Timeline: The Development of Television

Apr 9, 1927

First Long Distance Broadcast

Bell Laboratories and the Department of Commerce broadcast the first long-distance transmission of live picture and voice simultaneously. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover is featured in the brief broadast.

Period: Apr 9, 1927 to Feb 12, 2015

History of Television

Jan 13, 1928

First Televsion Station Goes on the Air

WRGB broadcasting from the G.E. facility in upstate New York.

Apr 30, 1939

RCA Presents Television at the World's Fair

President Roosevelt delivers the first televised presidential speech and visitors to the RCA pavillion can step in front of the cameras. RCA uses the forum to introduce a line of television receivers that require the use of a radio for sound. This is the birth of NBC.

Apr 14, 1940

CBS Introduces Color Television

Jul 1, 1941

First Paid Commercial

Oct 15, 1945

1st Microwave Relay System is Introduced

Western Union introduces a microwave relay system between New York and Philadelphia. Most television traffic will be transmitted using this method until the 1970s.

Oct 15, 1951

I Love Lucy Premieres

Apr 6, 1956

Videotape is Introduced

Videotape replaces the kinescope enabling television programs to be produced anywhere. Production moves from NYC to Hollywood.

Sep 26, 1960

Nixon-Kennedy Debate

Jul 10, 1962

1st Use of Satellite Transmition

No longer relying on videotape to be brought in from another location, satellites make broadcasts over long distances immediate. This was also the first transatlantic broadcast.