Color television

The invention: 



System for broadcasting full-color images over the

airwaves.



The people behind the invention:



Peter Carl Goldmark (1906-1977), the head of the CBS research

and development laboratory

William S. Paley (1901-1990), the businessman who took over

CBS

David Sarnoff (1891-1971), the founder of RCA










The Race for Standardization



Although by 1928 color television had already been demonstrated

in Scotland, two events in 1940 mark that year as the beginning

of color television. First, on February 12, 1940, the Radio Corporation

of America (RCA) demonstrated its color television system

privately to a group that included members of the Federal Communications

Commission (FCC), an administrative body that had the

authority to set standards for an electronic color system. The demonstration

did not go well; indeed, David Sarnoff, the head of RCA,

canceled a planned public demonstration and returned his engineers

to the Princeton, New Jersey, headquarters of RCA’s laboratories.

Next, on September 1, 1940, the Columbia Broadcasting System

(CBS) took the first step to develop a color system that would become

the standard for the United States. On that day, CBS demonstrated

color television to the public, based on the research of an engineer,

Peter Carl Goldmark. Goldmark placed a set of spinning

filters in front of the black-and-white television images, breaking

them down into three primary colors and producing color television.

The audience saw what was called “additive color.”

Although Goldmark had been a researcher at CBS since January,

1936, he did not attempt to develop a color television system until

March, 1940, after watching the Technicolor motion picture Gone

with the Wind (1939). Inspired, Goldmark began to tinker in his tiny

CBS laboratory in the headquarters building in New York City.

If a decision had been made in 1940, the CBS color standard

would have been accepted as the national standard. The FCC was,

at that time, more concerned with trying to establish a black-andwhite

standard for television. Color television seemed decades away.

In 1941, the FCC decided to adopt standards for black-and-white

television only, leaving the issue of color unresolved—and the

doors to the future of color broadcasting wide open. Control of a potentially

lucrative market as well as personal rivalry threwWilliam

S. Paley, the head of CBS, and Sarnoff into a race for the control of

color television. Both companies would pay dearly in terms of

money and time, but it would take until the 1960’s before the United

States would become a nation of color television watchers.

RCA was at the time the acknowledged leader in the development

of black-and-white television. CBS engineers soon discovered,

however, that their company’s color system would not work when

combined with RCA black-and-white televisions. In other words,

customers would need one set for black-and-white and one for

color. Moreover, since the color system of CBS needed more broadcast

frequency space than the black-and-white system in use, CBS

was forced to ask the FCC to allocate new channel space in the

ultrahigh frequency (UHF) band, which was then not being used. In

contrast, RCA scientists labored to make a compatible color system

that required no additional frequency space.





No Time to Wait



Following the end of World War II, in 1945, the suburbanites who

populated new communities in America’s cities wanted television sets

right away; they did not want to wait for the government to decide on

a color standard and then wait again while manufacturers redesigned

assembly lines to make color sets. Rich with savings accumulated during

the prosperity of the war years, Americans wanted to spend their

money. After the war, the FCC saw no reason to open up proceedings

regarding color systems. Black-and-white was operational; customers

were waiting in line for the new electronic marvel. To give its engineers

time to create a compatible color system, RCA skillfully lobbied the

members of the FCC to take no action.

There were other problems with the CBS mechanical color television.

It was noisy and large, and its color balance was hard to maintain.

CBS claimed that through further engineering work, it would

improve the actual sets. Yet RCA was able to convince other manufacturers

to support it in preference to CBS principally because of its

proven manufacturing track record.

In 1946, RCA demonstrated a new electronic color receiver with

three picture tubes, one for each of the primary colors. Color reproduction

was fairly true; although any movement on the screen

caused color blurring, there was little flicker. It worked, however,

and thus ended the invention phase of color television begun in

1940. The race for standardization would require seven more years

of corporate struggle before the RCA system would finally win

adoption as the national standard in 1953.



Impact





Through the 1950’s, black-and-white television remained the order

of the day. Through the later years of the decade, only the National

Broadcasting Company (NBC) television network was regularly

airing programs in color. Full production and presentation of

shows in color during prime time did not come until the mid-1960’s;

most industry observers date 1972 as the true arrival of color television.

By 1972, color sets were found in more than half the homes in the

United States. At that point, since color was so widespread, TV

Guide stopped tagging color program listings with a special symbol

and instead tagged only black-and-white shows, as it does to this

day. Gradually, only cheap, portable sets were made for black-andwhite

viewing, while color sets came in all varieties from tiny handheld

pocket televisions to mammoth projection televisions.



See also :



Autochrome plate; Community antenna television;

Communications satellite; Fiber-optics; FM radio; Radio; Television;