TV: Aa chronology

A major milestone in the history of television will take place Friday when analog broadcasting is forever switched off and replaced by a digital signal. Here’s a chronology of major television events both locally and nationally since the first broadcast.

1884: Paul Nipkow invents a disk with holes spiraling into its center. This disk led engineers to the development of television. Engineers used Nipkow’s disk to create the first systems for scanning, transmitting and receiving images in the 1920s.

1921: Philo Farnsworth develops the idea of creating images using electrons. He transmits the first electronic image in 1927.

1923: Vladimir Zworykin files for a patent of his television transmission tube called the iconoscope.

1927: RCA forms the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC) and transmits radio broadcasts to affiliate stations across the country. NBC begins testing its first TV transmission in 1931.

U The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Co. began transmissions in September. A year of heavy losses compelled the sale of the company, and it was renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

1934: The Communications Act creates the FCC, establishing a regulatory and economic framework for commercial broadcasting in the United States.

1936: Signals were broadcasting intermittently, with about 200 television sets in use worldwide. The small audience of viewers was watching a blurry picture on a 2- or 3-inch screen.

1939: The television is demonstrated at the New York World’s Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition.

1943: American Broadcasting Co. (ABC) is formed.

1945: The fourth network, DuMont, is formed. It went out of business in 1955.

1947: Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania to bring TV to rural areas.

1950: The FCC approves the first color television standard.

1951: “I Love Lucy,” the first sitcom filmed in front of a live audience, debuts on CBS.

U 10 million U.S. homes now have televisions.

1952: On Dec. 31, WKBN-TV Channel 27 goes on the air in the Mahoning Valley.

1953: WFMJ televised its first test pattern on Ultra-High-Frequency channel 73. By September, WFMJ was Youngstown’s first full-time TV station, broadcasting from 7 a.m. to 12:05 a.m.

U ABC affiliate WKST-TV was licensed to New Castle, Pa., and signed-on April 4, 1953, on channel 45. In 1964, WKST-TV moved to channel 33, was re-licensed to Youngstown, and changed its call letters to WYTV.

U WXTV, a non-network independent station, begins airing in Youngstown and remained on the air until late 1962.

1954: WFMJ completes its tower on Youngstown’s South Side, and moved its channel to 21. Later that year, WFMJ begins testing color equipment in preparation for handling NBC color broadcasts.

1956: Robert Adler invents the first practical remote control, called the Zenith Space Commander.

U A new TV accessory called “I-T (Instant Tuner)” allows remote control selection up to 20 feet away from the set. It is built by Alliance Manufacturing Co. in nearby Alliance.

1960: “The Flintstones” first airs on ABC and becomes the first primetime cartoon series made for television.

1963: More than 28 million homes tune in to watch John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in the first televised presidential debate.

1964: The Beatles sing “She Loves You” on CBS’ “The Ed Sullivan Show” and become a huge hit in the United States.

1967: Green Bay defeats Kansas City in the first Super Bowl.

1968: “Julia,” starring Diahann Carroll, is the first sitcom starring a black woman.

1969: On July 20, 600 million people watch the first TV pictures transmitted from the moon.

U Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) begins, and launches “Sesame Street.”

1975: Home Box Office (HBO) begins national satellite distribution and becomes the driving force in the growth of cable.

1976: Barbara Walters becomes the first female anchor on a network evening broadcast, joining Harry Reasoner on “The ABC Evening News.”

1977: “Roots,” airing on ABC for eight consecutive nights, becomes the highest rated miniseries to date.

1979: ESPN becomes the first cable network to specialize in sports programming.

1980: Ted Turner founds the round-the-clock, all-news network, Cable News Network (CNN).

1983: The final episode of “M*A*S*H“ airs on CBS and sets a record for the highest-rated telecast ever, with a 60.2 rating.

1986: The Fox Broadcasting Co. (Fox) launches its network.

1993: Closed captioning is required on all TV sets.

1995: United Paramount Network (UPN) and the WB broadcast networks are launched.

1998: Youngstown’s Fox affiliate WYFX-LP, a low-powered station, begins broadcasting on UHF channel 62. WFXI carries the same programming on analog signal on UHF channel 17 in Hermitage.

2004: WBCB is launched as a WB affiliate, but later switches to the CW network in 2006.

2006: My-YTV, a MyNetworkTV affiliate, and sister station of WYTV, goes on the air.

U A joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros. creates the CW, the merged UPN and WB networks.

2009: Starting tomorrow, the analog signal will be shutdown for TV broadcasts. Why? There are several good reasons to go digital, including: how much data it can transmit, how consistent the data stays over distance, and what type of data the signal can carry. For the same amount of bandwidth, a lot more information can be compressed into a digital signal than an analog signal. A digital signal isn’t limited to video and audio; our TVs will become interactive. Some broadcasters will multi-cast four choices of programming during the day, and then switch to high-definition for prime-time. Combined with HDTV and digital sound, this means a better picture, better sound and digital data.

Source: Nielsen Media Research, The Museum of Broadcast Communications, “These Hundred Years” book [The Vindicator], PBS.org.