Four inflection points of note in film, radio and TV, after-the-jump ….
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As a nine year-old in 1965, I vividly recall television programs (previously in black and white) changing to color. Our family did not yet have a color TV (we would in less than three years), yet some friends (from more prosperous families) did, and it was a revelation to me. To me, this was one of four interesting inflection points in entertainment viewing/listening in the past one hundred years.
In my youth, the TV showing of the Our Gang/Little Rascals short films (shown in theaters before main attractions) reflected the transition from silent to talking pictures. The first major successful film was 1927’s The Jazz Singer featuring Al Jolson. Theaters of the day began to retrofit to include sound systems and the following year Disney released Steamboat Willie (introducing Mickey Mouse).
In the U.S. A., the % of films with sound was only 2.3% in 1927 … which had risen to 71.8% in 1929 … which is why the year 1929 is seen as the cross-over point (in 1930, it rose to 96.9%). And it was the growth of movie musicals that helped fuel this change; as George & Ira Gershwin received a $100k contract to write for their first film at the end of 1929.
The change was not beneficial to all; and the 2011 Oscar-nominated film The Artist portrayed several silent movie actors opposed to the arrival of sound (just as years later, some radio stars were unable to make the transition to television). Newspaper critics often panned the whole idea of talking films, and deaf patrons were distraught at not having subtitles to read. At the same time, it was also a boon to the blind, who were now able to enjoy listening to dialogue and music.
The theater owner groups were divided, as impresario J.J. Shubert felt it was the way of the future, while others worried about their futures (with many theater musicians displaced).
In 1976, Mel Brooks’s film Silent Movie….. actually had one word of spoken dialogue, as Mel asks someone … if they’d like to be in the first silent movie made in over forty years?
Color television had its public advent in June, 1951 when CBS broadcast a program to its stations along the Northeast Corridor: Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Theaters, department stores and hotels were able to show viewers what it looked like, yet was incompatible with standard black-and-white sets (which would have a blank screen).
Color television standards were adopted that allowed showing on black-and-white sets by the dawn of 1954. Yet adaptation was slow (production costs, early cost of color TV’s) and it took years to catch on. In 1963, CBS was only broadcasting in color… if an advertiser would help defray the cost.
Meanwhile, NBC was placing its money on color beginning in 1960. And it was that network that first announced that nearly all of its primetime shows in 1965 would be in color (the Today Show and Huntley-Brinkley Reports as well) … and the other networks soon started to follow. By the following 1966-1967 season, most network shows had made the switch.
The first season of my favorite childhood show (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) was in black and white, but the second season (1965-1966) was not. If you are of a certain age, you may recall old shows that transitioned as well.
1965 was also an inflection point in the development of FM radio. It was developed in the 1930’s as a way to avoid the static on AM stations. And by 1963, the FCC under its chairman Newton Minnow (famous for declaring TV a “vast wasteland” two years earlier) wanted to increase competition in FM broadcasting. Yet since many stations simply simulcast their AM frequencies on their FM stations, the FCC saw this as a waste of spectrum space.
They issued a rule (which did not take effect until October, 1965) that:
No FM station in a city of over 100,000 population can devote more than 50 percent of its average broadcast week to duplication of the programming of a commonly owned AM station in the same local area.
Though this rule was repealed in 1986 (due to many changes in the meantime) it led to the development of rock music on FM. Stations had to hire new staff for their FM-only broadcasts, and often hired young college graduates (who grew up with rock) and who had more freedom to play as FM audiences tended to be older than AM audiences.
Stations such as KMPX in San Francisco (under its new program director Tom Donahue) and WNEW in NYC (which I grew-up with) were in the forefront of this movement (also WXRT in Chicago, WABX in Detroit and WHFS in Baltimore). By the end of the 1970’s, this era was winding down … but was great while it lasted.
The last of these four major entertainment changes was the FCC requirement that all high-power analog TV stations turn off their signals and go to digital-only transmission sixteen years ago today in 2009. HDTV was less of a sudden change than the others, as this deadline was postponed several times.
The FCC was keen to push this change in no small part as to free-up valuable spectrum for other uses (such as police, fire and emergency rescue) as well as for advanced commercial wireless services (and auctioned them off afterwards).
The technology to go to HD was ready as early as 1998, yet the first wave of HD sets was around $5,500 at the time. They came down rapidly with economies of scale over the years. And cable companies were able to provide HD converter boxes to houses that did not yet own an HDTV set, especially with the postponed deadlines.
By the time of June, 2009 there was enough advance notice (with cable companies advising their subscribers) that less than 3% of viewers were caught off-guard unable to view … and some of those just involved secondary TV sets (say, in a den or basement) that were not primary outlets.
Besides the general picture quality improvement: the most noticeable change I recall was seeing baseball players on televised games cover their mouths while speaking to each other (that seemed unnecessary before). An analyst for USA Today felt the transition to HD occurred more swiftly than to color TV.
Let’s close with a look at silent film music
Now, on to Top Comments (and some Top Photos):
From indyada:
In the diary by chloris creator about several news items that Krasnov doesn’t want you to see — I'd like to nominate this delightful poetry (from T Maysle) for a Pulitzer or something. :)
Highlighted by Ethrid:
Highlighted by DRo:
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the front-page storyabout whether attendees to next year’s World Cup (held jointly between the US, Canada and Mexico) will be harassed by Krasnov’s forces — leftangler suggests utilizing the other two hosts more, while AlexandertheGreat reminds us of the rampant corruption of FIFA.
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
4) Evidence of Provocation … by The Geogre +10110) I hate his podcast lol. … by MurielVieux +8425) Good morning, Greg, and thank you. … by Onomastic +5825) Here's some Gavin memes you may like. … by exlrrp +58