TV during World War II

[Steve McVoy]

Here is some information on TV during the war, including some links about programming:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/ww2_history.html

[Dave A]

Here is some Philadelphia history from the war years indicating W3XE/WPTZ was on the air on occcasions.

http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/earlytv.html

Dave A

[Dan Starnes]

Matt, yes WGEM and KHQA both started here in the area in 1953 I believe, but WGEM may have started late 1952.
Dan

[Captain Video]

Originally Posted by Einar72

What I find fascinating here is what the average 1945 person would think of a video game as we know of today. Back in the early 20th century, many people still believed there were "spirits" inside of technology like machines and radio. Example: gasoline was known as "Motor Spirit". I think it would have been quite a shock to see someone manipulating tiny people on the new-fangled TV screen to someone with no understanding of computers or even how a CRT worked. This is aside from the fact that Japan was fighting to the death against our own people, and the words Sony or Nintendo in your hands would surely land you in Federal custody...

Hehehe... that reminds me of a funny little story I've read, from a guy here in Brazil who was around 8-10 years old when his father bought the family's first TV set, in 1958. He said that one day they caught his grandfather ( who was 80 years old at the time ) looking behind the TV set ( it was an Emerson table model, by the way ). They asked him what he was doing. The old man answered: "I just want to know how all this people manage to get inside this thing" .

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Einar72

I think it would have been quite a shock to see someone manipulating tiny people on the new-fangled TV screen to someone with no understanding of computers or even how a CRT worked. This is aside from the fact that Japan was fighting to the death against our own people, and the words Sony or Nintendo in your hands would surely land you in Federal custody...

I once heard that "Sony" was a misspelling of "Sonny", for Sonny Boy". So it might not be a Japanese word. But "Nintendo" sure is.

Anyway, people back then, like today< would figure that the "small people on a TV screen" was just nothing more than new technology. After all, people then saw the invention and implemetation of radio, cars, airplanes, movies and cartoons (people would guess that the TV was just a minatureized movie theatre screen showing a cartoon show), and various other such things. "What will they think of next?"...

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by MRX37

I wondered something once, when I was playing Call of duty Finest hour on my playstation 2.

I wondered if the game could be played on a television that existed in early 1945...

Well, I ran my PS1, the first Playstation, on my 1964/66 Sony B&W TV with no problems, played Final Fantasy VII quite well. It was kind of different though.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Well, I don't know of anyone with any experience of watcging TV during World War II, but IIRC, Washington DC, New York City, Schenectany, New York, and Philadelphia, PA had TV stations. I think Los Angeles had one too along with a few others scattered about. There was one case where the Dumont Station in Washington, DC showed a slide on TV saying the war was over just prior to the official announcement, so the Navy had the station invesigated.

[Sandy G]

Imagine how hard it was for the folks of 1935-1955 to digest all the changes in their world...In '35, most people had never been on an airplane.The 1st really modern airliner, the DC-2, was just coming on the scene. By '55, I think Boeing had announced the 707, the 1st really successful jetliner. There was in '35, as close as does not matter, NO TV..By '55, you could go down to yr local RCA dealer & get yrself a COLOR set..In '35, cars were around, but they were still cantankerous beasts, w/no power steering or brakes, no automatics or A/C, cramped bodies, crappy brakes, etc..In '55, you had the famous small-block Chevy, an engine that's still w/us today. And you could get a car w/most of the labor-saving goodies we have today. There really hasn't been anywhere nearly as much to "Wow !" us since '88, as there were in those 20 years...

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Imagine how hard it was for the folks of 1935-1955 to digest all the changes in their world...In '35, most people had never been on an airplane.The 1st really modern airliner, the DC-2, was just coming on the scene. By '55, I think Boeing had announced the 707, the 1st really successful jetliner. There was in '35, as close as does not matter, NO TV..By '55, you could go down to yr local RCA dealer & get yrself a COLOR set..In '35, cars were around, but they were still cantankerous beasts, w/no power steering or brakes, no automatics or A/C, cramped bodies, crappy brakes, etc..In '55, you had the famous small-block Chevy, an engine that's still w/us today. And you could get a car w/most of the labor-saving goodies we have today. There really hasn't been anywhere nearly as much to "Wow !" us since '88, as there were in those 20 years...

I respectfully need to add one BIG BIG BIG thing since '88... The Internet. True it was around in the early 80s for a select few, the masses didn't get on 'til the 90s. I think the Internet has done more for society in general, worldwide, than the automobile or TV & radio. And cellphones: Hate 'em or love 'em, they weren't with us before the 80s, and now even every bum down on S. Los Angeles Street has one in his coat pocket opposite his whisky bottle. But not to belittle TV & radio... That is, afterall, why we're here talking about it

Charles

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by Einar72

What I find fascinating here is what the average 1945 person would think of a video game as we know of today.

I have had video games since the 1970's, and I am amazed by what the latest machines can do. It was early 1982 when the first "cockpit perspective" game was released, Star Raiders for the Atari 2600. ("Cockpit perspective" was the name at the time for what is now called "first person".) That game had a few white dots zipping out from the middle of the screen toward the edges to make you think you were flying through space, and little blob space ships that you shot at with the single button on the joystick controller. It sure was fun on my Sony Profeel monitor, though. After hardly playing for a number of years, I bought a Microsoft Xbox 360 and a driving game. The game has a ghost of your car, from when you drove around the same lap the last time, on screen at the same time as it shows your accurately-rendered Shelby Mustang (or other car of your choice). Incredible.

Regarding playing video games on old TV sets, that same Atari 2600 had a switch to select between color and B&W mode. Using that switch, some cartridges had a separate gray-scale scheme that was easier to see than the color version on a B&W TV. Well, actually, before that machine, most video games were only black-and-white...