The World's First Recordings of Television

The World's First Recordings of Television

Recording television signals in the 1920's? Surely technology was nowhere near ready for recording a video signal back then? Wasn't it Ampex that achieved it in the late 1950's? Not to belittle Ampex Corporation's major achievement, the Scottish inventor, John Logie Baird, did in fact succeed in becoming the first to record television in 1927. This was only a year after being lauded as the first person to demonstrate television. However, no-one said anything about Baird being able to play the pictures back!
So how did a mere inventor with little resources steal this 'first' from major corporate industry - by 30 years? Recording the television signal in the 1920s was much simpler than you might at first think. With only 30 lines per picture (television frame), the highest frequency present was low enough to be audible. The video signal could therefore be recorded as an audio signal onto disc.
Baird did more than create a 'first' on paper. Some of those disc recordings still survive, now 70 years on. Attention has up to now been focused elsewhere as the discs have defied attempts to replay recognisable pictures from them. Baird himself never did publicly demonstrate video playback of the discs, most likely because he failed to overcome the problems.
©Pitman 1931
Now, almost three-quarters of a century on, my custom signal and image processing software allows us to see the images and understand them for the first time. The limitations of the discs makes the recovered imagery fall far short of the original studio quality. We cannot therefore say how good or how bad the 30-line system was, based on the quality or content of these experimental images. Through what is almost an archaeological dig, we can now understand and appreciate not just the pictures but how the recordings were made and what problems Baird encountered in trying to achieve a practical method for video recording.
Most of the restoration work has focused on uncovering the early recordings made by John Logie Baird. These are among the most significant in television's early history and as such have attracted the greatest analysis. The following pages outline the results of that work.

The TV History

The TV History

Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph. But, it was not until 1898 that, through facilities provided by Marconi's newly founded wireless company, the Dublin Daily Express was able to recieve minute by minute coverage of the Kingstown Regatta and then they provided wireless coverage of America's Cup races. For the next twenty years, radio was limited to only military and maritime use. It was extensively used by allied and central powers in World War I and, at the same time, by ships at sea. The first radio "reporters" appeared in the 1920s and then the networks established their news organizations in the 1930s. By the 1940s came, the stations were covering the global war. During the 1950s, television overtook radio. The 1960's saw profound technological change: videotape arrived, and viewers began seeing their news in color.
Television is now considered to be the best source of entertainment and a powerful source of information. One can only imagine how different life would be in a world without television. It has become such a powerful medium that, without it, we would be deprived of much information, as well as entertainment.

Some of the first major news broadcasts:

- In the summer of 1925: The first major trial covered by radio or television was the "monkey trial", which it took place in Dayton, Tennessee. The television station in charge of covering such event was WGN, the Chicago Tribune station. The reporter was Quin Ryan.
-In 1933: President Roosevelt broadcast to the nation.
-In 1938: "World News Roundup" airs on CBS for the first time.
-In 1947: Opening session of Congress televised for the first time.
-In 1950: Murrow with Fred W. Friendly starts, "Hear It Now" as a radio series, but then in 1951 becomes the first prestigious television news show.
-In 1952: "Today", the first nationwide gravel-to-gravel telecast of national conventions starts on NBC-TV.
-In 1963: President Kennedy's assassination and Lyndon Johnson's succession receive massive four-day coverage.
-In 1969: The moon landing is viewed in 94% of television homes.
-In 1980: Ted Turner creates Cable News Network (CNN).

The journalists that make it happen:
Tom Brokaw:

"The focus is on the performance of the anchor, creatability is a huge issue in an anchor."

Born in the small community of Webster, South Dakota, but growing up in a smaller town, Bristol, Brokaw played guard at Yankton High School basketball team. Another accomplishment was the varsity letters he won in football and track (1958). In 1955 Brokaw began working in the KYNT an indepently owned radio station. Currently he is anchorman of the "NBC Nightly News."

Peter Jennings:

"The ratings have becomed a kind of measurement for the actual quality of television news."

Born in Toronto on July 29, 1938, Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings grew up in a privileged household. Peter Jennings and his sister Sarah, three years his younger, were the only children of Charles and Elizabeth Jennings. At the age of nine, Peter had his own show where he played songs that his listeners requested. It was not until the early 60's that Peter Jennings became the first voice of Canada. He worked in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as an announcer. Now Mr. Jennings is the anchorman of one of the more popular news broadcasts, "World News Tonight".

Marlene Sanders:

Sanders has truly led the way for other women in network news. In 1976 she became the only female national network vice-president in any news division. She first appeared in a fifteen-minute news cast in the ABC nightly news, the first prime-time newscast by a woman. Winner of three Emmy Awards, she has been an ABC News correspondent, anchorwoman, documentary producer, and vice president.

Pauline Frederick:

Reporter of ABC radio in the late 1940's, Pauline joined NBC in 1953 and retired in 1975. She was known as the first newswoman to work full time on the staff of an American television network.

Dan Rather:

Born in Wharton, Texas on October 31, 1931, Dan Rather was a Depression Era child and was the eldest son of a blue collar family. When Rather was young, he wrote about sports for the school paper and played end on the football team. He was voted one of "Sam Houston's Favorites" in 1952, and was Junior Class President in college. Now Rather appears on the "CBS EveningNews".

"Mr. Television"- Edward R. Murrow:

Also known as "Mr. Television", Murrow was born on April 25,1908 in Guilford County, North Carolina. Egbert Roscoe Murrow was the youngest of three sons. His father was a locomotive engineer; his mother, a devout Quaker. He studied in Washington State College (now Washington State University) and was elected president of the National Student Federation. He married Janet Brewster in 1934, and in that same year, he changed his first name to Edward.
Mr. Murrow is considered to have started the whole concept of Radio News, most well known for the unforgetable documentary series, "Living", which lasted for about 4 years. These half-hour radio programs, aired on Sunday afternoons, and dealt with a wide variety of subjects ranging from air pollution to the Olympic Games.
Other series he participated in and produced are: "See It Now", "As Others See Us", "CBS Views the Press", "CBS Is There", and "You Are There".
Mr. Television was a well respected man within the television and Journalism world. He is a legend and an inspiration to his audiences and to people involved with Broadcast Journalism. For all of his hard work and dedication to the news, he was awarded five Emmy Awards and he will be remembered for many years to come.



The Three Major Networks:
ABC, CBS, NBC.
*CNN- "News until the end of the world". Founded on June 1, 1980, by Ted Turner, CNN was viewed in more than 90 countries and a global news service by the year 1990. A 24 hour news network that covers international events, letting its viewers know what's happening around the worlds in just a few minutes has proven to be very successful. Having correspondents in every country covering important events makes CNN an extremely capable source of the news. The competition is scarce for this nationally viewed and critically acclaimed network.

Breaking the language barriers in broadcasting:

In a country as diverse as the U.S.A, language is a big barrier. Many channels offering news in other languages have begun to develop, allowing all comunities to have access to the information they need.
KMEX-channel 34 (Univision)
Founded September 29, 1962, KMEX has served its Spanish-speaking audience for 35 years. A winner of the first Edward R. Murrow Award, KMEX is known to be the first television station to create a spanish-language morning talk show ("Los Angeles al Dia"). The Radio and TV News Directors Association have nominated it to be "America's Best Newscast."