1942: Television

Effect of War.

In 1942, television as a public service made few advances. Shortages of trained men and materials forced the industry to mark time, pending the end of the war. So urgent were the needs of the war economy, in fact, that the FCC permitted a reduction in the service rendered by commercial television stations from 15 to 4 hrs. per week. The effect of this order was to release transmitter operators and engineers for war duties, and to conserve the life of transmitting equipment particularly high-power transmitting tubes, which were virtually unobtainable except for war purposes. The transmitting tube situation was felt also in conventional sound broadcasting. In this field, the FCC ordered a 25 per cent reduction in transmitter power and permitted a considerable increase in harmonic distortion, in the interest of extending the life of transmitting tubes.

The reduction in the required number of hours was met by retrenchment of the part of the television broadcasters. One station in New York, WNBT, restricted its output to air-raid warden instruction courses and films. Another in New York, W2XVW, broadcast on Sunday only, but offered a consistently entertaining variety program, making use of many performers formerly seen on other stations. In Philadelphia, WPTZ broadcast local football games. In general, each station met the minimum requirements as best it could, but the program fare was not calculated to rivet the attention of the viewing audience. The size of the audience remained static, since no television receivers were produced in 1942, and very few sold from dealers stocks.

Behind the scenes, in contrast, there was a high degree of activity. Hints began to appear in the press of the important role now being played by television circuits, equipment and techniques in the prosecution of the war effort. Virtually all men trained in the design and use of television gear had been absorbed by the armed forces and their contributory civilian laboratories. National advertising campaigns appeared, glorifying the term 'electronics' and promising great things to come, chief among them a national television service.

Post-War Development.

The attention of all, industry and public alike, was thus directed to the future. That television would receive a concerted impetus at the end of the war was certain. The only question was the form the service would take. Here opinion seemed agreed that the service would resume as it left off, provided that the war ended in 1943 or 1944. If the fighting continued for a much longer period, it seemed likely that the present television service would come to a complete stop, and that technical developments for the war would so advance the art, that an entirely new service would be possible and economically justified. Such an eventuality might mean the scrapping of the present standards of transmission (formulated by the National Television System Committee in 1941 and adopted by the FCC just before our entry in the war).

There were doubts, however, that the standards could undergo any basic modification, in view of certain technical facts. Improvement of the television service, that is, improvement of the basic pictorial detail of the image, is possible only if a larger portion of the ether spectrum is utilized by each broadcast station. If the available ether space is limited, the future of the art thus resolves itself into a contest of quality vs. quantity. A few broadcast stations may serve a restricted audience with pictures of high quality. Or a large number of stations may serve a larger audience (with the benefits inherent in competition) with pictures of proportionately lower quality. The compromise adopted in the present FCC standards is a picture of approximately the quality of 16-mm. home motion pictures, available on 18 channels which may be duplicated at intervals of approximately 200 miles. In the crowded East this situation restricts the program choice in a given large city to 3 or 4 stations, less in smaller cities. Thus television service is severely restricted compared with sound broadcasting in which 10 to 15 program choices are available in comparable large cities.

If the detailed quality of television pictures is to be improved (and this is the principal justification for a change in standards) fewer stations can be accommodated, unless more ether space can be found. It seems very unlikely that a reduction in the number of stations is justified, since the quality of the pictures is already capable of an acceptable home service. But if more ether space can be found, and made available for television, then improvement is possible and justified.

The extension of the ether spectrum into the higher frequencies just above the present limit of the television channels has been vastly accelerated by the war. Generation of high power on such high frequencies, once difficult, is now more readily accomplished. Simple antenna structures for transmitting and reception have been developed. The sensitivity and ease of tuning of receiving equipment has been improved. So far as apparatus is concerned, the stage is set. But as waves of higher and higher frequency are employed, their suitability for broadcast service becomes less. Particularly in large built-up cities, the higher frequencies (even frequencies now assigned for television service) are intercepted and reflected by tall buildings to such an extent that truly broadcast coverage of the community is difficult if not impossible. In small communities, built on level ground with low buildings, not constructed of steel, the higher frequencies can be used, but in the centers of large population their utility is doubtful. Engineering surveys of the coverage possibilities of the newly available high frequencies must be conducted before the issue is finally decided. See also RADIO AND ELECTRONICS.