1941: Television

In 1941 television took a stride forward when the Federal Communications Commission approved standards for commercial broadcasting and for the first time permitted television stations to operate on a commercial basis. Television was thus put on an even footing, so far as government sanction goes, with standard broadcasting. This long-awaited event followed many months of work on the part of the National Television System Committee, a group of 168 specialists formed in 1940 to investigate the questions of standardization for a commercial television service. On March 20, 1941, this group appeared before the FCC and recommended the adoption of 22 specific standards, on which substantially complete agreement had been reached. On May 3, 1941, the FCC announced the approval of these standards and issued an order permitting the operation of television stations, under these standards, on and after July 1, 1941, on a full commercial footing.

Coincident with this order, the Commission issued rules governing the operation of commercial television stations which set the pattern under which the new art is expected to progress. Each commercial station must maintain a program service 15 hours per week, including at least two hours between 2 and 11 p.m. each day except Sunday, and one hour five days a week between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. The commercial licenses are issued for a period of one year, but no individual or organization is permitted to own or control more than three stations. This latter ruling arose from the limited facilities available in the ether. A television station occupies an enormous path in the ether spectrum, fully 600 times as wide as that required for a standard sound broadcast station. Despite this fact, room was found for 18 commercial television channels, in the ultra-short-wave region between 50 megacycles and 294 megacycles (wavelengths of 6 and 2 meters, respectively). Since the range over which a station can create interference with other stations is limited to about 100 miles under normal conditions, these 18 channels may be reassigned for simultaneous use at intervals across the country. Hence hundreds of television stations can be accommodated, but the number in any one city is necessarily limited.

Under the new FCC rules the commercial stations were permitted to engage in experimental activities, provided that suitable identification of the experimental nature of the program is made. In fact, the Commission definitely requires each station to submit reports on tests on two important phases of the art: color television and the synchronization of the received image with the image in the studio.

In addition to this list of commercial stations, the Commission had licensed, as of Oct. 1, 1941, 43 experimental television stations, several of which were operating with occasional programs for the public.

N. T. S. C. Standards.

The standards officially adopted for the use of commercial television stations, drawn up by the National Television System Committee, differ from the standards previously in general use in two noteworthy particulars. According to the new standards, the television pictures are composed of 525 horizontal lines, each of which is composed of the variations in light and shade which constitute the picture content. The 525-line figure represents an increase from the previous value of 411 lines used by the majority of experimental stations. The increase in the number of lines permits a proportional increase in the amount of pictorial detail which can be accommodated in the vertical dimension of the picture. But the total amount of pictorial detail in the picture, measured horizontally as well as vertically, is fixed by the width of the ether channel assigned to the station. Since this channel width remains unchanged (at a width of 6 megacycles) in the new standards, the total pictorial detail is unchanged, and the increase in the detail vertically is accompanied by a decrease in the detail horizontally. The net result, however, is a better balance of the detail in the two dimensions, so that the overall effect is noticeably better. The increase in the number of lines also makes the line structure less visible to the viewing audience.

The second change of importance in the new standards is the use of frequency modulation for the sound program which accompanies the picture. Frequency modulation (see RADIO) is a system of sound broadcasting on the ultra-short waves which has proved capable of transmitting sound with greater freedom from distortion and interference than is possible with the conventional amplitude modulation system used in standard broadcasting. The frequency modulation specifications adopted for the television sound are the same as those used for commercial f-m broadcasting. Hence the same circuits which receive the sound in a television receiver may also be used, merely by providing an additional tuning range, for the reception of f-m sound broadcasting. Thus economy is achieved in the production of combined television-fm receivers, which, it is believed, will be the type most widely used by the public.

Other differences appear in the new standards, for the most part deeply rooted in the technical operation of the system. One potential improvement is the achievement of much more stable reception of pictures at a distance from the transmitter, when the received signal is weak. The synchronization of the received picture is often disturbed by interference from electrical appliances and passing automobile ignition systems, in such outlying locations. The use of frequency modulation to improve the synchronization was under active investigation during the year. The use of the f-m signal does not require radical changes in existing receivers, and in fact many receivers will operate with it without any changes whatsoever.

The limiting distance of television transmissions, while subject to some improvement by the system just mentioned, is still limited by the fact that the television signals are intercepted by the horizon. The signals bend slightly around the curvature of the earth, but their strength is rapidly diminished in the process. The reliable range of television stations is thus about 30 miles, for a low-powered transmitter with a transmitting aerial of moderate height, to about 60 miles for a powerful station with its aerial located on a skyscraper or mountain top. With exceptionally good receiving conditions, reception up to 100 miles is possible, but beyond this the pictures can be viewed only under exceptional conditions of the atmosphere.

Programs.

Two stations in New York and one in Philadelphia have maintained extensive program schedules throughout the latter part of the year. The most comprehensive and varied program fare was offered by station WNBT, operated in New York by the National Broadcasting Company. This station broadcast a number of sponsored programs, including regular time signals (a clock face displayed between programs), daily weather reports in cartoon form, fashion shows sponsored by department stores, and a regular program of professional wrestling, sponsored once a week by a hat-manufacturer. The size of the audience remained small, roughly 6,000 receivers, and the potential audience even for a program of major importance was probably not larger than 30,000 persons.

Among the notable telecasts were several showing refugee children telephoning to their parents in England. These programs were broadcast over the national networks and were accorded a high degree of interest even when reproduced by sound alone. With the aid of the television camera, which recorded the facial expressions of the children, the emotional appeal was greatly enhanced.

Sports continued to occupy a basic place in the schedule. During the summer regular broadcasts of the professional baseball games between the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers and other teams in the National League were broadcast from Ebbets Field. All of the collegiate football games played at Baker Field, the home field of Columbia University, likewise went before the cameras, and professional football was available nearly every Sunday during the Fall. Horse racing from Belmont Park and Jamaica, intercollegiate basketball and professional hockey from Madison Square Garden, water meets at the New York Aquacade, the Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships, the Soap Box Derby at Riverdale, were typical events.

Interest in the War in Europe and the Pacific was reflected by a regular weekly feature 'The Face of the War,' in which Sam Cuff brought noted correspondents into the studio, and with the aid of maps and charts, outlined the events of the preceding week.

Station WCBW, the Columbia Broadcasting System station in New York presented an extensive schedule of programs. Question bees, country dances, analyses of sports, stories such as 'Around the World in Eighty Days' dramatized serially for children, and variety shows featuring well-known vaudeville artists, were among the programs offered by this station.

The programs also contained occasional motion picture films. Many of these, particularly travelogues, were highly interesting, especially when the traveler who made the films was present in the studio to offer accompanying comments on the film. But 'feature' films of the entertainment variety were generally of poor grade, showing that the film producers in Hollywood and the television broadcasters had not yet worked out a cooperative understanding.

Receivers.

No new receivers were offered to the public during 1941, due to the effect of the War. Essential materials, particularly aluminum, and component parts, including cathode-ray tubes, were unavailable due to priority ratings. The majority of the technical personnel in television, outside the broadcasting stations, was transferred to defense activity during the year, so man-power to design and produce new receivers was not available. A small production of existing types of receivers was kept up by a few manufacturers, and receivers in the hands of the public were rapidly converted so as to receive pictures in accordance with the new transmission standards. This situation so limited the supply of television receivers that the audience remained practically static.

Technical Advances.

The principal technical advances of the year were those relating to the establishment of the new transmission standards. Since the lack of materials and manpower in the manufacturing companies prevented the design of new types of receivers, technical research was retarded in this field. The technical staffs of the broadcasting companies were, however, busy refining and improving the quality of the transmitted pictures.

One such improvement was the adaptation of the 'lap-dissolve' technique widely used in motion pictures. This consists of fading one picture into another, between scenes, so that both scenes appear simultaneously during the transition. In television the dissolve is accomplished by combining the television signals from two synchronized cameras, the signal being reduced in one camera by a control similar to the volume control in sound broadcasting, while the signal from the other camera was increased. The same method is used to display two images simultaneously when the occasion warrants. Thus, on the evening of the municipal election in New York, bulletins in the form of charts showing the voting returns were superimposed on the screen, during the broadcast of wrestling matches.

The experiments with color television were continued by several of the commercial broadcasting stations, including WNBT and WCBW in New York. The early transmissions announced in 1940 were limited to film subject matter, such as motion pictures and slides, but the technique was extended in 1940 to permit full-color transmission of studio scenes and outdoor pick-ups. The principal limitation in the use of color was a lack of detail in the pictures received, resulting from the fact that three separate images in the three primary colors must be sent in rapid succession, in the place of one black and white picture. The difficulties of maintaining correct color balance throughout the range from shadows to highlights were also evident, and the problem providing a simple and inexpensive receiver had not been solved.

Perhaps the most noteworthy technical contribution of the television art to the country's welfare was the accumulated experience of its engineers and technicians, who were turned over almost without exception to special problems in the defense organizations of the radio manufacturing industry. See also RADIO: Television.