Television in the Antenna Age: A Concise History

155 Pages·2004·1.08 MB·English

by  David Marc

Television in the
~ ~
Antenna Age
~ A Concise History ~
David Marc and
Robert J. Thompson
Allie
Television in the Antenna Age
Allie
Television in the
~ ~
Antenna Age
~ A Concise History ~
David Marc and
Robert J. Thompson
© 2005 by David Marc and Robert J. Thompson
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
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108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
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The right of David Marc and Robert J. Thompson to be identified
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with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
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without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marc, David.
Television in the antenna age : a concise history / David Marc and Robert J.
Thompson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–631–21543–3 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0–631–21544–1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1.
Television broadcasting—United States—History. 2. Television—United States—
History. I. Thompson, Robert J., 1959– II. Title.
PN1992.3.U5M265 2004
384.55′0973—dc22
2004015922
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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To America’s K-12 teachers
Allie
CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 No Small Potatoes 1
Communication and Transportation: The Divorce 1
Water, Water Everywhere 6
Electrical Bananas 9
Here Comes the Judge 10
Say What? 11
2 A Downstream Medium 21
The Show Business 22
Radical Consumerism Occupies the Middle 27
Networking 31
Quality Control 34
3 A Burning Bush? 37
Broadcasting: Love It or Need It? 38
A Vertical System of Culture 44
Compatible Software 46
4 Staging and Screening 53
Sets 53
Getting with the Program 55
The Origins of ABC 58