Early Television

Believe it or not, the first television broadcast of a drama was in 1930. It was an experiment by the BBC, and watched by the Prime Minister in his residence. But the American TV networks didn’t get going until the 1940s. Here are some trivial questions about those early TV days.

1)  NBC pushed its TV network in part by having President Franklin Roosevelt appear in a broadcast during what famous 1939-1940 event?

2)  ABC began its TV broadcasts in 1948 from Philadelphia.  It spread nationwide, and in 1949 a Bay Area affiliate began. What are the call letters of the local ABC TV station that began in 1949?

3)  CBS television began in 1941. What television pioneer, who passed away in 1990, grew CBS into a powerhouse by combining quality, advertisements, and low cost?

4)  Earlier than ABC, CBS, and NBC, this TV network began in 1938. The network innovated long-life cathode ray tubes, as well as radar for the government during World War II.  Name this network that ended in 1956, unable to compete with the big boys.

5)  The most recent Super Bowl charged five million dollars for a thirty-second ad. The first TV commercial ever was in 1941. It cost nine dollars. It was for a watch by what company?

6)  TV’s first Emmy awards were in 1949.  An early television engineer, Louis McManus, designed the statue. It’s of a winged woman holding, appropriately, what?