Television

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Television

At the same time radio began to achieve commercial viability in the 1920s, the United States and Britain began experimenting with "television," the wireless transmission of moving pictures. Although Britain was initially somewhat more successful, both countries experienced a lot of difficulty in the early stages. There were a variety of reason for this. In America, many people whose livelihoods were tied to radio were also responsible for developing television. Accordingly, they were in no hurry to see radio, a sure money maker, usurped by the new medium. In addition, the Depression greatly slowed the development of television in the 1930s. There was also a tremendous amount of infighting between potential television manufacturers and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in trying to establish uniform technical standards. And finally, just as it seemed as though television was poised to enter American homes, the onset of World War II delayed its ascendancy until the war's end. However, in the late 1940s and early 1950s commercial television exploded on the American market, forever changing the way products are sold, people are entertained, and news events are reported. In the years immediately following World War II television quickly became America's dominant medium, influencing, shaping, and recording popular culture in a way no other media has ever equaled.

Although televisions first appeared on the market in 1939, because there were virtually no stations and no established programming, it wasn't until just after World War II that TV began its meteoric rise to media dominance. As John Findling and Frank Thackeray note in Events That Changed America in the Twentieth Century, in 1946 only 7,000 TV sets were sold. However, as television stations began appearing in an increasing number of cities, the number of sets sold rose dramatically. In 1948 172,000 sets were sold; in 1950 there were more than 5,000,000 sets sold. By 1960 more than 90 percent of American homes had TV sets, a percentage which has only climbed since. Before television, Americans had spent their leisure time in a variety of ways. But as each new station appeared in a particular city, corresponding drops would occur in restaurant business, movie gates, book and magazine sales, and radio audiences. By the early 1960s Americans were watching over 40 hours of TV a week, a number that has remained remarkably stable ever since.

Television originally only had 12 Very High Frequency (VHF) channels—2 through 13. In the late 1940s over 100 stations were competing for transmission on VHF channels. Frequency overcrowding resulted in stations interfering with one another, which led to the FCC banning the issuance of new licenses for VHF channels for nearly four years, at the conclusion of which time stations receiving new licenses were given recently developed Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels (14 through 88). However, most TV sets needed a special attachment to receive UHF channels, which also had a worse picture and poorer sound than VHF channels. Unfortunately, it was mostly educational, public access, and community channels that were relegated to UHF. Because of the FCC's ban, the three major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, were able to corner the VHF channels and dominate the television market until well into the 1980s.

From its introduction in American society, television has proven itself capable of holding its audience riveted to the screen for countless hours. As a result, people who saw television as a means through which to provide culturally uplifting programming to the American public were gravely disappointed. Instead, TV almost immediately became an unprecedentedly effective means of selling products. Most Americans weren't interested in "educational" programming, and if people don't watch advertisers don't pay for air time in which to sell their products. TV shows in the late 1940s followed the model established by the success of radio; single advertisers paid for whole shows, the most common of which were half hour genre and variety shows. But in 1950 a small lipstick company named Hazel Bishop changed forever the way companies sold their products.

When Hazel Bishop first began advertising on TV in 1950 they had only $50,000 a year in sales. In two short years of television advertising, and at a time when only 10 percent of American homes had TV sets, that number rose to a stunning $4.5 million. As advertisers flocked to hawk their products on TV, TV executives scrambled to find a way to accommodate as many companies as possible, which would result in astronomical profits for both the advertisers and the networks. TV executives realized that single product sponsorship was no longer effective. Instead, they devised a system of longer breaks during a show, which could be split up into 30 second "spots" and sold to a much larger number of advertisers. Although this advertising innovation led to television's greatest period of profitability, it also led to advertising dictating television programming.

In the early 1950s television advertisers realized they had a monopoly on the American public; they were competing with each other, not with other mediums, such as books or magazines. Americans watched regardless what was on. Advertisers discovered that what most people would watch was what was the least objectionable (and often the most innocuous) show in a given time slot; hence the birth of the concept of "Least Objectionable Programming." A TV show didn't have to be good, it only had to be less objectionable than the other shows in the same time slot. Although more "serious" dramatic television didn't entirely disappear, the majority of shows were tailored to create the mood advertisers thought would result in their consumers being the most amenable to their products. By the mid-1950s lightweight sitcoms dominated the American television market. The relative success and happiness of television characters became easily measurable by the products they consumed.

Prior to the twentieth century, "leisure time" was a concept realized by generally only the very wealthy. But as the American middle class grew astoundingly fast in the post World War II boom, a much larger population than ever before enjoyed leisure time, which helped contribute to television's remarkable popularity. Perhaps even more important was the rise of the concept of "disposable income," money that people could spend on their wants rather than needs. Advertisers paying for the right to influence how people might spend their disposable income largely funded television. As a result, television was ostensibly "free" prior to the late 1970s. Nevertheless, television's cost has always been high; it has played perhaps the single largest role in contributing to America's becoming a consumer culture unparalleled in world history. Countless television shows have achieved an iconic stature in American popular culture, but none have had as powerful an effect on the way American's live their day to day lives as have commercials.

By the mid-1950s it became clear that television's influence would not be confined to the screen. Other forms of media simply could not compete directly with television. As result, they had to change their markets and formats in order to secure a consistent, although generally much smaller than pre-television, audience. Perhaps the most far reaching consequence of the rise of television is that America went from being a country of readers to a country of watchers. Previously hugely popular national magazines such as Colliers, Life, and The Saturday Evening Post went out of business in the late 1950s. Likewise, as television, an ostensibly more exciting visual medium than radio, adapted programming previously confined to the radio, radio shows quickly lost their audience. Magazines and radio stations responded similarly. Rather than trying to compete with TV they became specialized, targeting a singular demographic audience. Simultaneously, advertisers grew more savvy in their research and development and realized that highly specific consumer markets could be reached via radio and magazine advertising. Strangely, television's rise to prominence secured the long term success of radio and magazines; their response to the threat of television eventually resulted in a much larger number of magazines and radio stations than had been available before television. In the late 1990s audiences can find a radio station or magazine that focuses on just about any subject they might want.

Perhaps the industry struck hardest by the advent of television was the American film industry. Hollywood initially considered TV an inferior market, not worthy of its consideration. And why not, for in the late 1940s as many as 90 million people a week went to the movies. But television's convenience and easy accessibility proved much competition for Hollywood. By the mid-1950s the industry's audience had been reduced to half its former number. Hollywood never recovered as far as actual theater audiences are concerned. In fact, by the late 1990s only 15 million people a week attended the cinema, and this in a country with twice the population it had in the late 1940s. However, Hollywood, as it seemingly always does, found a way to adapt. Rather than relying exclusively on box-office receipts, Hollywood learned to use television to its advantage. Now after market profits, including the money generated from pay-per-view, cable channels, premium movie channels, and, most of all, video sales and rentals, are just as important to a film's success, if not more so, than a film's box-office take.

In addition, television's media domination has contributed greatly to blurring the lines between TV and Hollywood. Most Hollywood studios also produce TV shows on their premises. Furthermore, just as radio stars once made the jump from the airwaves to the silver screen, TV stars routinely make the jump from the small screen to the movies. As a result, many American celebrities can't be simply categorized in the way they once were. Too many stars have their feet in too many different mediums to validate singular labels. Take, for example, Oprah Winfrey, a television talk show maven who has also been involved in several successful books, promoted the literary careers of others, frequently appeared on other talk shows and news magazines as a guest, and has acted in and produced a number of both television and Hollywood films. Although hers is an extreme example, television's unequaled cultural influence has resulted in turning any number of stars who would have formerly been confined to one or two mediums into omnipresent multimedia moguls.

If radio ushered in the era of "broadcast journalism," TV helped to further define and legitimize it. In addition, television newscasts have changed the way Americans receive and perceive news. By the late 1950s TV reporters had learned to take advantage of emerging technologies and use them to cover breaking news stories live. Television broadcasts and broadcasters grew to hold sway over public opinion. For, example, public sentiment against the Vietnam War was fueled by nightly broadcasts of its seemingly senseless death and destruction. Walter Cronkite added further fuel to the growing fire of anger and resentment in 1968 when he declared on-air that he thought the war in Vietnam was a "terrible mistake." When most Americans think of the events surrounding JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy's assassinations, the civil rights movement, the first moon walk, the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Gulf War, and the 1992 riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King trial verdict, it is the televised images that first come to mind.

Unfortunately, by the late 1990s many Americans had come to rely on television news as their main source of information. In addition to nightly news and news oriented cable networks, cheap-to-make and highly profitable "news magazines" such as Dateline NBC, 20/20, and 48 Hours have become TV's most common form of programming. Rarely do these shows feature news of much importance; instead, they rely on lurid and titillating reports that do nothing to enrich our knowledge of world events but nevertheless receive consistently high ratings, thus ensuring the continuing flow of advertising dollars. That most Americans rely on television for their information means that most Americans are underinformed; for full accounts of a particular story it is still necessary to seek out supporting written records in newspapers, magazines, and books. The problem with relying on television for information is, as Neil Postman writes, "not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining." Accordingly, it is Postman's contention that America's reliance on TV for information is dangerous, for when people "become distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk."

Because of news broadcasting and the fact that television is the best way to reach the largest number of Americans, television has helped shape American politics in the second half of the twentieth century. Effective television advertising has become crucial to the success or failure of nearly any national election. Unfortunately, such advertising is rarely completely factual or issue oriented. Instead, most such advertisements are used to smear the reputation of a particular candidate's opponent. Perhaps the most famous example of such advertisements occurred in the 1988 Presidential campaign, during which Republican George Bush ran a series of slanted and inflammatory spots about his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis. Furthermore, the careers of several presidents have become inextricably intertwined with TV. For example, President Ronald Reagan, a former minor movie star and television product pitchman, used his television savvy so effectively that he came to be known as "the Great Communicator." Conversely, President Bill Clinton, whose initial effective use of television has reminded some of JFK's, became victim to his own marketability when in August of 1998 he admitted in a televised speech to the nation that he had lied about his affair with a young intern named Monica Lewinsky. His admission, which was meant to put the incident behind him, instead spawned a virtual television cottage industry, with literally dozens of shows devoting themselves to continual discussion about his fate, which was ultimately decided in a televised impeachment trial.

Strangely, considering the man was wary of the medium, perhaps no politician's career has been more tied to television than Richard Nixon's. As a vice presidential candidate on Dwight Eisenhower's 1952 Republican Presidential bid, Nixon came under fire for allegedly receiving illegal funding. A clamor arose to have Nixon removed from the ticket. On September 23, 1952, Nixon went on TV and delivered a denial to the accusations, which has since become known as "the Checkers speech." More than 1 million favorable letters and telegrams were sent supporting Nixon; he remained on the ticket and he and Eisenhower won in a landslide. Conversely only eight years later TV would play a role in Nixon's losing his own bid for the White House. Nixon agreed to a series of televised debates with his much more telegenic opponent, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Nixon's pasty face and sweaty brow may have cost him the election. Many historian's believe that Kennedy "won" the debates as much by his more polished appearance and manner than by anything he said. Nixon learned from his error. While again running for the Presidency in 1968, Nixon hired a public relations firm to run his campaign. The result was a much more polished, image conscious, and TV friendly Nixon; he won the election easily. In the last chapter of Nixon's political career, broadcast and print media helped spur investigations into his involvement with the Watergate affair. The hearings were broadcast live on TV, which helped to turn public opinion against the President, who resigned from office as a result. One of the most famous images in TV history of television is that of Nixon turning and waving to the crowd as he boarded the helicopter that removed him from power forever.

Prior to World War II, baseball was widely recognized as America's national pastime. Games were often broadcast live, and the country blissfully spent its summers pursuing the on-the-field exploits of larger than life figures such as Babe Ruth. However, after the war other sports grew to prominence, largely because of television, beer, and, until 1970, cigarette advertisers, who saw in sports audiences a target market for their products. Individual sports such as golf and tennis, grew in popularity, but team sports such as hockey, basketball, and most of all, football had the greatest increases. By the late 1960s and with the advent of the Super Bowl, annually America's most viewed broadcast, football surpassed baseball as America's favorite pastime. Because of their nature, team sports have a built in drama that escalates in intensity over the duration of a season. Americans are drawn to the players in this drama, which has resulted in athletes hawking products perhaps more than any other cultural icons. In fact, as advertising revenues increasingly fund sports, athletes have become perhaps the highest paid workers in America. Michael Jordan earned a reported $30 million to play for the Chicago Bulls in the 1997-98 season. In the Fall of 1998 pitcher Kevin Brown signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a seven year deal worth $105 million. Accompanying their paychecks is a rise in media scrutiny. Elite athletes are hounded by paparazzi in a way once reserved for movie stars and royalty. Such is the price of television fame in America.

Despite the ridiculous salaries and the accompanying out-of-control egos of many athletes and owners, it could be argued that television has made sports better for most people. Seeing a game live at a venue remains thrilling, but TV, with its multiple camera angles and slow motion instant replays, is by far a better way to actually see a game. In addition to better vision, one has all the comforts of home without the hassle of inclement weather, expensive tickets, heavy traffic, and nearly impossible parking. And because of TV and its live transmission of sports, certain moments have become a part of America's collective cultural fabric in a way that never would have been possible without television. Heroes and goats achieve legendary status nearly immediately. Just as important to our culture as the televising of events of political and social importance is the broadcast of sporting events. Although not particularly significant in their contribution to human progress, because of television the images of San Francisco 49er Joe Montana's pass to Dwight Clark in the back of the endzone in the 1981 NFC championship game to beat the Dallas Cowboys or of a ground ball dribbling between Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner's legs in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series are just as much a part of American culture's visual memory as the image of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

As the twentieth century careens to a close and America prepares to embark on a new century, debates over television's inarguable influence continue to rage. Is TV too violent? Is television's content too sexually oriented? Has television news coverage become vacuous and reliant on the superfluous and tawdry? Is TV damaging our children and contributing to the fraying of America's social fabric? Regardless of the answers to these and countless other questions about television's influence, the inarguable fact is that television is the most important popular culture innovation in history. Our heroes and our villains are coronated and vanquished on television. Sound bites as diverse in intent and inception as "where's the beef," "read my lips," and "just do it," have become permanently and equally ensconced in the national lexicon. Television is not without its flaws, but its accessibility and prevalence has created what never before existed: shared visual cultural touchstones. As one America mourned the death of JFK, argued about the veracity of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, recoiled in horror as Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck and beaten, and cheered triumphantly as Mark McGwire hoisted his son in the air after hitting his 62nd home run. For better or for worse, in the second half of the twentieth century television dominated and influenced the American cultural landscape in an unprecedented fashion.

—Robert C. Sickels