June 1929

26 television licenses had been handed out in the U.S. by mid-1929. That doesn’t mean 26 stations were on the air.

In fact, there was one station broadcasting television signals that wasn’t on the list of 26.
One was W7NK, a ham station licensed to Francis J. Brott, the head engineer at KOMO radio in Seattle. KOMO got its own TV station, but it wasn’t until 1953.

Another was General Electric’s station in Oakland, W6XN. It had been on the government list at the start of 1929 as a “special” station but vanished in a directory published at the end of June. Radio News for June 1929 said the station was broadcasting at 23.346 metres, 5,000 watts from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. That doesn’t mean it was showing pictures; the station was a rebroadcaster of KGO. G.E. applied on August 16th for a license renewal for eight frequencies at 10,000 watts, granted by October 12th.

There were some new developments in technology. Bell demonstrated a colour transmission system, U.S. Radio and Television showed off a transmission by light, while Frank Jenkins came up with a drum to replace the spinning discs inside a television set.

CBS and Paramount joined forces, with radio network president Bill Paley speculating this meant Paramount movie stars could show up on CBS television shows. It didn’t quite happen, and the corporate marriage came apart during the Depression. As for NBC, it expanded its television hours, but was still doing little more than showing call-letter cards or a figure of Felix the Cat whirling around on a turntable (if, indeed, they were using Felix that early).

Mention is made of a possible TV studio in the New Amsterdam Theatre. It finally came about in 1949 when WOR-TV set up a studio there.

Below are the highlights from June, 1929. We’ve tried to find programming information, but it’s very scarce.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1929
SHOW TELEVISION PLAN OF WORKING TO SEATTLE FOLK
SEATTLE, June 3. (AP)—Elementary and crude as it was, both in transmission and reception, television, newest wonder in radio science, had its inception here tonight.
Hugo Barden, radio mechanic employed by the Stewart-Warner company; Robert Flagler, technician at KOMO, and Kenneth G. Grayson of a local newspaper, reported reception of the moving pictures transmission over W7NK, the station installed by F. J. Brott at his home.
After detailed instructions in the workings of the television, Brott switched on his motors and proceeded to flash through the ether a series of sketches, letters, numbers and sample figures such as a heart, a diamond and a question mark.

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1929
Television, a crowd collector of the 1928 [Chicago Radio] trade show is all but absent this year. Interest in the subject has faded both in commercial and listener circles, apparently because no practical application is yet in sight.
Indeed whether radio television will ever be practicable still is a moot point, with some observers pointing out that requirements of a wide air channel bars it from the broadcasting wave band, and that uncertainties of short waves present another difficulty.
On the other hand A. J. Carter of the Carter Radio Co., a director of the Radio Manufacturers' Association, maintains there has been considerable advance in radiovision practicality, and that only the Federal Radio Commission's frequent changes of mind as to assignment of channels has delayed the marketing of receiving apparatus.
With television activity in the east subsiding, except in Jenkins Laboratories, Chicago radio circles are taking it up. WMAQ, WIBO and WENR are working on short-wave transmitters which will be devoted partly to television experiments. There seems to be no possibility of a commercial television receiver for the ensuing year at least. (George R. Madtes, Youngstown Vindicator)

SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1929
Station W2XCL, located at 323 Berry st., Brooklyn, which has been operating since March 27 under a construction permit issued by the Federal Radio Commission, has now been licensed by the commission as an experimental visual broadcasting station to transmit in the 2,000-2,100 kilocycle channel (149.2-150 meters), it was announced yesterday [8] by James L. Benjamin, treasurer of the Pilot Radio and Tube Corporation, owners of the installation.
Television broadcasting will begin soon from W2XCL, Mr. Benjamin stated. A new system of disc scanning and a very simple method of maintaining synchronization will be used, so that experimenters will be able to reproduce the broadcast images with little trouble and little expense. The Pilot company expects to sell the parts for a complete television receiver in knockdown form, for home assembly by the amateur constructor. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 9)

SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 1929
REPORTS 20,000 AS ‘LOOKING’ IN ON TELEVISION
Lookers in Are Scattered All Over United States to Pacific Coast
According to conservative estimate there are over 20,000 "lookers-in" tuned to the experimental programs broadcast by the Jenkins W3XK station at Washington, D.C. These "lookers-in" are scattered over the entire United States, some reporting regular reception of images as far as the Pacific Coast. For the most part, the apparatus employed by these television enthusiasts is entirely homemade.
Just what do these "lookers-in" get with their present home-made television receivers? Why do they indulge in this work? These questions are answered by G. E. Foreman, 621 Fourteenth Street W. E., Washington, D. C.
PICTURES WELL DEFINED
"Of course the pictures are not perfect, but they are well defined and easily recognizable, and absolute perfection at this stage of the art means little to me. The fact is that the apparatus is just as it was on the night of January 21st, when the first movies were received.
"Since then, my room has been filled with spectators each evening that the pictures were on, and I have been besieged with requests to view the movies. Due to this popularity, it has been impossible to make very, necessary changes in the set and televisor, which would greatly improve the reception.
"The interest in practical television, even to the experienced radio enthusiast, is surprising.
OLD-TIMERS ENJOY IT.
"Persons old in the radio art, and amateurs with coast-to-coast reception of audible radio to their credit, have sat before my set and gazed in wonder at the tiny image, and have laughed heartily at the antics of Sambo as he chases his dinner.
"Concerning the more serious side of television, I believe experimenters are fortunate to have a station like W3XK from which to receive. The modulation is perfect, the voice of the announcer being clear and distinct, and the television note exceedingly clear and crisp. The reception is so loud that a minimum of regeneration is. all that is necessary, which clears up the picture tremendously." (Hilo Tribune Herald)

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1929
PARAMOUNT BUYS HALF INTEREST IN BROADCAST CHAIN
Screen Stars to Be Put on Air, Eventually by Television
ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 14 (U.P.)—Paramount-Famous-Lasky corporation has obtained a one-half interest in the Columbia broadcasting system, Adolph Zukor, president of the film company, announced tonight.
Fifty-three radio stations in the Columbia chain are involved in the deal.
“The arrangement,” said Zukor, "concludes a definite working agreement which will give the public every feature or entertainment.
“Scientific developments have introduced the voice to the motion picture screem,” Zukor said, “and there is every prospect that similar developments shortly will introduce vision into radio.
Air entertainment by the Paramount personnel, which includes presentations on the stage by Public Theaters corporation, will combine with talent already internationally famous, through screen and stage appearances, Zukor added. Paramount’s screen celebrities include Clara Bow, George Bancroft, Gary Cooper and Charles Rogers, who will be joined by Hal Skelly, Mary Eaton and Maurice Chevalier in radio appearances.

SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1929
TELEVISION WILL CAUSE NEXT MOVIE REVOLUTION
W. S. Paley of Columbia Broadcasting System Pictures Results in Theater and Home.
The perfection of television in broadcasting moving pictures with sound into the home as well as the theater will find the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation and the Columbia Broadcasting System prepared for this foreseen revolution in the two industries, William S. Paley, president of the Columbia system said in addressing the annual Paramount convention which opened yesterday [15] at the Coronado Hotel. Announcement that Paramount had acquired half-interest in Columbia was made yesterday morning by Paley and Adolph Zukor, president of the Paramount company.
"We hear a lot about television, but not many people know a great deal about it," Paley said. "One thing is certain, however. It is coming. Whether it will be in two years or five, it is sure to come. With our amalgamation of interests, we are prepared. Columbia can lean on Paramount for the new problems entailing actual stage presentations for broadcasting. And Paramount has an outlet in presenting television to the public.
"It is hard to tell just how television will be handled. Whether it will be confined solely to home or whether entertainment houses will also show it on the screen is still problematical.
Television and News Reel.
“It looks as though, because of the size of the theater screen and because of the attractiveness of well-rounded programs presented in the theater, television will somehow fit into the scheme of things there.
"Our imagination can run wild if we think of television in the field of the news reel and imagine seeing flashed on the screen with sound a news event of major importance as it is actually taking place." (St Louis Post-Dispatch, June 16)

A new radio fad, radio television parties, is making a strong bid for popularity in Seattle, according to H. M. Thiel, of the Thiel Hardware Company. Television broadcasting is on the air every night from station W7NK and Hug Barden, engineer for Stewart-Warner last Saturday [15] played informal host for twenty guests at an experimental program. The various objects projected on the screen were plainly discernable and in one picture where a pencil was used to trace the objects the movements of the pencil could be plainly seen. (Bellingham Herald, June 22)

MANY SEND TELEVISION.
THREE OF TWENTY-SIX STATIONS ARE IN CHICAGO.
NEW YORK, June 15. (AP)—Twenty-six stations have been licensed by the federal radio commission to broadcast radiovision on an experimental basis, a recent compilation shows.
All but one are assigned to the short wave band, where they have channels 100 kilocycles wide. The lone station transmitting in the broadcast area is WRNY, New York, which is permitted to send pictures from 1 to 6 a. m.
Power used by the various stations ranges from fifty watts for W2XBA at Newark, N. J., to 30,000 watts for W3XL, Bound Brook, N. J. The majority are operating in the vicinity of 150 or 110 meters. A few have been assigned to the territory stretching from sixty to sixty-seven meters.
Three of the short wave stations are in the first radio district, eleven in the second district, two in the third, one in the fourth, two in the sixth, one in the seventh, one in the eighth and four ninth. The broadcast channel station is in the second district.
The transmitters:
W1XAE—Springfield, Mass.
W1XAY—Lexington, Mass.
W1XB—Somerville, Mass.
W2XBA—Newark, N. J.
W2XBS—New York (portable).
W2XBU—Beacon, N. Y.
W2XBV—New York (portable).
W2XBW—Bound Brook (portable).
W2XCL—Brooklyn, N. Y.
W2XCO—New York.
W2XCR—Jersey City, N. J.
W2XCW—Schenectady.
W2XR—New York.
W2XX—Ossining, N. Y.
W3XK—Washington, D. C.
W3XL—Bound Brook, N. J.
W4XE—Winter Park, Fla.
W6XAM—Los Angeles.
W6XC—Los Angeles.
W7XAO—Portland. Ore.
W8XAV—East Pittsburgh.
W9XAA—Chicago.
W9XAG—Chicago.
W9XAO—Chicago.
W9XAZ—Iowa City, Ia.
WRNY—New York.

TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1929
Now that “Glorifying the American Girl” is completed, the elaborate sets are being torn down from their frames at the Paramount Astoria studios, and Director Millard Webb is coastward bound already, to take up the megaphoning for another company—First National. Under a new agreement, Webb will direct Billie Dove in an all-talkie, “Give This Girl a Hand,” adapted from a story by Fannie Hurst. This is the first movie for which television rights have been purchased by the author, besides dialogue rights. (Irene Thirer, Daily News)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1929
Theatre Includes Radio Television and Movies
NEW YORK, June 19.—(AP)—A roof top theatre such as Jules Verne might have imagined equipped for radio broadcasting and for the showing and recording of sound color and three dimensional motion pictures is being constructed above the new Amsterdam playhouse at 42nd street and Broadway, A. L. Erlanger, theatre owner, announced today.
A sound proof glass curtain which may be lowered in front of the stage will enable the broadcasting of any sort of performance from a tap dance to a grand opera without intrusion of sounds from the auditorium, Mr. Erlanger said, while the audience looks on through the glass and listens through amplifiers.
It will be possible at the same time, he declared, for motion picture cameras and microphones to record the performance and when television is perfected for the scenes on the stage to be broadcast visually. Heating and cooling apparatus will regulate temperatures to control acoustics.
The new playhouse, to be called the Aerial theatre, is to be finished in September. It will occupy the upper floor of the new Amsterdam building recently vacated by Ziegfeld's midnight frolics.

FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1929
The [Federal Radio] commission has...granted an experimental television license to radio station W A A M, Inc., of Newark, N. J. The company plans to operate with 500 watts in the 2750-2850 band. (Daily Herald, Passaic)

SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1929
BEGINS TELEVISION SIGNAL BROADCAST FROM JERSEY CITY
Jenkins Corporation Says Signals Picked Up With Ample Power at Distance
The Jenkins Television Corporation announces the completion of its powerful television broadcasting transmitter which will serve the New York metropolitan area as well as a large section of the country. Experimental programs are being broadcast on 140 meters, and reports from near and far indicate that the television signals are being picked up with ample power.
The Jenkins Jersey City transmitter, W2XCR, is a 5-kilowatt, crystal-controlled outfit fed by the Jenkins film pick-up for the transmission of radio movies. Later, when the art warrants more elaborate transmission, direct pick-up from living subjects will be undertaken. The power supply for the transmitter consists of two generators, each producing the 2000-volt current for the plate supply, and two smaller generators supplying 24 volts and 250 volts for the filament circuits and grid bias requirements. The transmitter is installed in the annex on the root of the Jenkins plant, and comprises two large panels. Alongside is the operator’s table, with the usual receiver for listening in for S O S calls, together with the elaborate pick-up amplifiers. A microphone permits of making vocal announcements to the “lookers-In” when necessary. There is also a television monitor, so that the quality of the outgoing signals may be checked up.
A second Jenkins television transmitter is being rushed to completion in Montgomery County, Md., outside of Washington, D. C., with the call letters W3XK and a 5-kilowatt rating. This station will be on the air shortly, serving another large section of the country with television programs. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 22)

SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 1929
California is considered rather remote from Ohio, at least in terms of miles; but by radio and through the medium of newspapers that state is apparently easily in touch with this section of the country, at least in the mind of Hugh Okeson, WHK operator.
For last week Hugh received a letter from Station KGO, Oakland, Cal., revealing the fact that an old buddy of his, Kenneth Sherman, former Clevelander and owner of amateur station W8ABR here, is in charge of experimental transmissions from W6XN short-wave station of KGO. Television broadcasts on regular schedule are occupying much of Sherman's time, he relates. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1929
Ask Television Station In City
General Electric Wants Short Wave Sender Here
A short wave radio station for the purpose of experimenting with television may be erected in this city by the General Electric company, according to a dispatch from Washington yesterday [26].
The application of the company for permission to build the station will be heard by the Federal Radio commission soon after the resumption of hearings in September, it was announced.
Request was made for the frequencies of 2750 and 2250 kilocycles of the television band and power of 50 watts. Under the procedure followed by the commission, the construction permit is first granted and after the station is built a license to operate it is issued, if it is satisfactory to the commission.
The proposed location or other details concerning the station could not be learned yesterday. M. P. Rice, Schenectady, is the broadcast director for General Electric. Efforts to secure further details in that city were unavailing last night. (Atlantic City Press, June 27)

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1929
COLOR TELEVISION PROVES SUCCESS IN EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED IN NEW YORK
NEW YORK, June 27. (AP)—Color television—another step of that infant of science— was demonstrated today at the Bell Telephone laboratories, which devised the apparatus for the American Telephone and Telegraph company.
The apparatus, except for the addition of special color mechanisms, was the same as that demonstrated three years ago in a wire and radio test between New York and Washington. The system is subject to use over long distance wire or radio circuits.
The difference between the color television apparatus and the regular television machine is merely the addition of three electric eyes, each transmitting a current corresponding to the amount of the natural color in the subject. Before the three electric eyes in one end of the auditorium, a young woman stood holding various objects such as a glass of water, a colored ball and a pineapple. The current was turned on. In the darkened receiving chamber at the other end of the wall her image, in the natural colors, was reproduced.
Three wires connected the machine picking up the image and the receiving apparatus, each carrying its own color-current. Bell experts said that where radio was the transmitting medium three wave lengths would be used.