July 1928

Uncle Miltie, the first TV star?

Hardly.

A case could be made instead for Jeanne Marie Belote. Or Catherine and Constance Rounds. They were seen when 3XK in Washington, D.C. began a regular, three-times-a-week schedule of programmes in July 1928.

Viewers didn’t quite see them, though. Jenkins’ “radio movies” were silhouette films, ones his station showed over and over and over again.

A bigger story that month was the Federal Radio Commission deciding to issue experimental television licenses and assign call-letters. Among them was granted to a station that remains on the air today as WNBC-TV—W2XBS. A couple may never have broadcasted at all. P.S. Lucas’ W6XBW was struck off the list by the Commission in January 1929 and W2XBT suffered the same fate in September 1929; the call letters were re-assigned to RCA.

The television item that seems to have grabbed the most attention was what amounted to a closed-circuit test. In New York, the Bell Telephone lab broadcast a golfer and a tennis player in action from a camera on the roof. Bell crowed that, not only could a television camera pick up more than someone’s head, this meant the possibility of remote broadcasts, like baseball from the Polo Grounds of a fight from Madison Square Garden. The prognosticating engineer was about ten years ahead of his time; the mechanical, disc-driven television would be obsolete when it happened.

Meanwhile, other stations were broadcasting what amounts to fax transmissions, where people could print a still picture transmitted to their home.

Below are some of the highlights for July 1928.

SUNDAY, JULY 1, 1928
TELEVISION FOR HOME WILL NOT BE READY FOR 5 YEARS
Photo Transmitting Hasn’t Been Perfected, Engineers Declare—Estimate Improvement to Radio May Be in Experimental Stage Several Years
By C. L. KERN, Radio Editor of The Star.
Although television has been acclaimed by number of radio engineers as being "just around the corner" scientists and engineers will undoubtedly spend many hours in laboratory experiments, ironing out the present difficulties encountered before this type of transmission will be practical for reception in the average home. Some authorities on the subject declare that it will be at least five years before the listener will be able to tune in on a football game or a boxing match and enjoy a grand stand view. Others predict that this will not be possible for at least ten years.
A great deal of television transmission today is being carried on in the short wave channels and has met with only a certain amount of success due to the erratic characteristics of the high frequency bands. Some talk is heard of the present stations in the broadcast bands between 200 and 530 meters utilizing their present assigned frequencies for that purpose. This is practically impossible and probably will be forbidden by the Federal radio commission when it is taken into consideration that the present system of television transmission requires modulation frequencies ranging from eight thousand to thirty thousand cycles. A station using modulation would cover approximately five of the present broadcast channels and would interfere with four other stations. This would tend to create a more congested condition than the present one confronting the commission. In view of these facts it is probable that 'the television transmissions of the future will be confined chiefly to the higher frequency bands.
Faces Are Blurred.
Up to the present time objects used in transmissions have been limited to the face of a man or woman or straight line objects. While the televisor of the receiving apparatus has produced fairly clear reproductions of straight line objects, those of the human face were in many instances blurred.
The first successful attempt was made by the General Electric Company over WGY on Jan.14, under the direction of Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, who is responsible for the greater part of the development of the art, and was brought in with minute reproduction. On Feb. 8, John L. Baird, London inventor, successfully harnessed the short wave bands and reproductions of the face of a man and woman were received in New York from a transmitter in London. The latter transmission, however, was not received perfectly. Baird at the present time is working on the transmission of motion pictures, accompanied by sound, and is expected to transmit them from a studio in London in September. The broadcast is expected to have a range of fifty miles.
The present transmitting apparatus employs scanning disk with a series of holes which throw a beam of light successively on to as many points of an object to be televised as are required to make a satisfactory picture. The system utilizes a forty-eight-hole disk and produces a picture made up of forty-eight rows of forty-eight dots to the square inch. In order to receive this system the receiver must be equipped with a disk of the same number of holes. The motor driving the disk of the receiver must be in absolute synchronism with the motor driving the disk of the transmitter. Unless a standard number of holes in the disks are adopted by the transmitting stations, or a new system of transmission introduced, a large amount of confusion is likely to be encountered in view of the fact that both the transmitting and receiving disk must contain the same number of holes. The possibility of an interchangeable number of disks is aid to be impossible. The Neon lamp is used in the receiver to change the electrical impulses into light rays instead of sound waves.
“Stills” Are Broadcast.
Experiments in transmission are now being carried on by WGY on its regular broadcast frequency and by WCFL of Chicago. Broadcasts of "stills," which is a reproduction of photographs and is not to be confused with television, is being put on the air by WMAC. WTMJ of Milwaukee, Wis., has been granted a license to broadcast "stills" and will begin about Aug. 1. Two daily schedules, one during daylight and the other about midnight, will be used. WGY's broadcasts are on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. At the present time reproductions from these stations are being received largely by amateurs, who are expected to contribute much towards the perfection of the new art. While at the present only a few television kits are being offered to the experimenter, an American syndicate has taken over the American rights of the Baird television system and will offer receivers before long at a reasonable price. The Baird sets are expected to be ready for delivery in England about Sept. 1 and will cost approximately $150. The approximate cost of the American Baird set is not known at the present. (Indianapolis Star)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1928
Motion Pictures to Be Broadcasted
Through television on a wavelength of 46.7 meters the Jenkins Laboratory at Washington has announced plans for broadcasting motion pictures for amateurs in the United States and Canada. They will be sent at the rate of 15 a second containing 48 lines to the picture. The performance is to be repeated each Monday night with a different set of pictures. (various papers)

FRIDAY, JULY 6, 1928
RADIO MOVIE IS SUCCESSFUL HERE
The day of broadcasting motion pictures by radio appears to be almost at hand.
Dr. C. Francis Jenkins, prominent radio engineer and inventor of this city, announces to the public that three times a week hereafter he will exhibit a regular program of movies by radio. He is asking the cooperation of all radio amateurs in developing the new art.
Before an audience of officials and newspaper men, Dr. Jenkins last night [6] at his home, 5502 Sixteenth St., demonstrated that a process for broadcasting movies has been found and that it is only a matter of time when radio movies in the home will be as common as loud speaker jazz is today.
On a 46.72 meter wave length a silhouette broadcast from his studio 1519 Connecticut Ave., was reproduced on the screen at his home. Although blurred at times the figures generally were distinct. The blur was due to the low wave length which is designed for long distance broadcasting.
The movie showed a little girl bouncing a ball and jumping around. Dr. Jenkins announced that he will "broadcast" his radio movies at 8 p. m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights.
He will show simple subjects at first, then more complex pictures and later a picture story. Each broadcast will be preceded by an announcement in code and followed by the word “end,” which will be the cue for the radio experimenters to turn the switch back to the loud speaker. (Washington Times-Herald, July 7)

SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1928
Licenses Issued for Broadcasting Pictures in Short Wave Band.
WASHINGTON, July 7.—Actual broadcasting of pictures, both "still" and moving will be undertaken by a number of investigators in various sections of the country under licenses for experimental television transmission, which have just been issued by the Federal Radio commission.
These licenses authorize television transmission by the Radio Corporation of America, New York, under the call 2XBS; Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing company, East Pittsburgh, under the call 8XAV; J. Smith Dodge, Lexington, under the call 1XAY; H. E. Smith, Beacon, N. J. under the call 2XBU; P. S. Lucas, Los Angeles, under the call 6XBW; F. L. Carter, Long Island City, N. Y., under the call 2XBT, and the Aero Products, Chicago, under the call 9XAG. These licenses are authorized to 4700 and 4900 kilocycles (63.79 to 61.79. meters). The Jenkins laboratories, Washington, also have been licensed to undertake television transmission, under the call 3XK, on 2140 and 4280 kilocycles (140.1 and 70.05 meters). The number of television transmitters will be increased in the near future upon the completion of stations by W. J. Allen at Salina, Kan., and R. B. Parrish at Los Angeles, permits for the construction of which have been granted by the commission.
The commission has written to all applicants for high frequency licenses, outlining the plan of allocation now under consideration for the short wavelengths, and asking that applicants comment on the suggestions made by Capt. S. C. Hooper, technical adviser to the commission, dealing with allocations and priorities.
It is suggested by Capt. Hooper that experimental development stations be licensed for television between 4500 and 500 kilocycles (66.63 to 58.79 meters), on five 100-kilocycle channels, one channel to be assigned to each zone for night use, and all five channels to be assigned to each zone for day use. In addition, one 100-kilocycle channel in the kilocycle band or the kilocycle band, and two 100-kilocycle channels above 23,000 kilocycles are recommended for television experimental work.
Because of the fact that the demand for short wave channels for various services exceeds the number of wave lengths available, the commission is considering the establishment of priorities based on the "interest, necessity and convenience" to the public of the different services, and it has been recommended that overseas and international relay broadcasting be given priority over the other services, to be followed, in order, by long distance broadcasting beyond reliable distance range of national broadcast network transmissions; television experimental and development work, and national relay broadcasting within the United States.
"It must be borne in mind," it is pointed out by the commission, "that high frequencies are primarily valuable due to their great carrying range, at low cost, and that they cause international interference. Therefore, they must be primarily assigned for long-distance uses when low frequencies are not practicable." (Buffalo News)

Has Television Station
Beacon, N.Y., July 7—(UP)—The Federal Radio commission has granted permission to Harold E. Smith of this city, to set up a television station on the top of Mount Beacon. The permission covers a tentative period, but if Smith is able to contribute to the advancement of the new field of radio research, the permission will be made permanent.
Smith, who constructed three broadcasting stations during the world war and has been experimenting with radio pictures, for two years, has a technical staff of three men and he stated in his application to the commission that two years ago he produced a radio facsimile using rotating brass cylinder and graphite ink.
The station is located on the very summit of Mount Beacon.

MONDAY, JULY 9, 1928
Station officials at KWJJ announce that it will probably be a month before they begin their television experiments. In the meantime Wilbur Jerman is assembling the parts and getting his short wave equipment in working order. KWJJ recently started operating on a somewhat extended schedule, using morning hours daily. (Oregon Daily Journal)

THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1928
MOVING PICTURES ARE BROADCAST
Another Step Forward Taken By Science Is Demonstrated
NEW YORK, July 13—July 13.—A figure in flannels and white sport shirt stood on the roof of the Bell Telephone Company Laboratories, 483 West street yesterday [12], and whirled a racket through all the strokes in the tennis player’s repertory. In front of the figure executing lofts and lobs was a television camera.
Three floors below, in a far comer of the building, a group of persons was gathered at the same time. There, in darkness, while Dr. Herbert E. Ives manipulated the electric controls that tuned in on the tennis player, this group watched the same lofts, the same lobs, the same forehand strokes that were being executed on the roof. Television was no longer limited to catching the mere head and shoulders of a man sitting in a radio studio. It was on its way toward carrying spectacles, panoramas and even mob scenes across miles of atmosphere.
The trick of recording the tennis player in action was accomplished by admitting sunlight to partnership with the radio. The glaring lamps that have hitherto been necessary in photographing an image to be broadcast gave way to the rays of the sun. The new device is based on the development of a photo-electric cell of great sensitivity.
"We can take this machine to Niagara, to the Polo Grounds or to the Yale Bowl," said one of the engineers of the Bell Laboratories, “and it will pick up the schene [sic] for broadcasting. The important step we have taken in this new development is that sunlight is used instead of a powerful artificial light. It will “photograph” the cataract of Niagara. We could mount the televisor camera on a platform and revolving tripod at a prize ring and broadcast the fight scene. Television has stepped out of the laboratory as far as transmission is concerned. We are no longer limited to studio work."
The television camera utilises a cloth hood in much the same fashion as the old type of ordinary camera. A lens five inches in diameter projects from an opening in the black cloth. Behind the lens and hidden by the cloth is Nipkow's disk, measuring three feet in diameter. It has fifty tiny holes along its outer rim. They measure 1-16 inch in diameter and are so arranged that no line effect is noticed on the picture at the receiving end. The disk is of aluminium, painted black, and when in operation it revolves so that each of the little light openings passes a given point eighteen times in a second. This creates 900 lines to “paint” the image. The impulses are so rapid that the lines are blended and the picture looks like a half-tone.
The great sensitivity of the new photo-electric cell is the reason why less light is required on the image. The camera will even operate on a hazy day, but clouds that shut off the sun lower the efficiency of the machine, according to the engineers.
The image is focused by moving the lens back and forth. In fact the principle is the same as that of a Kodak. In the first form of equipment demonstrated in April last year the scene illuminated by a rapidly oscillating beam from a powerful arc light. The scene to be broadcast was thus limited to a very small area. The new machine frees television from this serious limitation. The experiments yesterday showed that moving persons and objects a considerable distance away can be successfully scanned. Dr. Frank Gray was in charge of the television camera in the demonstration.
The televisor was not linked with a broadcasting station in the experiment, but was connected with the receiving apparatus by wire. It was explained by the engineers that this was merely to facilitate the demonstration. They said attachment to a broadcast transmitter could be just as easily handled. The radio-camera can be used several miles from the broadcasting station and be connected to it by land lines as are microphones that pick up music from points outside the studio.
The receiver was shrouded in darkness. One merely saw a picture about two and a half inches square of the tennis player on the roof as he jumped about and swung his racquet. The engineers, however, said there was nothing new in the receiver and that it was the same as demonstrated a year ago. They pointed out that the main new development was the elimination of the glaring "electrical eyes" and the substitution of sunlight at the transmitting end.
“It is merely a step forward," said an engineer. "It does not mean that television will be ready for use in every home equipped with radio tomorrow. The equipment is too elaborate for home use. It requires experts to operate the instruments, although part of the receiving station is an ordinary radio receiving set. We hope to make the pictures larger. We hope to have television so that it can be used in a living room without having it darkened. Perhaps some day we will flash the images on a screen like the movies but when that will be we cannot say.” (Meridien, Conn. Daily Journal)
SIGN TELEVISION ART FOR SPOKANE
Will Send Stills in 30 Seconds to Those Properly Equipped.
Television is coming to Spokane.
Radio station KHQ has ordered and will install a Cooley photo transmitter shortly before Christmas, according to an announcement made today by Louis Wasmer, owner.
First In West.
KHQ will be the first station west of Chicago to install a photo transmitting set, Mr. Wasmer stated. The type of set ordered is the very latest, equipped to broadcast pictures on the regular wave channels between 200 and 600 meters.
"The apparatus, the only successful type of photo transmitter to work on the general broadcast wave lengths between 200 and 600 meters, should reach here about September 15 or 20," said Mr. Wasmer today. "Other types of photo transmitters are successful on low wave bands only. Once we get under way, we hope to transmit to listeners two combined photo and musical programs each week, each probably from 30 minutes to an hour in length.
"While the details of the apparatus have not all been explained, I do know that New York stations now transmitting photographs declare the machine a wonderful success. The photos sent out radio impulse will be 'stills' and it will require about 30 seconds to send out and record on the receiving screen a perfect reproduction of the photo. The picture will remain on receiving screen just as long as the transmitting operator wishes.
"The apparatus will allow the transmission of local photos and still pictures of the person speaking in the transmitter, the impression being recorded when the subject sits in front of a mirror." (Spokane Chronicle)

FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1928
KSTP Plans Broadcast of Pictures on Monday
Broadcasting of radio pictures, showing news events and studio scenes incident to radio entertainment programs, will start Monday [16] over station KSTP, [in the Hotel Radisson,] St. Paul, it was announced Thursday by Lytton J. Shields, president of the station. The broadcasting apparatus now is being installed. The programs will be given on Mondays and Fridays at 8 p. m. and on Saturdays at 1:15 p. m.
The station will start this fall the broadcasting of important events, such as prize fights, football games and other similar activities. The broadcasting frequency is 1,360 kilocycles and a convertor makes 800 light impressions per second, resulting in a picture of considerable detail at a size of four by give inches. (Minneapolis Tribune)

KGB TO INSTALL TELEVISION
New Equipment Here In 30 Days
TELEVISION apparatus has been ordered by radio station KGB and within 30 days San Diegans will be able to see their favorite entertainers as they perform, according to George Bowles, manager of the station.
The new equipment will be installed in the KGB’s new studio in the Pickwick Terminal Hotel building, which will be formally opened Monday night [16].
Four stations in the west and one station in Chicago have broadcast successfully with television apparatus, Bowles said today, but the equipment ordered for KGB will be the first installed in the west. Television broadcasts require special receiving sets, but according to Bowles, these sets are priced within reach of most families now.
Bowles received a telegram from Rep. Phil Swing today in which Swing announced he would be present for the opening of the station Monday night. (San Diego Sun)

SUNDAY, JULY 15, 1928
Image Quite Clear In Television Test
Television images broadcast by WGY from Schenectady, N. Y., on the 380-meter wave length are being intercepted in New Jersey by a research engineer of the General Electric Company. He said the images were quite clear and were about one inch square. Television, he added, seems now to be a matter of weeks, not months.
"The entire television attachment to the standard radio set, which made it possible to receive a practically perfect picture, was small enough to be held in the two cupped hands," said the engineer. "It was made possible by one of the latest neon television lamps, which will operate from the output of a broadcast receiver, as only small currents are needed for its operation."
Intermittent television broadcasts were begun by WGY a few weeks ago, but pleas from amateurs and experimenters were so numerous that the station authorities decided upon a regular television schedule on the 380- meter wave. Television impulses are now scheduled for transmission by WGY on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between 1:30 and 2 p. m. Eastern daylight saving time. Among the stations in the East engaged in television work are: WLEX of Lexington, and WRNY of New York, the latter of which is preparing to go on the air within a few days with a regular schedule. (San Francisco Examiner)

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
WCFL and WLEX Continue With Picture Experiments.
The broadcasting of suitable television programs, which must always be the foundation of television progress, is now at hand, at least in a few favored localities Certain stations have been licensed for experimental television transmission the frequency band of 4.700 to 4,900 kilocycles. WCFL of Chicago has been granted a license to transmit television signals on short waves, while WLEX of Lexington, been granted similar license under the call letters 1-XAY. The latter station will be on the air regularly around 10 o'clock.
Following in the wake of the transmission experiments, number of reliable radio companies are about to introduce satisfactory kits for the reception of television signals. (Brooklyn Daily Times)
FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1928
RADIO BOARD ISSUES TELEVISION GRANTS
Memphis Gets Permit for Picture Transmission.
WASHINGTON, July 20.—(AP)—The Federal Radio Commission took its first decisive step in recognition of the potential value of television today when it issued licenses to two transmitters and construction permits to seven others for development and experimentation in the work of sending pictures through the air.
The operating licenses, assigned to the Jenkins Laboratories, Washington, D. C. and J. Smith Dodge, Lexington, Mass., were issued for the period of one year, "subject to revocation unless the applicant makes satisfactory progress in the work and full use of the band."
Within this period the commission expects to determine whether such use is in the public interest or whether the channels should be diverted to others who have petitioned for several years for more positions in the short wave or high frequency spectrum.
Dodge's transmitter was given the call signal 1XAY, to be operated on a 4,800 to 4,900 kilocycle band, wave length of 62.5 to 61.22 meters and 500 watts power. The Jenkins Laboratory was assigned the signal 3XK, to be operated on 4,900 to 5,000 kilocycles, wave length 61.22 to 60, and 5,000 watts.
The Radio Corporation of America was awarded construction permits for three transmitters, one stable and one portable set at New York City, and for another portable outfit at Bound Brook, N. J.
These were assigned the respective call signals 2XBV, 2XBS and 2XBW, with 4,500 to 4,600, 4,600 to 4,700 and 15,100 to 15,200 kilocycles; 66.67 to 65.22, 65.22 to 63.83 and 19,868 to 19,737 meters wave length, and a uniform power of 5,000 watts.
The Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Co. call signal 8XI was assigned to share time with 2XEW. This station was assigned the same frequency but authorized to use 20,000 watts power on a wave length from 63.83 to 62.5 meters. Harold E. Smith, Beacon, N. Y., was assigned call signal 2BXU, to share the facilities set aside for Dodge with 100 watts of power.
Other assignments for construction were WREC, Inc., Memphis, signal 4XA, wave length 125 to 120 meters, 2,400 to 2,500 kilocycles, 5,000 watts, and Robert B. Parrish, Los Angeles, signal 6XC, wave 66.67 to 65.22 meters, 4,500 to 4,600 kilocycles and 15,000 watts. Parrish, signal 6XC, 66.67 to 65.22 meters, 4,500 to 4,600 kilocycles and 15,000 watts.

TO SEND “AIR PICTURES”
Equipment will shortly be installed at station KGFJ, Los Angeles, for the transmission of radio pictures. While the station admits that television is not ready for the public, it classes itself as an experimenter and hopes to assist in making this feature practical. (Meridien Conn. Daily Journal)

SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1928
Television Radio Set Is Installed
ARTESIA, July 21—E. M. Corcoran of Artesia, radio dealer, has what is believed to be the first tax receipt issued on a radio set to Los Angeles County. He also has received the first television receiving set in this section and will operate it as soon as the television broadcasting is started from Los Angeles next week. (Long Beach Press-Telegram)

SUNDAY, JULY 22, 1928
RADIO TELEVISION SPANS CONTINENT Los Angeles Apparatus Picks Up Image From New York Station.
LOS ANGELES, July 23. (AP)—Radio television last night [22] spanned the continent.
In Los Angeles a small group saw by radio the image of a smooth-shaven man as he sat before the transmitting apparatus in Schenectady, N. Y., 3000 miles away.
The experimenters who achieved success in a large part in the long distance television reception were Kenneth G. Ormiston, veteran radio engineer, and Gilbert Lee, manufacturer.
Hill Top Studio.
The experiments were conducted In Lee's on a hill top here which he had selected because of its excellent position for radio reception. The two had working several quietly on their distance television experiments weeks in Lee's workshop. They had made preparations for their supreme test last night and at 6:15 o'clock, Pacific coast time, when WGY, the broadcasting station of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, broadcast its 15-minute television program, they were ready.
The image was received on a revolving disk behind which was a light. Through a series of perforations in the spinning disk a small square screen took form. Upon the miniature screen of light appeared the image of the head of a man wearing a soft hat.
Two Problems Yet.
The experimenters said two problems remain to be solved—one the overcoming of the problem of "fading" of signals at the broadcasting station and the other the perfecting of the motor speed, which twirls the "scanning disk" to synchronize with of the similar disc at Schenectady.
The two engineers however, said they were sure these difficulties would be conquered if the Schenectady television experts will conduct longer periods of experimentation and at a later hour at night when receptive qualities will be more suitable.

SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1928
Photographs Through Air Unlike Television
By C. E. BUTTERFIELD
(Associated Press Radio Editor)
New York—(AP)—Radio is delivering legible photographs to its great family of followers.
Not occasionally, but every evening, stations in various sections of the country are broadcasting pictures on regular schedules making them available to all who possess sets for their recording.
Unlike television, which in its present highly experimental stage still has many problems to overcome, radio picture reproduction has reached the point where home reception is as easy as making a phonographic record of a sound broadcast.
Picture Recorder
The home constructor may build a picture recorder, tune in on a station and in three minutes after the photograph starts know what has been sent out. It is necessary only to have a signal fairly free from noise and strong enough to operate a loudspeaker comfortably.
The fan’s footsteps have been guided toward this new field by Austin Cooley, inventor of the Rayfoto system, which depends upon an electric discharge known as “the corona” to expose the photographic paper, line for line.
In receiving pictures, an ordinary broadcast set, preferably one using direct current tubes, is required. It passes the signal to a three-tube picture amplifier, which in turn is coupled to a recording drum. The drum is so constructed that it fits onto the driving shaft of a phonograph motor, upon which it depends for power. It is kept in synchronization with the transmitter by an impulse sent out as part of the picture signal.
While an AC receiver may be used, the 60 cycle ripples that are always present will be recorded as waves on the picture. Only direct current tubes should be employed in the recorder circuit, and the plate supply obtained from batteries. However, some eliminators will function satisfactory. Others produce too much ripple.
In the recorder circuit one tube amplifies the picture signal. Another filters and amplifies the synchronizing signal, while the third generates a high frequency current which is combined with the signal and is sprayed on the photographic paper in the form of a corona discharge. In the Cooley transmission an 800-cycle note is used for the picture and a 1500-cycle note for synchronization.

STATIONS BROADCASTING PHOTOGRAPHS
Regular picture schedules are being maintained by the following stations in the broadcast band:
WMCA—New York; WTMJ, Milwaukee, Wis.; WDEL—Wilmington, Del.; WOKO—Peekskill, N. Y.; KMOX—St Louis; WFI—Philadelphia.
In addition, these stations have arranged to begin photograph transmission soon:
KSTP—St Paul; CKNC—Toronto; CJRM—[Moose Jaw,] Saskatchewan.
MONDAY, JULY 30, 1928
WHK Asks License for Television
WASHINGTON, July 30.—Application of the Radio Air Service Corp. of Cleveland, operating station WHK, for renewal of its experimental license 8XF, was received today by the Federal Radio Commission.
The application states the desire of the applicant to further development of short wave transmission and re-broadcasting, especially of television, on which it is just starting experiments. The corporation asks permission to continue operation on its present frequency of 4,540 kilocycles or 66.04 meters, with a power of 500 watts.
It is understood that there will be no difficulty in securing renewal of the experimental license, but that the corporation cannot be granted a license to transmit television on a frequency used for other work. This is because special bands have been set aside for picture experiments. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 31)

May-June 1928

There wasn’t much to see on television in mid-1928, but that wasn’t the point. It was the hunt for a signal that was the main thing.

Television took a leap on May 11, 1928 when WGY, the General Electric Radio station in Pittsburgh, began a regular schedule of telecasts. The station switched from sound to picture broadcasts for a half hour, three times a week. You might see someone’s head and not much more. It transmitted at 24 scanning lines, 20 times a second, so the picture wouldn’t have been very clear even in the best conditions.

Others were experimenting, too, including C. Francis (Frank) Jenkins in Washington with his silhouette pictures, WCFL in Chicago, WLEX outside Boston, and Hugo Gernsback’s WRNY radio station with a transmitter in New Jersey. There was a huge to-do about a station in Yonkers but the idea never panned out; it doesn't appear the backers applied for a license from the Radio Commission, which was wrestling with finding appropriate frequencies for visual broadcasting. And Harold E. Smith's W2XBU was given permission by the Commission to go ahead.

This spot on the internet is going to devote its space for the next number of months on those formative years, from mid-1928 through to 1929 (1930 and onward is elsewhere on this blog).

Some stations experimented with sending pictures, but the transmissions were more like sending faxes. Still, at times it was being called “television” to the annoyance of purists. WMCA in New York and WTMJ in Milwaukee were in this category.

This post gives a roundup of highlights in television in June 1928, with a brief look at May.

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1928
Regular Television Broadcasts Announced
NEW YORK, May 10.—The General Electric Company tomorrow afternoon will start a regular schedule of television broadcasting for the benefit of experimenters and amateurs who have constructed television sets.. Between 1:30 and 2 o’clock tomorrow, Eastern daylight time, the General Electric will broadcast a television program over WGY from the laboratories at Schenectady. Hereafter on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons at the same time WGY will broadcast for television sets.
Faces of men talking, laughing or smoking will be broadcast tomorrow. No elaborate television effects will be attempted in the near future.
WGY broadcast a few moments of television tonight so that listeners might recognize the peculiar sounds of such action by radio. The signal is an intermittent, high-pitched whirring sound, the pitch varying with the action before the transmitter. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 11)

SUNDAY, MAY 13, 1928
A series of radio television demonstrations for the public is to begin about June 10 over the 326-meter wave length of WRNY, according to an announcement yesterday [13] by the inventor, Theodore H. Nakken, President of the Nakken Television Corporation of Brooklyn, a recently formed subsidiary of the Pilot Electric Manufacturing Company. The first tests of the televisor transmitter and receiver, designed for use on the channels of the speech and music broadcaster, are to begin late this week in Brooklyn. Laboratory tests will be followed immediately by tests over greater distances using WRNY, Mr. Nakken said. The first public exhibition is scheduled to be held in Hotel Roosevelt early next month.
The televisor transmitter will be linked with the WRNY control apparatus in the Roosevelt and electrical impulses corresponding to the object or face before the instrument will be sent, over a wire to the WRNY broadcaster at Coytesville, N. J. From that point the radio waves will carry the image back to the Roosevelt to operate the televisor receiver, said Mr. Nakken.
“My object is television which can be employed by every broadcasting station under present conditions, namely, the ten kilocycle variety of television, rather than television which requires a much wider channel,” he continued. “The wider or more perfect television might be better to look at, but there is no available radio band at present for its application because the channels are already crowded.”
Mr. Nakken said his machine is to work on the principle of more perfect individual images or “scannings” but only ten of them per second. The one drawback will be a slight flicker as one image passes off the screen and the next begins, but this must be accepted as one of the limitations due to the impossibility of obtaining a wider television band under the present overcrowded condition of the radio waves, he asserted. One of the limitations of “ten kilocycle” television is said to be the impossibility of transmitting very rapid motion. (New York Times, May 14)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1928
Within a month WRNY will begin a regular television service, Theodore Nakken, inventor, announced in a talk from that station last evening [16]. He warned enthusiasts, however, against the belief that public events, such as parades or baseball games, would be televisioned in the near future. This will not be possible unless some radical improvements are made in existing devices, he said. (Ben Gross, Daily News, May 17)

SUNDAY, MAY 20, 1928
IS TELEVISION HERE?
Present views of leaders in the radio industry on the subject of television are given in a symposium recently printed in the New York Times. The persons interviewed are eminently qualified to place television in its true light. Their statements are authoritative. Here are a few excerpts from their recently expressed views:
"We are not now manufacturing television apparatus for the home, because, frankly, we do not yet know how to make a simplified and low-priced television receiver practicable for home use. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that within the next few years such equipment and service will be developed and made available to the home.”—David Sarnoff, vice president and general manager, Radio Corporation of America.
"Radio vision of moving objects is already an achievement of several laboratories and eventually will be available for the home. But between the scientific accomplishment and the widespread commercial application of television the steps involved seem at present so complex that even the most rapid development of the art can hardly promise satisfactory television service before two or three years at least."—O. H. Caldwell, Federal radio commissioner. “The practicality of television by means of radio has been demonstrated, and it offers a field for future scientific and commercial development,”—M. P. Rice, General Electric Company. "There is no doubt that the development of television will go forward and that eventually television will be commercially used."—Dr. J. H. Dellinger, United States Bureau of Standards.
"While marvelous tests have been accomplished in television it should be understood that these are only experiments. I hold a considerable measure of doubt as to whether television will for many years to come be a matter of popular appeal in American homes.”—L. S. Baker, National Association of Broadcasters.
“Any reasonable-minded man is warranted in predicting that television will come, but let the public know the facts: It is not here now nor anywhere near it."—R. M. Klein, general manager Fada Radio. “I am willing to go on record to the effect that practical, commercial, reasonably priced television equipment for the home will not be on the market within five years, and very likely not within 25 years.”—Dr. Lee de Forest.
"In my opinion prospective radio buyers who postpone their purchases until such a time as television is a practical accomplishment will, unquestionably, deny themselves at least several years of splendid radio entertainment."—Sam Picard, Federal radio commissioner. (Boston Globe)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1928
Radio Pictures Broadcast, Picked Up by Amateurs
WMCA Puts On Co-ordination of Photographs and Talk
In the first co-ordination of radio entertainment and photographic transmission, pictures of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, an episode in the last Tunney-Demsep [sic] fight and the group that gave the program, were broadcast by Station WMCA, New York, last night [23].
The pictures were transmitted by the Rayfoto system, developed by Austin G. Coley, and formed an integral part of a special radio program presented by a group of artists and speakers.
Several amateur operators, including Presley Astin, of 62 West Thirty-ninth Street, were successful in receiving the pictures. Future combinations of sound and picture broadcasting are to be presented by Station WMCA on a regular schedule for a number of weeks. (New York Herald Tribune, May 24)
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1928
Shortage of Radio Channels Seen as Television Obstacle
WASHINGTON, May 27—(AP)— If radio vision is to be made available, like radio sound is today, allocation experts foresee a new problem in finding sufficient space for television channels in the dwindling broadcast spectrum.
For adequate television service of permanent interest to the public the allocation of bands 100 kilocycles wide is essential, Dr. Alfred Goldsmith, chief broadcast engineer of the Radio Corporation of America, told the federal radio commission [on May 14]. A 100-kilocycle band today will afford 10 telegraph or 10 telephone channel and with the perfection of transmitting apparatus soon will accommodate 20 channels. Capt. S. C. Hooper, naval radio engineer, says: “Dr. Goldsmith says that a band width of five kilocycles is required for a 24-line picture, 20 kilocycles for a 48-line picture and 80 kilocycles for a 96-line picture.
“When it is considered that even fairly crude newspaper halftone illustrations have from 150 to 300 lines it will be appreciated that pictures of continuing interest to ‘lookers-in’ will required at least 100 kilocycle bands,” he said.
“Even this will suffice merely for showing action of two or three figures clearly with a certain amount of background detail.”
Dr. Goldsmith has requested assignment of 20 channels, 100 cycles wide, in the frequencies ranging from 1525 to 17,150 kilocycles for experimental work in television broadcasting.

SUNDAY, MAY 27, 1928
WANT SHORT WAVES FOR TELEVISION
RCA Asks 20 Channels for Experiments
Recent bearings of the Federal Radio Commission on the a1location of trans-oceanic short wave channels indicate that television, although not here now, may be reasonably expected as a future development of broadcasting. This fact was brought out by Alfred N. Goldsmith, chief broadcast engineer of the Radio Corporation of America, who has applied for 20 television frequencies in the following wave band: Between 75 and 196.7 meters for urban service; 45.11 and 73.17 meters for suburban and rural service, and 17.49 and 35.39 metera for international service. Each frequency would be about 100 kilocycles wide, or some five times the width of the ordinary radio telegraph channel.
“Intensive development work of a experimental nature has already been carried on and transmission of television material is at hand through confidential experiments and transmissions carried on at Schenectady, Pittsburgh and New York. In other words, television is not a vague and remote project, but, while still experimental, is an imminent and plausible probability. Indeed, a fair parallel is to compare television in its present state of development with ordinary broadcasting in its condition in 1921. The wise policy of the Government which encouraged the development of broadcasting in 1921, if similarly applied to television at the present time, will lead to a tremendous and desirable growth of that art as a service to the public,” Dr Goldsmith declared.
Want Short Waves for Experiments
“The granting of experimental licenses on the various recommended television broadcasting channels will encourage a rapid development of this new art and its corresponding coordination with broadcasting, which will lead to the provision of a completely satisfactory and hitherto unobtainable radio sight-and-sound service to the peop1e of the United States and even of the entire world.
“To develop the three basic types of television broadcasting requires permission from the Federal Radio Commission to explore experimentally the television transmitting capabilities of a considerable number of 100-kilocycle bands between 1500 and approximately 17,000 kilocycles 199-9 and 17.7 meters). We know very little of the television transmission capability of these bands and we shall never determine how to utilize them effectively for the entertainment and instruct1on of the public by television unless encouragement is given those planning to develop the art, through authorization experimentally to transmit television material on such wavelengths and to determine conclusively the sort of service given in urban, suburban and rural and international television services, on eaoh of these bands.” (Boston Globe)

SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1928
Improved Television Sought As Scientists Work Overtime
BY C. E. BUTTERFIELD
NEW YORK, June 2. (AP)—The world is moving toward television—how fast only time will determine.
Much must be learned and done before this newest form of radio art can be brought into step with sound broadcasting. Yet scientists are working long hours in an effort to perfect the radio moving picture, aided to a certain extent by amateur experimenters.
One of the latest forward steps was the announcement of actual television broadcasts by WGY, Schenectady, on a wavelength of 379.5 meters. These broadcasts are be made each Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 12:30 Eastern time. Whether visual transmission will become as popular, almost overnight as did sound broadcasting depends largely upon the product delivered to the "seer." In the early days of radio the music that came from the receiver did not compare at all favorably with the output of modern apparatus.
A similar situation now prevails in television. The movies transmitted are crude, scientists admit.
Like other forms of radio, the amateur is taking an active interest in television. At every opportunity he is contributing his small part toward the ultimate result. Parts may be available within a short time for the home experimenter, and if he takes to moving picture transmission as he did to sound broadcast the day that television is as much of an actuality as music from the air may be much closer than present developments seem to indicate. The radio movie now is not much more than a silhouet. But subjects are recognizable, even where the pictures have been sent across the Atlantic. Improvements are expected by which it is hoped that the results will be more lifelike even than an ordinary photograph.
While the picture transmitting apparatus is somewhat complicated, the receiver comparatively simple. It generally is attached to an ordinary sound set. It contains receiving tubes and a light tube which changes the electrical impulses into light rather than sound.
Scientists are spending long hours in laboratories in attempting to overcome obstacles.
Prominent among them are three men who see great possibilities for the radio movies.
It is Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson's apparatus, which is being used in the WGY experiments. These broadcasts may be up on any television receiver, but are being made primarily to aid engineers in advancing the art. Dr. Alexanderson, whose contributions to radio date back several years, has developed a televisor that produces fairly legible pictures.
At Washington, C. Francis Jenkins, another radio picture pioneer, does not hesitate to predict that television will be available in some form by Christmas through an inexpensive receiver. Like other television sets, his reproducer takes the place of the loud speaker in the sound receiver.
Another investigator, John L. Baird, is the most active of the scientists abroad. Pictures from his transmitter have been sent from London and picked up on this side of the Atlantic, In connection with Baird's work, recent announcement was made that an American company had been formed to make television equipment available for amateur use. The backers said they hoped to broadcast pictures through a chain of stations.
Television should not be confused with telephoto, which deals only with photographs or "stills." The same problems do not enter into this method of light transmission. The time element there is not so important, although a single cabinet size photograph has been sent over the air in 90 seconds. In radio movies at least 16 complete pictures must be sent per second to give a recognizable result.
TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1928
First Television State In U.S. To Be Built Here; Syndicate Asks City Permit
Two Huge Towers To Be Built Atop Proctor’s
America first large television station, capable of broadcasting and receiving across continents and oceans to and from far corners of the world, will be located in Yonkers if city authorities act favorably on an application for a building permit for two tall towers atop Proctor's Theatre Building.
With the revelation today, it also was disclosed that research work has been going on quietly on the Proctor roof for more than a year, and tests also have been made at the Water Tower atop Nodine Hill, and at a point along the Palisades opposite Dyckman Street.
Herbert Z. Fokress of 141 Caryl Avenue, representative of a syndicate of American millionaires, recently acquired the American rights for the English television invention for his company on a trip to London, and on his return admitted the possibility of location of the company's station in this city.
Tests Now Under Way
Today's revelation, however, show that the syndicate had a staff of three government licensed operators conducting research work in eight-hour shifts for a period of about six months, with an expensive sending and receiving apparatus housed on the roof of Proctor's which, as a result of the thorough tests, has been chosen as the best location of the proposed station. The Tahiti Island in the Pacific, Australia and other far-away point were communicated with in the tests, it was learned.
These operations were dlscontinued a month ago after negotiations had been started with Building Inspector James W. Armstrong.
The request to Mr. Armstrong for a permit discloses that two ornamental steel towers will shoot into the air to height of 100 feet, the cost of erecting the station being approximately $75,000.
While Mr. Armstrong has not made any decision on the project he has informed agents of the television syndicate that the plans are all right as far as the apparent sole restriction contained In the building code is concerned. That restriction concerns the area of the base of towers.
No Bar in City Laws
What apparently is keeping the the decision in abeyance is uncertainty as to whether the plan is in conflict with other building or zoning regulations, and it is said officials so far have been unable to find anything under the law governing erection of roof towers for such us a involved in the television station.
Under the company's plane, the Yonkers broadcasting towers would be a remote control station, operated from New York City, with all pictures and other transmissions passing through the station.
So far as is known, no tieup has yet been made or broached for use of television service in the theatre. More than a year ago, it was learned agents of the syndicate obtained, permission to use the Proctor roof for their experiment. The Water Tower had been disapproved because of expense involved in installing necessary electrical power, and the Palisades site also failed to meet the favor of the experts. At the conclusion of their tests, however, they reported the Proctor roof as ideal for the television station.
Tests Here Cover World
A network of wireless experts was thrown over the world for the tests, apparently, and communications were established in code. Atmospheric conditions, climate and other technical conditions were found favorable. Then tests were made to determine whether the station would cause interference with radio receiving sets in Yonkers, and the experts are said to have reported this had been eliminated after many adjustments. They also are said to have eliminated interference of the constant flashing and clicking in the penthouse stop the Proctor building, where the two 50-horsepower elevator motors are located.
Remote Control Necessary
The purpose of locating remote control station in Yonkers instead of the station itself in New York is of the interference in the latter city caused by the numerous radio stations.
One of the Proctor would extend 100 feet into the air from the front roof. The other would be on the lower rear roof, but would be taller, to reach the same height as its companion.
The theatre building itself Is 102 feet high, and the area of its site is 27,720 square feet. The plans for the towers are said to call for bases of 256 feet apiece, so that they would be well within the limit set the building code of 10 per cent of the lot area.
The company planning the station is to be known as the Baird American Television Company, Inc., Board being the name of the English inventor. According to Mr. Pokress, financing of the company involves “many millions” of dollars. In the syndicate he represents, he said, are, among others, Charles Izanstark of Chicago, Nathan Feldstern of Philadelphia, president of the American Radio Stores Corporation and Raymond Rosen of Philadelphia. A month ago Mr. Pokress said it was hoped to have the station erected and ready for operation in 60 days.
He said the company plans to retail television sets for use by amateurs, who, he said, will not require licenses. (Yonkers Statesmen)

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1928
WCFL Is First to Employ Television
Chicago, Ill., June 7 (U.P.).—The Chicago Federation of Labor radio station, WCFL, will blaze the trail in television broadcasting on Friday, June 15, according to Ed Nockels, secretary of the Chicago Federation. George Schoenberg, radio engineer, selected WCFL, located on a navy pier, as the only Chicago station adapted to this new form of broadcast. Equipment is being installed in preparation for the experiment.

FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1928
GREEN BUILDING PERMIT ISSUED
Permit for a new building on Star island to house additional operators and other employes of Col. E. H. R. Green, who announced recently that be will make Miami Beach headquarters for his television experiments, has been issued to John B. Orr, Colonel Green’s contractor. The building will be erected immediately, at an estimated cost of $34,000.
The experiments which are expected to be started early next fall, will be made in conjunction with the work of Colonel Green's laboratories and radio broadcasting station at Round Hills, South Dartmouth, Mass., now being operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
An attempt will be made to send north by radio special motion pictures of Miami Beach. (Miami News)

TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 1928
CHICAGO RADIO USED TO BROADCAST PHOTO
Chicago, June 12 (AP)—The first demonstration of Chicago-made television apparatus was given today at radio station WCFL.
The demonstration marked the successful development of a device which its inventors claim to be more readily adaptable to the average radio receiver than the equipment already in use. It was designed by M. L. Hayes and U. A. Sanabria of Chicago.
Application to transmit pictures over a 195-meter wave has been made to the federal radio commission.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1928
STATIC ELIMINATED. RADIO MEN BELIEVE
But Television Still Remote, Expert at Trade Conference Declares.
By OWEN L. SCOTT.
[Freelance newspaper writer]
CHICAGO, June 13.—Static is being licked, eliminating one of the biggest handicaps of radio, but television, regarded by many as the next step forward in the industry, is remote as a practical proposition.
This about sums up the situation confronting the radio trade gathered here for its annual show of advance models. Displays indicate that the industry has taken a big step forward within the past year from an engineering standpoint—with the trend toward all-electrical sets, simple to operate, compact in form and just about fool-proof.
Just one demonstration of television is to be seen. It is not particularly convincing in its practical aspects as a luxury for the home. H. B. Richmond, director of the engineering division of the Radio Manufacturers' association and for 20 years an expert in radio engineering, believes that the television development still is a long way off, except as an experimental move. [...]
"Television has received a good deal publicity than its practical aspects seem to warrant. The sending of individual pictures by wire or radio is entirely different. That is very practical, but television is much more complicated and, except from an experimental engineering standpoint, has little practical interest.
“The image you see now is only about one and one-half inches square and cannot even include an entire person. To enlarge is requires a great deal of equipment. The result is expensive and unsatisfactory from the standpoint of the average person."

FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1928
Try Television on 40 Kilocycle Band
Experiments in Preparation for Establishing Television for Radio Audience Made
WASHINGTON, June 16.—(AP)—Successful experiments preparatory to the establishment of television service for its radio audience have been conducted by Station WLEX, Boston, John Stewart, manager, has informed the Federal Radio Commission.
The experiments have involved the use of 48 scanning lines repeated 18 times per second In transmitting pictures. This takes a band 40 kilocycles wide in the short wave spectrum. Mr. Stewart told the commission it was possible to transmit television on a 10 kilocycle band by using 24 scanning lines repeated 20 times per second. This method, however, necessitates the loss of the higher frequencies with a considerable loss of detail, he declares.
Mr. Alfred Goldsmith, chief engineer of the Radio Corporation of America, recently told the commission that channels 100 kilocycles wide are needed for adequate television service.
Forty or so meters are the logical wavelengths for television, Mr. Stewart said. The WLEX television transmitter is keyed for 40 meters. This can be changed but the short waves are necessary for successful picture transmission, he asserts. WLEX has not been on the air with its television signal but has conducted its tests through monitoring the signal.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1928
Television Set Will Be Put in Here
WILBUR JERMAN, technical manager of radio station KWJJ, announced yesterday [16] that within two months the station will begin installation of television equipment for broadcast of small pictures on a wavelength of 54 meters.
Jerman's experimental license, 7XAO, for operation on 54 meters, will be used for the broadcast. This being the only experimental license of the kind in the Northwest, several requests have been made of the owner for television experiments.
In response, Jerman promises two broadcasts of one half hour each week. Musical accompaniments will be undertaken by KWJJ [W7XAO] on 250 meters.
Considerable revision and construction of equipment will be made within the construction period, the technician said.
In recent issues of the radio magazine, QST, designs have been shown of a comparatively simple television hookup. Recently an Eastern concern announced moderately priced television sets which are adaptable to ordinary broadcast receiving sets. The report indicated that the machines would be moderately priced.
“The system of transmitting and receiving the small pictures, not more than an inch square, is simple," Jerman says. “In short wave reception of pictures a three-tube regenerative short wave receiver is used, and in place of a loud speaker is used a neon tube, and in front of this tube is a screening disc in synchronism with the disc at the station. Just ahead of the disc is one-inch window in which the image appears.
"In a few weeks I will be able to give more details as to equipment and Installation." (Oregon Journal, June 17)

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1928
WCFL MAKES SUCCESSFUL BROADCAST OF TELEVISION
CHICAGO, June 19—(AP)—A successful broadcast of voice and television at the same time was made tonight over station WCFL, the Chicago Federation of Labor, in an experiment under a special permit issued by Samuel Pickard, the Federal Radio Commissioner.
A view of the head and shoulders of E. N. Nockels, secretary of the Chicago federation, was broadcast with his voice and received by the inventors of the process, M.J. Hayes and Ulysses Znarbria [sic], over their receiving apparatus located several miles away from Navy Pier, where WCFL maintains its station.
Officials of WCFL said they would seek permission now for a permanent license to broadcast television.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1928
BROADCAST OF MOVIES HERE JULY 2
Prof. Jenkins Announces the Bginning [sic] of Regular Program in Capital.
Washington, June 24.—A program of motion pictures will be broadcast from the Jenkins’ Laboratory, 1519 Connecticut avenue northwest, July 2, at 8 o'clock. The program will last for an hour and will be sent through television on a wavelength of 46.7 meters, which will enable amateurs in the United States and Canada to pick it up. The pictures will be broadcast at the rate of 15 a second and will contain 48 lines to the picture.
The performance will be repeated each Monday night with a different set of pictures. As the demand grows, the number of performances a week will be increased to three. For a time, the moving pictures will depict only simple action. Later, those with plots will be used.
During the past three weeks, the moving pictures to be shown July 2 have been broadcast a number of times between the laboratory and the home of Prof. C. Francis Jenkins, 5502 Sixteenth street northwest, where they were witnessed by private audiences. The reception was said to have been entirely satisfactory.
Gens [Jeanne] Marie Belote, 6-year-old daughter of Theodore Belote, 1612 Longfellow street, and Catherine and Constance Rounds, daughters of Lieut. Edward Rounds, engineer in the Navy Department, acted for the pictures to be shown July 2. They will be from 5 to 15 minutes long.
The amateur radio operator can equip his set with a picture receiver for $10 or $15, Dr. Jenkins stated. The laboratory, however, he stated, does not manufacture or sell them. It is broadcasting the pictures only in the interest of television. Yesterday [22] Dr. Jenkins gave an account of his work with television before the Washington Round Table luncheon held at University Club. (Washington Post)

CONFERENCE SOON ON TELEVISION AND RELAY ASSIGNMENTS
Washington, June 23—A conference is soon to be called by the Federal Radio Commission of applicants for high frequency assignments to be used for relay broadcasting and television.
The commission has received 40 applications for the 18 channels available, and the applicants will be called on to show the "public interest, convenience or necessity" they would serve if granted assignments.
Already the commission has conferred with engineers about the bands specified by the International Radio Convention for high frequency broadcasting, relay broadcasting and television.
Here are the frequency bands which may be assigned with the approximate distance range for each:
6,000 to 6,150 kilocycles—distance 500 miles at day, 4,000 miles at night.
9,500 to 9,600 kilocycles—distance 1,200 miles at day, 5,000 miles at night.
11,700 to 11,900 kilocycles—distance 2,500 miles at day, 5,000 miles at night.
15,100 to 15,350 kilocycles—distance 2,500 miles at day, 5,000 miles at night.
17,750 to 17,800 kilocycles—distance 3,000 miles at day, 6,000 miles at night.
21,450 to 21,550 kilocycles—distance 4,000 miles at day, 7,000 miles at night.
Television Assignments.
For television, the engineers suggested that experimental development stations be licensed between 4.500 and 5,000 kilocycles, on five 100 kilocycle channels, one channel to be assigned to each zone or night use, and all five channels to be assigned to each zone for day use.
In addition, one 100 kilocycle channel in the band, between 15,100 and 15,350, or the 11,700-11,900 band, and two 100 kilocycle channels above 23,000 kilocycles are recommended for television experimental work.
Channel Shortage.
The engineers suggested that due to the shortage of available channels, that only the most important applications should be considered on the following basis:
1. Overseas and international relay broadcasting.
2. Long Distance broadcasting beyond reliable range of national broadcast network between 550 and 1,300 kilocycles.
3. Television experimental and development work.
4. National relay broadcasting (within United States).
Another thing that the Commission may take into consideration is that the high frequencies are primarily valuable due to their great carrying range at low cost, and that they cause international interference. Therefore, it is suggested by the engineers, they should be assigned for long distance uses when low frequencies are not practical. (Brooklyn Eagle, June 24)

MONDAY, JUNE 25, 1928
Policy of Encouragement Officially Evolved With Reference to Television
BY DEANE KINTNER
NEWS from Chicago that the television broadcast foretold last Sunday resulted in transmission of a speaker voice and likeness simultaneously over a distance of several miles invited attention to this new phase of radio from the viewpoint of the Federal Radio Commission.
In this connection, latest advices from Washington are that a policy of encouragement will be followed by the commission with respect to television, and every assistance possible given to those who are developing this new branch of the radio art, so far as it does not interfere with other established services.
To this end the commission has already granted one or two temporary licenses for television transmission. Among the stations engaged in this work are WOR at Newark, WFCL at Chicago, and C. Francis Jenkins, Washington inventor. The two stations have been working on wave lengths outside the broadcasting band, but Jenkins, who has not yet been assigned a channel, has been operating in the broadcast band while awaiting permission to use a specific wave length.
Cleveland? Not Yet.
So far as can be learned, no Cleveland station has yet made formal application for a license to transmit visual matter and, in fact, only a few persons have so far indicated their desire to go into this branch of the industry. The Radio Corporation of America, at the recent hearings on short waves, asked for a number of channels on which to transmit pictures, but the commission has not yet made any decision on such applications.
The various members of the commission have expressed interest in radio vision, and it has been indicated that no handicaps will be placed in the way of experimenters who are engaged in perfecting the transmission and reception of pictures. It is not anticipated that any permanent licenses will be granted for television until the commission is assured of its perfection, but temporary permits will be granted freely.
Away Up or Down
A report recommending that certain channels, some on long waves and some on short, be set aside for television has been submitted to the commission by its technical adviser, Capt. S. C. Hooper. It seems highly improbable that television will be permitted in the broadcasting band because it requires, in its present stage of development, a much wider channel for a picture than for voice or music. A band of at least 100 kilocycles is required for the transmission of a picture of moderate size; because of this necessity it is deemed impractical to permit transmission within the range of 10 kilocycle channels now assigned to voice transmission.
Statements made at the recent short wave hearing indicated that television was rapidly being perfected and that within a much shorter time than the public generally anticipated it would be possible to offer a complete picture service.
As soon as transmission of moving pictures, toward which a number of experimenters are working, is perfected, the newer art probably will be linked up with broadcasting as it is now known, so that listeners can see as well as hear artists as they perform. Probably the first such entertainments to be given will be from talking motion pictures.
Radio Movies, and Yet—
The WCFL broadcast of voice and image, using apparatus described in some detail last Sunday, was the most ambitious effort to date to provide listeners with "radio movies.”
However, as pointed out then, set owners should not be too greatly exercised, for the image transmitted was very small and somewhat indistinct, and it was, of course, subject to all such radio troubles as fading static and distortion at the transmitting and receiving end.
Part of this distortion of pictures through the air tends to be introduced by the fact that the receiver runs a little faster or a little slower than the transmitter. Perforated scanning discs at either end must be perfectly synchronized to give a clear reproduction.
At WCFL, in co-operation with the Carter Radio Co., this is being accomplished within close limits by using the 60-cycle pulsations of lighting current to control the speed of apparatus at both ends of the ethereal line. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1928
TELEVISION IN PLANE TESTED
Chicago, June 27. (AP)—Passengers in a tri-motored monoplane cruising over Chicago yesterday [26] listened to the voices and saw the faces of persons several miles away in a radio studio.
It was the first successful experiment in airplane reception of television. The broadcasting was from the studios of WCFL, the Chicago Federation of Labor station.

THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1928
MAKES HOME-MADE SET
Bloomsburg, Pa., June 29. –(UP)—Louis W. Buckalew, 16, last night [28] received a television picture at the home of his parents. The picture comprised 40 lines and represented a man sending a message.
Buckalew is an amateur radio operator, and he has received word that his station has been heard in Holland. He has heard stations in New Zealand, Russia and England.
[Note: Buckalew was born Dec. 12, 1912 in Bloomsberg and died Dec. 29, 1974 in Orlando. He was a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army and retired to Florida where he belonged to the Elks and the Masons. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.]

HAROLD C. SMITH GRANTED PERMIT
Bacon, June 28.—Harold C. Smith, of this city, has been granted a permit from the Federal Radio Commission, it was announced here today, to set up a television transmitting station [W2XBU] on Mount Beacon.
Smith has a staff of three men to aid him and his application stated that he has sufficient capital to finance the venture.

WTMJ TO GIVE DAILY PICTURE BROADCASTS
MILWAUKEE, Wis.—(AP)—A license to broadcast photographs has been obtained by WTMJ, transmission to begin about August 1.
Using the Cooley Rayfoto system, WTMJ expects to arrange to daily schedules of picture transmission, one during the day and the other about midnight. The pictures may be picked u on an ordinary receiver, provided it has photograph reproducer.
WTMJ is the first station wets of New York, where WMCA has been sending out “stills” for some time, to take up the new art, which some experiments see as the preliminary step toward television, or radio movies. (Greenfield Recorder)

FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1928
RADIO CENTER IN NEW YORK PUTS TELEVISION ON MARKET
Cortlandt Street Shop Windows Already Have Tubes, Scanning Discs, Amplifiers and Other Apparatus on Display.
By C. E. BUTTERFIELD
Associates Press Radio Editor
NEW YORK, June 30—(AP)—Television may not just around the corner, but Cortlandt street, the Fifth avenue of radio, apparently thinks something is in the air.
Cortlandt street, the radio center of downtown New York, has been tempting the never-satisfied experimenter with television apparatus for some time. What is to be expected of this equipment can be determined only after a trial. In the display windows are kits containing television tubes, scanning disks, rheostats and three-stage resistance amplifiers that build up the signal which actuates the light-receiving tube.
Except for the amplifiers, which are standard, the equipment is crude to a certain extent, particularly when compared with some of the sound apparatus. However, if it will bring in television signals, it has done its part toward opening radio’s eye.
What Diagram Reveals.
The diagram of a television amplifier and reproducer indicates that its construction is not so difficult after all. Reception largely is a question of finding such signals on the air. WGY, Schenectady, now is broadcasting "radio movies" each Sunday evening after the regular program, while WLEX, Boston, is planning experiments on 40 to 80 meters. WRNY, New York, also is preparing to send out television signals.
However, the "telemovie" now is at the stage where only the radio fan with wide experience and an inventive turn of mind is in a position to take up experimentation Much patience will be required to get the apparatus functioning properly.
One kit prospectus makes this statement:
“Now that television is being broadcast, it is possible to receive pictures with simple apparatus. Results will depend on the distance of the broadcaster and upon the efficiency of the tuning system of a sound receiver, which is used to tune into the picture broadcasts. Any good set that will receive television signals audibly will give satisfactory results.
New Form Amplifier Described.
"As transformers are unsuited for amplifying all frequencies, a resistance coupled amplifier plays an important part. The audio amplifier of the set is not used, the television intensifier being cut in at the detector output. If the set does not have a detector jack, one must be provided.
"The television tube is connected to the output of the last amplifier tube in place of the speaker. This tube is placed at the rear of the scanning disk, which is set on the shaft of a motor, and a small window is mounted in front or in the rear of the disk. The speed of the disk must be kept in step with that at the transmitter. Speed is regulated by a rheostat, cut into the line feeding the motor. For close adjustment two rheostats will be needed.
How to Get Best Volume.
“Before actually connecting the amplifier to the receiver, it is advisable to tune in to the television signals to get the best volume. Then the audio amplifier is disconnected and the resistance amplifier cut in at the detector jack. The switch controlling the motor is turned on and the disk speeds up slowly, the operator watching for signals through the window. As the disk approaches critical speed, flashes will be thrown across the window and figures will appear when the correct speed is reached. The picture will remain until the speed steps out of synchronization again, but by careful adjustment of the motor rheostat it can be brought back.
"The amount of illumination of the television lamp is governed by the output consumption of the tube and the strength of the signals. In the resistance amplifier two hi-mu tubes are preferable in the first two steps with a power tube in the last step."

The Forgotten TV Station

In the 1940s, New York’s newspapers eventually and dutifully provided listings for the city’s television stations—WNBT, WCBS-TV, WABD, and others as they came along after 1947.

But there was one that was forgotten. W2XJT.

The station in Jamaica could have been ground-breaking. It had the potential to address issues of the day in New York’s black community. It could have presented great jazz musicians and singers from the Apollo and other clubs (lip-synching as Petrillo banned live music on television in the ‘40s). But owner William B. Still wasn’t that ambitious. He was interested in tinkering instead of airing a regular schedule of programming, and selling his hand-made TV sets.

The media, and not just the black press, knew Still and his station were out there. The New York Times published a feature article about him on November 25, 1945. You can read it at the excellent Early Television site.

William Bundy Still was born in Danville, Kentucky on November 1, 1916. His father, William Grant Still, was a music arranger for Paul Whiteman; his mother was born Grace Bundy. He was the oldest son. The family was living in Queens by 1925.

Still operated amateur radio station W2CJR and ran into a bit of trouble because of it in 1938. He pleaded guilty in Flatbush Court because his car had a shortwave set that could pick up police calls. That was against a city ordinance. The judge gave him probation, noting he had no record and was no criminal.

He opened a radio shop in Queens at 148th St. and Jamaica Ave. and decided to get into television. An article in the New York Amsterdam Star-News of Jan. 2, 1942 that he had designed and built his own television set in 1939. On January 5, 1944, Still’s Jamaica Radio & Television company applied for a construction permit for an experimental station on 66000 to 72000 kilocycles with 250 watts. It was granted on August 1 for Channel 13 at 400 watts aural and 100 watts visual. Now Still had to build a TV station. And he did. By hand.

Billboard magazine looked in on his efforts, and published a feature story on April 14, 1945.

Small-Town Tele in Jamaica, N. Y.
Bill Still Tries With 20G Nut
Big manufacturers' station costs run high as $225,000—none as small as W2XJT
NEW YORK, April 7.—New York's fourth video station, W2XJT, will go on the air June 1 and when it begins perking will have cost under $20,000. It will operate with a power of 150 watts video, 150 watts audio, according to its owner and builder, William B. Still. The station, an experimental job to be located on Channel 13, is said to be a fair sample, geographically, facilities-wise and power-wise, of what small-town tele will be after the war. But Still's estimated price, in the opinion of manufacturers who are planning to market comparable units, is about one fifth what such an outlet should cost, and doesn't include a great many cost factors. Nearest is a "think" unit of GE's at 30G and 1 kw. power.
The Allen B. DuMont Laboratories say that a similar but more powerful station should run close to $114,600 complete, and General Electric believes its installation will cost $141,000. GE's price is based on pre-war costs, which may be reduced because of the economy of production-line methods. But that mass-production saving, GE sales department feels, may be negated by increased labor costs. DuMont thinks its price is a realistic one, based on studies of future operational prices.
Must Air by June 1
Still, whose FCC construction permit requires that be be on the air June 1 (originally April 1 but extended two months to permit time for delivery of a transmitter tower and to obtain permission to erect the tower within city limits) has all his equipment in the shop. Most of it, tho, has yet to be wired into place. He plans to have two cameras in a studio 25 by 17 feet with a 14-foot ceiling. He has one lemur. film projector and, of course, an Ike for film pick-up. Still's control room will have complete sound equipment, an intercom, three monitors, one for each of the cameras and one for the films. His transmitter, covering an estimated 30 miles radius, has five racks. The antenna will be mounted on a 200-foot tower now under construction by the Harco Steel Company.
"Ham" Job.
There are a few points in Still's story which must be clarified. The first is the fact that he has put together 90 per cent of his stuff himself, and thus has not figured labor costs in his estimate. Secondly, most of his materials were in the shop and were salvaged from existing equipment. Some observers point out that if Still had had to start from scratch, his costs would have gone up considerably. They also note the fact that few station owners have the personal technical skill and talent to put things together themselves as he has.
Jamaica—Small Town
Nevertheless, even with the above factors taken into consideration, Still has the lowest-priced station in the country. Were his costs doubled, they would still be less than half what others think prices will be after the war. His is not a satellite unit and therefore actually is not comparable with GE's "think" 300 unit. His experiment, say reliable trade sources, is worth watching, not only for its low cost, but because of the area in which it is being constructed. The station is located close to the heart of the shopping center of Jamaica, largest community in Queens, one of the four “residential boroughs” ringing Manhattan and with it make up the City of New York. Despite its proximity to Manhattan (about 40 minutes by subway, and an hour and a half by elevated line and an hour by bus), and despite the fact that it has no heavy or even light industry, Jamaica is comparable to the average city of 50 to 100,000 population. It is a shopping center for the farmers of Long Island, it has a small, exclusive residential area and a large middle-class population. It has a working-class district, supports one reasonably high-priced department store, Gertz (part of the allied chain), and a Montgomery-Ward unit. The majority of its shops and services cater to medium-sized purses.
New York Coverage
Still claims that he win be able to cover most of the areas reached by existing Manhattan tele stations, but his signal will be strongest in Queens. If his station works out there, say reliable observers, small-town video operation will be a proven fact.
If he does it, the cost of his outlet is its biggest selling point. If the figure is right, Still may be able to peddle equipment to other station managers as he plans, However, execs of the big concerns shake their heads. A breakdown of the DuMont estimate, no matter how it's sliced, still puts Still nearly $100,000 below DuMont's. DuMont figures that a complete camera and control room installation will cost $23,000; lighting and sound, $10,000; a 35mm. projector, $6,000; film pick-up camera, $3,000; master control board, $35,000, and a 5 kw. transmitter (considerably higher than Still's 600 Watts), $36,000. On top of that is an estimate of $1,500 for a tower. Total: $114,500.
GE figures that a 4kw. station will cost $141,000. This would have two studio cameras, two pix cameras (18 and 35mm.), the transmitter and antenna minus a tower and no lights. Lights should cost an extra six to 10G. In addition, if the transmitter is removed from the studio, a two-channel relay system would run around $15,000. GE figures a low-power satellite station, which could pick up and transmit web shows and broadcast films, would run around $66,150. DuMont has no figure for the satellite, but it's rumoured to be close to GE's estimate. Still in the "think" stage at GE is the one kw. satellite costing around 30G.General Electric's master station, with the sense equipment as the 4kw. job but using 40 kw., is figured at around $255,000. A complete, self-contained portable unit, mounted on a truck, will cost about $45,000. This alone is twice Still's figures.
Because of the press of war work, RCA has not yet arrived at any estimates which it considers accurate enough to release for publication. it is understood that the company will not even try to figure the cost of small-station units at least until the end of the war in Europe and perhaps longer.
Altho the bigger concerns are thinking tip in the hundreds of thousands, it is quite possible that Bill Still has something in his back room that will make a major change in the future of the industry. If he can, they add, it will probably be the biggest thing to hit video since the invention of the iconoscope.
Henry Ford did it in a garage. Maybe Still can do it in the back of a radio store in Jamaica, L. I.

Variety and other publications reported the station signed on July 1. It ran into an early problem as the FCC rejigged all television frequencies (ending the existence of channel 1). On September 13, 1945, W2XJT was told to change from the old channel 13 (230-236 megacycles) to the new channel 13 (210-216 megacycles). Oh, and that meant applying for a new construction permit. It was granted December 26 “subject to changes in frequency assignment...and upon an experimental basis only” with “conditions” that Broadcasting magazine didn’t specify in its story.

Tele-Tech magazine of Nov. 1947 treated the station as if it were brand new.

W2XJT-TV Now Operating
The New York area has another television transmitter in operation on an experimental basis. W2XJT, owned and operated by William B. Still is operating on channel 13 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evehings between 8 and 8:30. Station is located in Jamaica, Long Island, Plans soon to start daytime schedules.

Unfortunately for Bill Still, the experimental era in television was pretty much over. The airwaves were in demand for commercial broadcasters, no more so than New York. W2XJT had its channel taken away.

Billboard reported on March 6, 1948:

WATV, Newark, Begins Test, Forcing W2XJT To Close
NEW YORK, Feb 28.—With Bremer Broadcasting Company's Newark video outlet, WATV, trying out its test pattern transmission this week on Channel 13, the colorful career of William B. Still's experimental W2XJT, Jamaica, L. I., began to draw to a close. Still, the Negro engineer who put together an efficient homemade transmitting unit virtually on a shoestring, is expected to be notified to vacate the same channel shortly by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). WATV on Monday (1) will begin regular test pattern transmissions between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and expects to begin programing within eight weeks.
Out of Still's operation has grown an inter-radial video package and production organization called the Telepax Company, formed by the personnel who have been handling the station's programing. The three leading members are Clay Yurdin, former legit actor and dialog director at Columbia Pictures, program director; Alex Courtney, now acting in the road company of the legit drama, Inspector Calls, executive director, and Les Tomlin, of Decca Records, executive producer. Some 30 other people associated with W2XJT productions since last August also are part of Telepax, including Leonard Blair, staff director at the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and Terry Ross, also of ABC. The package outfit is completely staffed in all phases of video production, including scenic artists and musical consultants.
Most of the people making up Telepax are showbiz pros who entered television via the American Theater Wing's course for veterans.
They have already sold a number of shows which have been presented over the facilities of W2XJT, the time for which, naturally, was not paid for. One of these, a series of four local talent shows, was sponsored by a Jackson Heights Kaiser-Frazer dealer, and led directly to the current Original Amateur Hour sponsored by the auto firm's national office over the DuMont network. Other commercial shows include a series of sewing instructions sponsored by the local Singer sewing machine outlet, and a dramatic series for an acting school.
Currently, Telepax has developed six programs which are being offered for commercial sale. The shows all have been aired experimentally for some time over W2XJT. Telepax personnel have, since last August, handled all programing for the station, which had broadcast at least two hours, three nights a week until the end of last year, when it cut down to Tuesday nights only. It is their boast that total programing costs during the months from August thru November were only $62.40, since all labor was performed by Telepax members.

The Pittsburgh Courier gave an update on W2XJT in its edition of August 7, 1948. The picture below right is at Jamaica Avenue and 149th Street, built in 1931, where Still had his store.

W. B. Still Pioneers Channel Expansion For Color Video
By DICK SMYTHE
NEW YORK—With the approval and special paternal interest of the Federal Communications Commission, William B. Still, young Negro engineer, was given the "go ahead sign" last week to carry on his experiment designed to develop the use of the current television bands for color telecasts. At the same time Still's work will narrow the television wave bands down to the point where four stations can operate, where only one is able to broadcast.
The experiments will swing in to full action late in September on channel six (which is at 82-86 megacycles), which at present is not licensed to any television station in the New York area.
When questioned here in New York last week, Still was mum on the details, but certain persons in the know pointed out that considerable experimentation already has been under way. The results of these preliminary trials have met with definite success and point up a possible early success under broadcast test conditions.
OPERATES STATION
Still has for some time operated a highly efficient experimental station, W2XJT, on Channel 13, which he constructed entirely by himself. However, this station has been is rumored that he has been making renovations and preparations for his test experiments for color telecasts. Still is now constructing a new building which will house two television studios, a recording studio and an FM broadcast studio for a station which Still is also building himself.
The very fact that the Federal Communications Commission has granted him exclusive use of Channel 6 is verification of the validity and authenticity of his experiments. Tests, by Still, in Channel 6 would have to be on a considerably narrower band than those ordinarily used if there is to be no interference with signals from stations using the adjoining bands.
MORE STATIONS
It was further pointed out by engineers and technicians with experience in the telecasting field, that successful development of the narrow-band transmission would enable four to five times as many television stations to operate as are now envisioned by the FCC.
As for the color experiments, should they prove successful completely and bear fruit, it might mean an early switch over from black-and-white at comparatively little adjustment cost to the current home receivers as compared to the higher costs should color be restricted to the upper high-frequency channels, as previously planned by the broadcast engineers.

There is no evidence he operated on Channel 6; news stories continue to talk about closed circuit broadcasts.

Still continued to have his license renewed, with a change in call-letters to KE2XDO on Sept. 1, 1949, until March 1, 1950. And that’s when it all ended. It would appear the Telepax deal had something to do with it.

Broadcasting reported on Feb. 20, 1950:

RENEWAL DENIED
Renewal of experimental television license for KE2XDO Jamaica, N. Y., was denied by FCC last week to Jamaica Radio Television Co. for experimental operation on Channel 13 (210-216 mc). The Commission indicated that one of KE2XDO's principal activities has been to render program service independent of any technical research.
FCC said research proposed was on simplification of TV receivers and antennas for which experimental telecasting was not necessary. Station was first licensed in 1945.

What did Still do? He packed up his family and moved to Canada. He became a television engineer and TV tubes manufacturer with offices and a plant in Montreal and Toronto. Unfortunately, Still ran into financial trouble and in 1959, the courts ordered his personal effects be sold to pay off a debt from Still’s Papineau Electronics to the Canadian Electrical Supply Co.

He continued to live in Quebec and work as an electrical engineer. He died in hospital in Pointe Claire on December 28, 1993.