COMMERCIAL TV OFFICIALLY BEGAN 60 YEARS AGO (APRIL 20)

COMMERCIAL TV OFFICIALLY BEGAN 60 YEARS AGO (APRIL 20)

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) -- Tomorrow (Apr. 20) is an important anniversary for couch potatoes: it's the 60th anniversary of the first day of regular commercial television. Scientists had been experimenting with ways to transmit live images since 1884, but April 20, 1939, was the first time TV programming was regularly scheduled by NBC, which was owned by RCA. The president of RCA, David Sarnoff, officially inaugurated the modern TV era at 12 noon on April 20th with the words, "Now we add radio sight to sound." RCA historian David Arland says NBC's first studio was located at the New York World's Fair and the network featured about 20 hours a week of programming, mostly silent movies with a few live plays sprinkled in. The network's most important broadcast occurred on April 30, 1939, when President Roosevelt officially opened the World's Fair and became the first president to appear on TV. Unfortunately, not many folks knew about it because only 200 TV receivers were up and running at the time -- mostly in RCA's New York headquarters.

CONTACT: David Arland, ****; Indianapolis, IN; (317) 587-4832