themselves, the TV does all that for you. In 1951 is when the broadcasts went nationwide,
cost to cost. Just as the radio did the television would create jobs in the
thousands with such a high demand TV production was crazy but those would not
be the only jobs. The people now watching TV needed something to watch and programs
would explode and be seen nationwide. Show such as I love Lucy, Father Knows Best,
and Howdy Doody and a lot of the radio programs loved by many would make their
way to TV.
Not just shows would be
watched nationwide but news as well as political stuff would be seen and heard.
For the first time ever images of the war would make an appearance in the homes
of families. Issues such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War would get publicity
and with that they would get a lot of young people protesting the wars. Other protests
dealing with Civil Rights would also get the air time, Martin Luther King’s
march on Washington would be seen and images of well-dressed kids being sprayed
down with hoses was seen by everyone everywhere and other movements would jump
on the band wagon and use this new medium to fight back and have their voices
heard. The country got to see JFK victory as well as footage of President Kennedy
getting shot and killed. In a similar fashion two days later the alleged assassin
got assassinated and the country saw that as well.
TV has become such a
big part of daily lives for most if not close to all families worldwide. I mean
just think back 1950’s if you wanted to watch a show you had to make sure that
you were home to watch it cause if you missed it that was it you would have to
hope your friends saw it to catch you up for next week. Now and days we have
DVR we record what we want to watch and then watch it whenever we want to watch
it and if we forget to DVR it we can just wait for the rerun. It was not till
1960’s when networks taped the shows that would give them the power to replay
the program without it being live like it was before. I can just imagine if a
kid from today’s time was sent back to the 1950’s, how mind blowing it could be
a simple luxury of the remote control being none existent. As well as all the
shows being black and gray till 1954.
On New Year’s 1954 thefirst color broadcast that would go from cost to cost and it would be the Tournament of Roses. Every year me and my family wake up and watch that very show and it
is amazing that way back in 1954 families just like mine sat together and
watched the Tournament of Roses and this year they got to see it in color like
we do every year. Soon everything would be in color and from then on it was to
make things better more efficient and TV as never stopped.
