Television History - The First 75 Years
 
 

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1941 Radio Craft - (Continued)

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September

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Commercial Television Inaugurated July 1st, 1941 - "Television inaugurated its visual broadcast service on a full-fledged commercial basis.  Two television stations in New York began this new public service immediately.  Three more stations -- in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia --- expect to make the transition from experimental to commercial operation in short order, and 17 other stations in various parts of the country signify their intention of going commercial as soon as it is possible for them to do so."

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Complete List of Television Stations in the USA, as of June 1, 1941

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Announcement of the development of the electronic television camera viewfinder, which used a 5" DuMont CRT.  Prior to this time, the viewfinder was optical.

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Zenith announces that it will soon give a demonstration of color television developed by its engineers.  Bottom half shows the programming of one of the first few weeks of commercial television.  Click here to see the "TV program guide" of the first historic week!

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"The first [advertising] Rate Card to be issued in the history of Television was released last month by the National Broadcasting Company, which means that the "telly" has really gone commercial."  The per hour rate for regular evening broadcasts, over New York's WNBT, was $120 !!  Service spots (News, Weather, Time) were $8 per minute nighttime, $4 daytime.