I like TV. I grew up with television and have a lot of fond memories as such. I know a lot of people trod hard on TV, saying it is nothing but trash. But I argue against that notion. From the very get-go, I fell in love with programs like Captain Kangaroo, and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins who fed baby kangaroos from baby bottles. If that is trash, my canned peas aren’t green.
Television can be informative. Educational. Enlightening. Entertaining. It has given me moments of joy, as I watched things like Carol Burnett walking down the staircase at Tara with the curtain rod and draperies hanging from her shoulders. Or the time I saw a giraffe being born.
Yes. TV is OK by me.
A little about the actual device before I continue. The consensus says that no single inventor deserves credit for the television. The idea of transmitting images was floating around a long time before the technology came along to make it happen. There were many scientists and engineers who made contributions — each idea building on the next. And eventually, we were given the gift of TV.
It was Scottish engineer John Baird who gave the world’s first demonstration of true television. He stood before 50 other scientists, giving the pitch. This was in London in 1927.
But I want to get back to my childhood TV. We only had three channels. ABC. CBS. NBC. 22. 7. 2. And a manual dial on the face of the television that clunked along, like opening an ancient safe.
As such, it didn’t take long to find out what was on. One, two, three, and we knew. And for that reason, my parents never, ever bought a TV Guide. They deemed it a waste of money, I’m sure.
But, it was on this date, April 3, 1953, when the first issue of TV Guide was published. The feature on the cover was none other than the newborn baby of actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The little guy was Desi Arnaz Jr.
If you wanted to buy an issue of the TV Guide, you would have to fork over 15 whole cents. In my young mind, that translated to a big bag of penny candy. When the little magazine was first published by Triangle Publications, it only appeared in ten cities. It sold 1,560,000 copies. Maybe those people had more channels, but I doubt it. Anyway, by the 1960s, it was the most widely read magazine in the country.
The original format of what would become TV Guide Magazine was developed by a fellow named Lee Wagner. Maybe he didn’t like turning the knob to find out what was on.
One of the families in our neighborhood always bought the TV Guide. Heck, maybe they even subscribed. Every so often, I’d take a peek inside when I was up there playing. It never told me anything I didn’t already know. Like. On Saturday nights in 1973, CBS had the greatest line-up in TV History: All in the Family, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and Carol Burnett Show. We knew.
At any rate. Television, the TV Guide, the whole thing, is a bundle of wealth if you ask me. It came into our American homes mostly after the end of World War II. Over 1 million American homes had a television in 1948.
Throughout the years, it has grown. The 1960s brought a significant expansion period of television. The very first TV satellite was launched in 1962. This allowed for more worldwide events. Like, in 1969, over 600 million people watched moon landings live from their homes. (Although many people today think NASA is fake, the Earth is flat, and no one has been to space.) Tune in.
Currently, there are over 285 million television sets in the United States. And, on average, we spend 4% of our electricity powering on television.
Heck, I’d spend 5%. Maybe more. Because I like that TV.
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“An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger. ”
― Dan Rather
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Won’t you please,
Won’t you please?
Please won’t you be my neighbor?”
― Fred Rogers
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“We must, together as a nation, stop watching Fox.”
― Jon Steward
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