August 1937

CBS didn’t have a TV studio in August 1937 but that’s the month the company hired someone to take charge of programming from it. The programmer was none other than author Gilbert Seldes. His best-known work at the time was likely “The Seven Lively Arts,” published in 1924, in which he praised George Herriman’s Krazy Kat strip in the newspapers. Seldes was eased out of the company in September 1945, when the network consisted of one station.

Du Mont was not in the television programming business that month, but moved toward it. The company bought a manufacturing plant in New Jersey and intended to carve out studios there.

WFIL in Philadelphia was about to open new studios as well, with an empty floor reserved for television. And W1XG in Boston was revamping operations to accommodate the improved standard for television signals.

NBC continued irregular test programming that month. For the third month in a row, the Home News in New Brunswick, New Jersey, published a feature story about programming on W2XBS in New York. The broadcast sounds much like the one the previous month, with a bit of live programming tossed in amongst newsreels and a Van Beuren cartoon (the one in August 1937 was The Gay Gaucho, made on the west coast by Harman and Ising).

Below are selected TV news highlights for the month. The Newspaper Enterprise Association’s Morris Gilbert wrote a two-part feature on the industry. It was a lengthy situational with no updated news, so we have not included it. Nor have we any specifics about W6AXO other than it continued its brief daily schedule of newsreels and shorts (not identified) from its Los Angeles studios at Seventh and Bixel.

MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1937
CBS Experimental Tele Studio
An experimental television studio is being built by CBS in the Liederkranz Hall, part of the Park Ave. and 59th St. site where CBS plans its new building. Work on the large new building is expected to be delayed somewhat until the course and prospects of television as well as radio are more clearly charted. (Radio Daily)

Letter Describes Sight Broadcast
Vivid account of an experimental television broadcast is contained in a letter to a Knoxville friend from John S. Van Gilder, of 714 West Hill avenue, who saw the broadcast at the home of W. C. Farrier, New York radio executive who was formerly an assistant co-ordinator for TVA here.
"The set is the size of a cabinet radio," the letter says. "When the set is turned on a picture appears on a mirror in the hinged top of the set. It is not clear at first, but is tuned until it is distinct. "Pictures appeared on the mirror just like on a motion picture screen," the letter says. "Close-up portraits and scenes with crowds were equally distinct. There are about 80 sets scattered within a 50-mile radius of the transmitter atop the Empire State building." (Knoxville Journal)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1937
DuMont Company Buys Mill Here
Takes Over Anna Meyers Mill in January
One of the country's foremost manufacturers of cathode ray and television tubes will soon be included among Passaic’s manufacturers.
The New Industries Division of the Passaic Chamber of Commerce today announced the sale of the former Peterman plant in Main Avenue, opposite the Continental Can Company's Passaic plant, to the Allan B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc., of Upper Montclair.
The Du Mont company plans to start operations about the first of next year and will move all of its operations here. Included in alteration plans is a television reception and broadcasting station and a complete cathode ray tube manufacturing plant.
Allan B. Du Mont, president of the concern, returned from England and the Continent Saturday after a three-week business and pleasure trip. He said upon his return that television in England is on an established basis and far ahead of developments here. Passaic is not now to him, for he was formerly chief engineer of the De Forest Company, which at one time occupied space in the old Brighton Mills on Van Houten Avenue.
The sale of the factory, presently occupied on lease by the Anna Myers food product company, was consummated by the Joseph J. Garibaldi Organisation, of Hoboken, factory brokers who last week sold a unit of the old Newport Chemical Company property in this City to the Akis Chemical Company of Switzerland.
The building, a two-story structure, contains 13,300 square feet of floor space. There are 93,000 square feet of vacant land in the property.
John Doherty, of this City, was the seller of record. No price was announced. (Herald-News, Passaic).

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1937
WORK ON A TELEVISION TRANSMITTER HERE
The construction of a modern Cathode ray television transmitter, the first of its type in New England, is under way at the Massachusetts Television Institute, under the direction of Robert E. Rutherford.
The television equipment is of the same type as that used in England and which was used in telecasting the coronation parade there.
Rutherford is a pioneer television engineer and in the course of his work he went to England to supervise the installation of television equipment there and also did similar work in Germany. (Boston Globe)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1937
‘I SAW TELEVISION AT ITS BEST—’
OFFICIALS CLAIM BARRIERS REMAIN
Pictures Now Televised Are as Clear as Home Movies
By WILL BALTIN
Theater-Radio Editor
Television is ready for the public!
There is no further doubt in my mind about it. I feel firmly convinced that television sets could be placed on the market tomorrow and would unquestionably meet immediate favor.
Of course, no television official will admit it, though it still puzzles me why they continue to hesitate. And what is more the pity, television sets will probably not be marketed on a wide commercial scale for at least 18 months or two years, and perhaps longer.
But the fact remains that the technical advance in television has been so rapid that television as it is today—as I myself saw it a few days ago — is as fascinating, as clearly defined, and as thrilling as the best home motion picture equipment on the market.
The Radio Corporation of America afforded this writer an excellent opportunity to study the advances made in television over an eight months period, when it invited me to witness a special demonstration at the National Broadcasting Company studios in Radio City last Wednesday afternoon.
Was Not Disappointed
It was not the first television I had witnessed, but it was the first time I had the privilege of watching a program on the latest type television set employed in the RCA experiments, and I therefore visited the studio expecting to see something "new." I was not disappointed.
Heaps of credit are due RCA for its constant efforts to improve the transmission and reception of televised program. It is this determination to reach the goal of perfection that more than anything else is delaying public introduction of this new, marvelous art.
David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, and a titan in the field of broadcasting and television, asserted recently that premature introduction of television might result in early obsolesence of sets, and that television, unlike radio, must be established on a standard which will be nation-wide.
Mr. Sarnoff, who is now in Europe studying radio and television advances abroad, spiked rumors that "certain interests" were holding back the release of television for various and sundry reasons, when he asserted that no one can stop the advent of television any more than they can halt the flow of the Atlantic Ocean. It simply must come sooner or later, he pointed out, and there is a great future in that field.
The Television Broadcast
Witnessing a television broadcast on an RCA set is an experience one does not easily forget. The program I witnessed last Wednesday was televised from the NBC television studios atop the Empire State Building to the sixth floor of the Radio City building where a group of 15 advertising agency officials, three NBC engineers and the writer observed the show on a fairly large television screen.
I was ushered into a room that had been darkened for the purpose of the experiment. Engineers later said darkening of the room was more for convenience of the large number of persons present than out of necessity, as the pictures tele-vised are sufficiently bright to be seen even in a well-lighted room.
The television set stood about five feet high two and a half feet wide, and was placed in a corner of the room. It looked as attractive as any present model console radio. There were six tuning knobs on the front of the set, as well as a station indicator and space for the dynamic speaker.
The top of the set was opened up vertically, with the interior of the top revealing a mirror. Peering down into the set, one observed a glass tube, 12 inches in diameter, its top surface coated with a fluorescent material. To witness the program, one need only seat himself comfortably within a distance of from five to 15 feet from the set and peer into the mirror, which reflected the picture from the tube.
Impulses on Lines
Last November, I saw a press demonstration of television on a screen five by seven inches, with the televised impulses sent on 343 lines per square inch. The "lines" on a television screen are much the same as the minute dots which may he found on an ordinary newspaper half-tone or cut. They vary in principle, however, in that televised "lines" are interlaced horizontally and vertically.
At last Wednesday's demonstration, vast improvements had been made. The size of the screen had been enlarged to 12 square inches, and the number of interlaced "lines" transmitted had been increased from 343 to 441, thus providing an almost perfectly clear picture. The "lines" are now so fine that they can be detected by the eye only if the observer pokes his nose on top of the tube.
Fifteen minutes before the television program began, O. B. Hanson, chief engineer for NBC, turned on the set and tuned the dials as though he were bringing in a regular radio broadcast. An odd pattern appeared on the television screen. The pattern, which forms a circle and contains a series of broad and thin lines, enables the observer to tune the set into focus and set it for the proper light intensity. Once this was done, the set was ready for the "show."
Program Begins
As 19 individuals looked on, the room was darkened, the test pattern vanished and a striking cloud effect appeared on the 12-inch screen. An atmosphere of expectancy could be detected among the observers. Out of the cloud effect appeared a picture of the Empire State Building, and superimposed on the scene was the inscription "NBC" and "RFCA" Television. The announcer's voice then came through the loud speaker, stating that an experimental television broadcast was to follow.
A strip of film was televised announcing that the first portion of the program was to be presented. The title: "Pathe News" immediately appeared.
Each changing sequence was perfectly clear, without the least suggestion of flicker or other inperfection [sic]. The pictures appeared bright and were of greenish hue instead of black and white. This did not detract from the entertainment value.
The regulation news-reel was televised with scenes including the Lake Placid ice carnival held recently, yacht races and other newsy shots. Every picture was amazingly clear, though in miniature.
Present Studio Show
With the conclusion of the Pathe News, a studio program was presented from the Empire State Building studios. A Japanese xylophonist was introduced by his wife and the musician offered two selections. RCA engineers displayed the flexibility of the television camera in this presentation by televising "close ups" and "long shots" of the musician in action with the same finesse of the motion picture camera. At the first demonstration I witnessed eight months ago, the break between the "close ups" and "long shots" was marred by streaks of light that annoyed the observer.
The short program was concluded with the presentation of a Van Burean [sic] cartoon comedy, "The Gay Gaucho." Here the entertainment value of television was put to test and laughter from the small audience gave evidence the observers were being entertained as well as fascinated by the new invention.
With the broadcast at an end, an NBC engineer. Ferdinand Wankle, answered questions asked by the observers. The big question, of course, was "When will television become public property?" And the usual "shrug of the shoulders" followed.
A hint as to when the public will be permitted to see the advances in television was given when the engineer explained that RCA and NBC will demonstrate the new art at the World's Fair in 1939. But the question of whether the sets may be marketed before that time brought no reply from the engineer.
Sets May Cost $250
The cost of sets was also a question which the engineer said he could not answer. The Film Daily, national theatrical publication, in an exclusive story recently revealed that American television interests can market sets profitably today for $250. Which is not an exorbitant price in view of the voluminous equipment necessary.
A query as to the make-up of the set brought the answer that the sets now operated by RCA have 32 tubes, besides the huge cathode ray tube; that the cathode ray tube is good for more than 1,000 hours of entertainment; that sets weigh 250 pounds and require 6,000 volts to operate; that this high voltage is not dangerous because the entire rear of the television set is shielded and once the shield is removed, the current is automatically broken.
The engineer further revealed that the present range of television transmission is 45 miles or more. At the 1936 demonstration it was pointed out that the range is about 25 miles; thus an improvement was shown in this regard, too. Observers at the program generally agreed that, technically, television is now ready for the home.
But RCA officials insist that the technical aspect is but one of the many problems keeping the invention behind laboratory doors. They point to the difficulty of a nation-wide television service in view of the fact that programs can only be sent 45 miles by air. They point to the prohibitive costs of laying co-axial cables to carry the programs across the continent on a chain system. Television programs cannot be sent by ordinary telephone wire as radio programs are now being sent. They also point to the new program technique necessary to provide real entertainment, and a multiplicity of other barriers to commercial television.
Can Be Marketed Today
Still, I feel television is technically acceptable and therefore should be made public property. Certainly it would start a new era of prosperity for radio dealers, although it is entirely separate from radio, and radio sets will STILL be necessary to pick up regular programs.
The Daily Home News and The Sunday Times own an experimental television set built by Norman Van Heuvel, local radio dealer. The set, while much smaller than the RCA sets, does bring in programs. It is now undergoing changes to enlarge the pictures being received, and will be displayed to the public this fall.
RCA has, of course, developed a much more delicate instrument than the "home-made" set owned by these newspapers. Each RCA set — and there are 100 sets in the metropolitan area now being used in the experiments—is exquisitely built and would fit into any home living room.
Whatever officials may say about the stumbling blocks to television, the fact remains that the new art is much further developed now than radio was during the crystal set era of 1919 to 1923, and that the public should not be denied the privilege of witnessing the new wonder of the 20th century any longer.
Television is here! (Sunday Times, New Brunswick, N.J., Aug. 15)

Initial Television Sets To Cost Less Than Auto
But National Broadcasting Head Says Price Will Be "Considerable"
By BARROW LYONS
Times Special financial Writer
NEW YORK, Aug. 11.—Initial television sets will be sold for less than the cheapest automobile but the price still will be "considerable."
This was predicted today by Lenox R. Lohr, president of the National Broadcasting Co., one of a half a dozen pioneers in the field who are conducting exhaustive tests and experiments.
In an interview Mr. Lohr refused to minimize the financial or technical difficulties but placed the problem of entertainment value above everything else.
"When I am absolutely sure that we have something that is capable of providing entertainment to compete with radio and the movies I'll feel quite confident to launch the ship," he declared. "Something Good"
"I feel certain that we have something good—something that is now perfect enough to capture a considerable following. But is it good enough? And can we make it substantially better within the next year or two?"
Nobody, including Mr, Lohr, appears to know just when television will start commercially. The Radio Corp. of America has plans and specifications for mass production of sets ready to be put in operation on short notice. The NBC, 100 per cent owned by RCA, could put programs on the air as soon as the music started to play.
But despite numerous straws in the wind to indicate that considerable progress is being made, Mr. Lohr indicated that the big companies are content to continue their experiments for some time—barring the sudden introduction of television sets by an unsuspected competitor.
New Sets Needed
"If some unsuspected competitor suddenly were to begin broadcasts and place a set on the market we are prepared to do battle immediately. But the moment the manufacturing of sets begins in a big way we are likely to freeze the art," he said.
"Radio broadcasts can be received by sets of many varieties, from a simple crystal outfit to the most complicated mechanisms. But the sending and receiving apparatus of television must fit like lock and key.
"A fundamental improvement in broadcasting technique probably would call for new sets. Hence we want to be as sure as possible that the first sets we sell will be usable for a reasonable period of years.
"It seems the part of wisdom, as long as we are continuing to make rapid progress in the development of the art, and competition does not threaten, to continue our experimentation for a reasonable time."
"How long do you think that will be?" Mr. Lohr was asked.
Two or Three Years Ahead
"I can only guess," he said. "If I were to say two or three years it might be misleading, for it is impossible to tell. We have announced the first public showing of television for the World's Fair here in 1939."
"Who is to pay for the expense of programs?" Mr. Lohr was asked next.
"Presumably the sponsors will," he replied. "Already some 30 or 40 national advertisers have asked to be considered as early applicants for space, but until we are nearer the threshold of performance we are not attempting to work out any contracts.
"One of the indeterminate elements involved lies in the size of the audience, which must necessarily be smaller than that of the radio audience.
“The cost at which sets will be put out, however, must be a factor in the size and quality of the audience, and this is very important to the advertiser. I believe, however, that the problem of sponsoring programs will not be the most difficult we still have to solve." (Buffalo Daily News)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1937
New York and Los Angeles Television Centers of Nation
By SCIENCE SERVICE
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — New York and Los Angeles are the two most logical choices for the beginnings of commercial television broadcasting in America, reports the scientific committee of the Research Council of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences here. The great need for talented actors is a primary reason for this decision. On the New York stage and radio and in Hollywood's motion picture studios are the best actors in the country.
Geographically Los Angeles excells New York in its facility for television broadcasts on the "line of sight" properties of the television waves, also reports the committee. While New York and its surrounding area can be covered from towering Manhattan skyscrapers the city of Los Angeles has its own, natural high landmarks. Cahuenga Peak, for example, has an altitude of 1,825 feet, affords an eminence nearly 50 per cent, greater than New York's Empire State Tower, and commands the San Fernando Valley on the north, the greater part of Los Angeles to the south and east and the beach cities of the west. (Longview News-Journal)

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1937
$200,000 WFIL Studios Being Occupied Sept. 1
Philadelphia.— WFIL's new $200,000 studio plant will be opened for broadcasting Sept. 1, according to Donald Withycomb, g.m. Located on the 18th floor of the Widener Bldg. in the heart of mid-town, the new plant is now three-fourths completed. Formal dedication of the studios will be deferred until decorative work is finished, probably late in October.
WFIL also has on option the remaining wing of the floor not now in use and also has plans drawn up for an auditorium studio seating 700 to be erected on the roof in about two years. Architects are drawing plans for television studios for the optioned space. (Radio Daily)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1937
TELEVISION DIRECTOR IS APPOINTED BY CBS
New York, Aug. 21.—(AP)—The CBS network, which is making plans again to enter the experimental television field, already had named its picture program director. He is Gilbert Seldes, writer and critic, who is giving up his newspaper connections to take over his new post from September 1.
At the same time the network also announced that it intended to establish a television program center in the Grand Central terminal building in New York just across the street from the Chrysler building, the 75-storey skyscraper which is to house the ultra short wave for the radio images.
Construction of the studios is to begin in the fall, and with the transmitter unit, probably will be ready for the first experiments in a year or so. (C.E. Butterfield)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1937
New Television System Is Shown by Kolorama
Demonstration of a new television system was given yesterday by Kolorama Laboratories of Irvington, N. J, which has carried on intensive research to construct television equipment adaptable for home use with projection on a large screen. Kolorama officials believe that small pictures, measuring only a few inches on a side, will not be acceptable in the home or useful for commercial application.
At the demonstration, television transmission was highlighted by projecting high definition pictures on a screen measuring 4x5 feet.
Advanced experiments in color for television is still dependent upon the perfection of black and white transmission, it was said.
The Kolorama system is not yet perfected, but engineers claim they have not reached their limitations. (Radio Daily)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1937
VALENTINE SEES TELEVISION AS HELP TO POLICE
Watches Demonstration of Transmission by R. C. A.
New York, Aug. 27—Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine and other officers of the police department saw a demonstration yesterday [26] in the offices of the National Broadcasting company of experimental television and facsimile transmission, as developed by the Radio Corporation of America. Their chief interest was in the application of the devices to police work.
"The police department," said Commissioner Valentine, "is constantly on the alert to adopt new developments in science that will aid us In the detection and prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. I hope and believe that we will be able to profit from the millions of dollars that RCA and the National Broadcasting company are pending in their development of facsimile transmission and television."
The officers were of the opinion that television might be used to advantage in broadcasting police lineups in various cities. The lineup in New York police headquarters might he shown in Washington, Philadelphia, and other cities, and the lineups in those cities might be shown here. Detectives in all cities on the circuit in such event, would see every day the crooks picked up the day before in all centers.
Facsimile transmission, it was said, would be of indubitable benefit to police work. It would enable police to transmit within a minute or two exact likenesses of features and finger prints of any one in their hands, or any fugitive for whom they were broadcasting an alarm. The system is said to be proof against errors in transmission.
With receiving sets installed at the principal gateways of the city, it was pointed out, exits could be closed promptly against any known criminal, the police on duty at such points receiving almost immediately his photographic likeness and his finger prints. Facsimile receivers, it was said, might be installed in police radio cars, thus enabling the department to broadcast throughout the city the description of any wanted crook without waiting to have cuts made and hand-bills printed. (Daily News, Springfield, Mass.)

MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1937
Boston Television Station Readies for Eve. Schedule
Boston — W1XG, television station owned and operated by General Television Corp., is completely rebuilding its television equipment to bring it up to the 441-line standard recently accepted by the Radio Manufacturers Assn., and is using the "Iconoscope" and "Kinescope" developed by RCA.
Station transmits on a frequency of 44 megacycles and starting in October will transmit for one hour each evening to allow television experimenters to work on their receivers. During the past year the station was on an afternoon schedule for its own experimental work. (Radio Daily)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1937
Ordinary Static Does Not Affect Television Reception, Says Baird
Auto Engine In Vicinity Will Generate Enough Interference To Ruin Weak Signal, Hub Engineer Tells Radio Men
Ordinary, static does not interfere with television reception but an automobile engine running in the vicinity of a receiver will generate enough interference to ruin a weak signal, Hollis S. Baird of Boston, pioneer television engineer, told nearly 100 radio men Tuesday evening [31] at a meeting in the Chamber of Commerce under the auspices of the General Television Institute of Boston.
Mr. Baird predicted public sale of television receivers will start in New York City next year and said public interest will determine how rapidly television will spread to other cities. The latest development, he said, is the development of apparatus to throw pietures on a screen three feet by four feet and predicted the usual home size will be 18 inches by 24 inches.
Deveopment of telesivion equipment by the Columbia Broadcasting System, scheduled to start operation about the first of the year, may bring regular scheduled broadcasts, he said. The National Broadcasting Company has been conducting experimental tests jor several years, Mr. Baird explained, but there have been no regular schedules and reception has been restricted to teat sets in the homes of 80 NBC executives.
High power will be necessary to overcome interference in areas where there is heavy automobile traffic, he continued, and to insure reception strong enough to be visible in the average lighted living room. Range of the NBC unit with its aerial on the Empire State Building is about 45 miles, the speaker said, and the range of aerials with less altitude will he about 30 miles.
Network television broadcasting will have to await construction of lines of concentric cable between titles, he said, but pointed out that such a cable already has been installed between New York and Philade!phia. Local stations could transmit motion pictures and local programs before network istellities were available, Mr. Baird declared.
He showed pictures of the experimental equipment of NBC and of the manufacture of television equipment in the General Television Institute. The talk was preceded by a showing of motion pictures of activities of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company. (Portland Press-Herald, Sept. 1)