July 1937

NBC in Washington, D.C. opened a new building in June 1937, and studio space was reserved for television. The station didn’t actually get on the air until 1947, though the network had applied for a license before World War Two.

It shows that companies were preparing for TV broadcasts at the time. There was still plenty of speculation (and there would be for several more years) when television would “arrive.” No less a person than FDR, in honour of the new Washington studios, mused it would be sooner than later, and people would even read news on video while eating breakfast. That was a little further off.

Below are stories for July 1937. There’s another roundup of a broadcast from NBC’s station in New York, W2XBS, viewed thanks to a home-built set. Getting the necessary picture tube would normally be impossible, except the constructor had been an engineer at Du Mont, which was developing a television set. The broadcast was dominated by newsreel film, as well as a cartoon from the defunct Van Beuren studio; Van Beuren cartoons would appear often on TV across the U.S. until the explosion of stations in 1948.

There’s also a little news about W6XAO in Los Angeles and some experimental stations in the Midwest.

SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1937
Television’s Status in Connection With Movie Production Scrutinized
By ELIZABETH YEAMAN
[Three paragraphs on Hayes Office investigating television and a recommendation by the son of the FCC chairman for the film industry to acquire control of a radio network, then pool TV rights].
Few people realize that there are local television broadcasts twice a day. One hour of televised programs is broadcast during the day, and another series of programs is sent out over the ether every night between 6:30 and 7:30 [on W6XAO]. There are several hundred television enthusiasts in this locality, who have made their own receiving sets and tune in on these experimental television programs.
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Life Work Cut Out
The man responsible for these television programs is Harry R. Lubcke, who graduated from the University of California in 1929 and ever since has been working on television. For five years he has been employed by the Don Lee Mutual Broadcasting System. Other major radio networks conduct experimental broadcasts of television in the East. The Federal Communications Commission forbids anyone to obtain revenue from television as yet, and you can be certain that these experimental broadcasts cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. However, there seems to be little doubt that the big radio networks which are spending so much money in television experimentation will be preferred petitioners when the commercial licenses are eventually issued.
Lubcke is of the opinion that when television is a commercial product, at least 60 per cent of the programs sent out will be motion pictures. Performances of living actors may be alternated with those of motion pictures, to avoid the delay caused by changing of sets in a series of living programs.
There is little argument against the prediction that when the general public is able to see and hear entertainment in the home, that all commercial public entertainment will suffer for a time. The novelty of the new invention will develop a rabid audience at first, and the fact that it may be free entertainment, paid for by advertising sponsors as on the radio, is another big selling point. in the early stages, television is bound to be menacing competition for motion picture theaters.
However, Lubcke points out that the film studios may capitalize on the new invention if they wish, by producing motion pictures for the television programs. What the film theaters and film distributors would have to say about such a move in the studios is another matter.
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Tips for Film Players
From his work with daily experimental broadcasts, Lubcke has formulated a list of motion picture requirements for television. Brunettes are the beet physical types, and prominent features and normal complexion also televise with the greatest clarity. Hair may be blonde if it stands out in contrast to the background and the rest of the face. The success of the television subject is dependent upon proper contrast of all the features.
Clear pictorial photography is absolutely necessary. Great masses of dark shadow or ultra artiness in photography do not reproduce well in television. The detail of a scene must be carried in intermediate tones or half tones. Checkerboard contrast in the photographic composition of a scene is essential. That means dark and light objects must he interspersed throughout the area of the picture. The over-all contrast range must be limited. Extremes of black and white, more accurately described as extremes of light intensity, must be limited. The laboratory must supply prints of medium density. Black frame lines must be present in motion picture films. These are absent in some newsreel cameras. Lap dissolves or quick fades are preferable for scene changes. Slow fades give the momentary impression that the receiving set is out of order. The television scene, during a fadeout, remains grey instead of going black as on the movie screen.
Of the motion picture subjects televised by Lubcke, Loretta Young and Claudette Colbert have been the best. Herbert Marshall has the best face among the men.
Lubcke believes that most television programs will be confined to a 15-minute period. Serial programs, like Amos and Andy, probably will be popular, and that opens a great range for motion picture serials. Short film comedies can be made successfully for the 15-minute period, but few dramas can be successfully condensed to that time limit. So perhaps they will be presented as serials, in 15-minute episodes. Dancers, acrobats, impersonaters [sic], and all the entertainers of vaudeville will be in demand.
When commercial receiving sets for television go on the market next year, they probably will cost around $300. The budget for the film programs will depend upon the amount of money an advertising sponsor wishes to pay, and he will pay in direct ratio to the size of the receiving audience. The larger the audience, the more sets will be sold, and the cheaper the sets will become. (Hollywood Citizen-Reporter)

SUNDAY, JULY 4, 1937
Television Is in the Air—And Norman Van Heuvel Sees It
Local Experimenter Picks Up N. Y. Signal
Newsreels, Cartoon Movies and Other Entertainment Flashes From Empire State Bldg. in N. Y. to This City; Uses DuMont Cathode Ray Tube
By WILL BALTIN
"TELECASTER"
Norman Van Heuvel sat before his experimental television set at his home in Colonial Gardens last Tuesday night [June 29] and fingered several dials on a complex-looking instrument that was spread out across an improvised workshop bench erected in the sun-parlor of his dwelling.
As he did so he peered at the base of an odd-shaped tube that resembled more an old-fashioned type wine bottle. A rectangular-shaped light about three inches in dimension blazed brightly on the tube's base.
Suddenly the light flickered momentarily.
"Here it comes now!" Mr. Van Heuvel said enthusiastically to a group of young men who surrounded him. And in an instant, like a miniature motion picture, appeared the lettering "PATHE NEWS" on the three-inch screen.
And another experimental television program came whizzing through the air from the Empire State Building in New York City.
Amazing ... incredible ... a challenge to the imagination—the television program was, even in a somewhat crude form, the most thrilling experience ever encountered by the writer, who was among the few invited friends present to witness what Mr. Van Heuvel termed, his “first public demonstration.”
The phonograph in its day was considered an exceptional feat of man-made-magic. The telephone, too, made people gape with amazement. The incandescent lamp revolutionized modern ways of living. And the radio was considered about the most amazing invention ever conceived by human mind.
The Biggest Wonder
All of these seem infinitesimal when placed beside the magic of television. Imagine watching a complete show being staged in the metropolis 40 miles away, while you sit in your own home. Or imagine watching the news of the day un-reeling before your eyes as it occurs, or did occur a few hours before, while you lounge in the comfort of your living room.
The few invited guests at the Van Heuvel home had a “preview” of what the future holds when they witnessed the 30-minute television show that the Radio Corporation of America experimenters staged for the benefit of a handful of experimental owners in the metropolitan district last week.
Although the screen on the local set is tiny compared with those developed at RCA and being used on their experimental sets, the observers here thoroughly enjoyed the "show."
Pathe News was first and as the reel came through the ether, events of the day were revealed. Jim Braddock appeared on the small screen to tell his side of the recent boxing battle and Joe Louis was also there with a few words. The ballet dancers of the Radio City Music Hall were shown as they departed for Europe. The Princeton Invitation Track Meet moved across the television screen.
See Irwin's Face
And then the face of Robert Irwin, confessed slayer of Ronnie Gedeon, her mother and family boarder, was shown. Other news shots appeared under the title of Pathe "News Flashes" before the reel ended. A Van Buren cartoon comedy was next to be shown and here the little drawn objects cavorted on the screen much as you see them in the movies.
With the short program over, the observers agreed that television, technically, is a fact, and that as far as they were concerned they were eagerly awaiting the sale of sets—which manufacturers insist must still be held in abeyance [sic] until “the time is ripe”. Which means exactly nothing!
Mr. Van Heuvel spent several months building the set and now that he has gained the knowledge of how a television machine operates, he will rip apart the present equipment and rebuild it with a much larger screen for public showings.
Construction of the set was difficult enough to discourage a less industrious individual than Mr. Van Heuvel. Set designs were rare and are, in fact, still hard to find, due to the stubborn efforts by leading experimenters to guard any new developments from the amateur.
Actual work began late last fall and by this spring, the experimental set, which will become the property of The Daily Home News and The Sunday Times when it is completed, was ready for operation. Repeated efforts to pick up the sight signal failed, although the sound portion of the television were received regularly.
Not Discouraged
Hardly discouraged, "Van" as Mr. Van Heuvel is known in radio circles, continued his experiments. He found that a broad tuning amplifier was essential to bring in the signal, with distance from the station a determining factor on how broad the amplifier had to be. Constant experimenting brought about the necessary amplification, and it was with considerable gratification that "Van" witnessed his first home television show about a month ago.
Quite bulky in appearance now, the set which Van Heuvel is to re-build will be made compact and will give the appearance of a regular floor model radio. At present employing the 3-inch Du Mont cathode ray tube, Mr. Van Heuvel intends to use the 5 or perhaps 7-inch Du Mont tube in his larger set.
Unquestionably the most important part of the television receiving equipment is the cathode ray tube through which the televised electrical impulses charge and are reflected into a complete picture on the base of the tube. These tubes range in size from one-inch to 12-inches and require delicate manufacture.
Up-and-Coming Leader
One of the leading cathode ray tube manufacturers in the country land certainly one that will someday take the front rank in the television industry is Allen B. Du Mont, a young engineer, who conducts his laboratories in Upper Montclair.
Mr. Du Mont's knowledge of the tube manufacturing was gained through years of study and experiment at the De Forest Manufacturing Laboratories in Passaic, where he was chief enginner [sic]. It was at the De Forest labs that Du Mont had a first glimpse at television equipment and sensed then that the future in this field was one that sparkled with opportunity.
Television in 1928 was operated on the Jenkins scanning disc principle, and the De Forest firm was the first to obtain a broadcast license for the operation of an experimental station. Its call letters were W2XCD. Scanning disc television was doomed for failure, it was learned after these experiments, but television itself was due to progress into a realm of even greater possibility with the discovery of the cathode ray tube.
Western Electric was first to make these tubes and in this field, Du Mont decided to cast his lot. He started his own cathode ray laboratory in the basement of his home, and experimented with equipment purchased for a few hundred dollars. He perfected a tube all his own, had it patented, and immediately set about to manufacture them.
Laboratory Grows
The laboratory outgrew the basement and a double garage in the back of his home was utilized for the manufacturing. Business thrived as television interest grew. A market arose in England and other European countries where television is today already public property.
The "backyard" shop finally proved entirely inadequate and the energetic and determined-to-make-good Mr. Du Mont rented what appeared to be a spacious shop not far from his home in Upper Montclair. A staff of engineers were employed to make the tubes to meet the increasing order list. A shop next door to the one originally rented had to be taken over to meet the business demands, then another store, and recently a fourth store was taken over on the same block to extend operations.
Increased use of the oscillograph for which most of the cathode ray tubes now made are used, resulted in the thriving business. Mr. Du Mont told this writer the other day that business has tripled every year for seven consecutive years, with every indication of even greater future success.
At present 40 men are working for the young man, who, less than 40 years old, is a leader in American television operations. His chief assistant is Thomas Goldsmith Jr., who is director of research for the Du Mont Laboratories, Inc. "Doc" Goldsmith is a graduate of Cornell University and has been experimenting primarily with television cathode ray tubes. Allen and "Doc" are a “perfect team” in the laboratory.
"As far as the pictures I have seen," Mr. DuMont, "there is no question but that television is here." He pointed out that technical advancement has been rapid luring the past few years, and the pictures televised are "in some cases better than home movies." He estimates that Great Britain is making its mark in television already and that 50.000 television sets were told there during the past year.
Mr. Du Mont holds 25 patents on cathode ray and other television developments. His name is linked among the front rank television authorities in the country today. (Home News, New Brunswick, N.J.)

TUESDAY, JULY 6, 1937
Television Option Denied
Application filed by General Foods Corp. with NBC requesting option on the first commercial television broadcast has been turned down by the network. Web has had similar requests of this nature in the past. Whole episode was more in the nature of a publicity stunt to draw attention to General Foods' new Maxwell House "Show Boat" program. Ralph Starr Butler, vice-president in charge of advertising for General Foods, made the request to NBC through Roy C. Witmer, network's vice-president in charge of sales. (Radio Daily)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1937
Philadelphia Companies Vie For Honor of Being First Under the Wire With Television
PHILADELPHIA, July 7—The cradle of American television!
That is the title Philadelphia is getting ready to claim when mass production of sight-and-sound radio sets starts soon in this country.
Grounds for the pretensions of the civic boosters and manufacturers lie in the fact that three of the leading television research laboratories are situated in the Philadelphia area. They are those of the Farnsworth Television, Inc., the Philco Radio and Television Corporation, and the RCA-Victor Company.
Each of the three concerns thus far has spent tens of thousands of dollars on preliminary work essential to the development of a practical radio-vision receiver.
They are now preparing to make even more lavish financial outlays in the hope of being first under the wire with a popular priced and efficient product of America's number one infant industry. The cost to the producer before this new receiver is put on sale to the public will run into the millions.
As a natural consequence of such high finance an intense rivalry exists between the king-pins of television today. Production plans and research problems are jealously guarded. Control of patent rights is a vital factor in the competition. Already two of the principals hare locked horns in a court action.
Although recent demonstrations of television receivers here have shown pictures as clear as home movies if viewed 10 feet from the vision screen, company officials say they aren't good enough for the American public and possibly won't be for another year.
Meanwhile, however, the British Broadcasting Corporation has come out with a sound-sight receiver that goes into the home for a down payment of a small deposit and weekly payments of $5. Costing approximately $408 this de luxe machine has a capacity for long, medium and short-wave reception. A simpler model sells for $360.
In the research laboratories of the Farnsworth and Philco plants and the Radio Corporation of America across the river in Camden, N. J., engineers and experts in the fields of physics and chemistry are hard at work setting the stage for the television industry's debut in the United States.
Many knotty problems must be solved be-fore the new invention becomes an everyday factor. The development of larger and brighter pictures, discovery of a transmission system that will give nation-wide coverage, and the origination of entertainment programs are only a few of the difficulties to be hurdled.
Plans of the experts for the months ahead call for field tests in the Philadelphia area that will send the faces of people and scenes flashing through the air over rooftops and through the walls of homes. The man in the street and the family around the dinner table as yet cannot see these fast traveling images being shot through the ether, but they are slowly observed for imperfections or improvements by the pioneers engaged in the creation of this most amazing product of man's ingenuity. (Springfield, Mass Republican)

FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1937
Television Type
Philadelphia — Carol Weymann, former KYW songbird now heard with NBC, has been selected as a "perfect television subject" by the Farnsworth Television Corp. Miss Weymann is 23 years old, light-complexioned and has clear-cut features. She comes here from New York each week to participate in Farnsworth's experimental television transmissions [W3XPF]. (Radio Daily)

Television Antenna Set Up
Kansas City — Kenneth Alexander, chief of the engineering staff of First National Television, Inc., and Les Hotsenpiller, research engineer, have completed the erection of a 10 1/2-foot half wave vertical antenna between the towers of the Fidelity building for ultra-high wave television broadcasts. They also have constructed a 300 watt transmitter with which they are making daily experimental broadcasts, testing the efficiency of different numbers of lines. Television broadcasts of W9XBY are also broadcast by First National Television's radio station, KXBY, in the Fidelity Building. [The company used W9XAL for television] (Radio Daily)

TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1937
20 SCHOOL OF AIR FINALISTS RETURN; TIRED BUT HAPPY
Young Georgians Home After Visiting New York, Washington
Travel worn but jubilant, twenty state finalists in The Atlanta Journal School of the Air returned here late Tuesday [13] from a tour of Washington and New York.
Led by Director Louis T. Rigdon, Mrs. Rigdon and Elsie Galkin Smerling, School of the Air officials, the party was met by a welcoming committee at the Terminal Station which included John Paschall, associate editor and managing editor of The Journal, and Lambdin Kay, general manager of The Journal's radio station, WSB.
Youthful members of the party were elated over their royal reception in the national capital and in New York. In the latter place they made a complete tour of Radio City and shortly before their departure were given a preview of television.
Major Lenox R. Lohr, president of the National Broadcasting Company, in receiving the Georgia delegation of winners in his Radio City office in New York, told the group that "The Journal School of the Air is expected to furnish its share of talent for television.”
Prior to being greeted by Major Lohr a special television demonstration for the students was arranged by R. M. Brophey, manager of the stations relations department and the NBC engineering staff, and was transmitted from the Empire State Building to their reception room in Radio City.
The NBC executive in talking with the twenty winners, paid a special tribute to Mr. Kay and John A. Brice, general manager of The Journal, in making it possible for Georgia school boys and girls to have the opportunity of participating in the annual auditions. (Atlanta Journal, July 14)

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1937
No Television Sets in 1937
By C. E. BUTTERFIELD
Associated Press Radio Editor
NEW YORK, July 15.—The question as to when this country is to have television sets on the market still lacks an answer.
Authorities say simply: "We do not know." But they will amplify this comment a little with "We do not know anyone who does know.”
They are certain, though, such a development will not take place this year.
One authority quoted is David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, a leader in television research.
Here's what he has to say: "Will there be television commercially at any time during the balance of this year? The answer is 'No' as far as RCA is concerned, and I know of no other plans anywhere else to put television on the market during the present year.
"Then, when will there be commercial television receivers on the market? The answer is ‘I don't know,’ and ‘I do not know anyone who does know’."
Not Being Held Back
Such comment, he went on, is "not due in the slightest degree to any policy or program on the part of RCA, or, so far as I know, of anyone else in this country to hold television back or to pull it like a rabbit out of the hat on some unsuspected day. The reasons are due solely to the fact that many problems yet remain to be solved in this complicated new field of transmission."
In adding that he was a firm believer in television, he said he thought "that television can no more be stopped by anybody's desire to stop it than can the waves of the Atlantic Ocean be stopped" for "I think there is a great need for television."
He touched, too, on another item important to the future television audience, the cost of the receiver.
"I think that even today a receiver could be built and sold perhaps at prices in the neighborhood of $400 or so—of course I am only guessing at this figure."
Meanwhile, apparently in keeping with these statements, plans have been announced for probably the first public television tests in this country to be conducted from a special radio-television building at the New York World's Fair two year hence.

SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1937
Television Near, But Who's to Pay Leaves Biggest Question Up in Air
Washington, July 17.—(AP)—The national resources committee said today the most significant trend in communication developments was the "relative imminence of television." The committee reported to President Roosevelt that the basic engineering work of television development already had been accomplished and the next major problem was to find a method of presenting television broadcasting at a reasonable cost.
Technical Problem to Be Solved.
The study of television, prepared by the engineering department of the Federal Communications Commission, conceded that many technical problems remained to be solved, but pointed out that since 1929 visual broadcasting had reached such perfection as a scientific tool that it is possible "to transmit over a local area of 10 to 20 miles radius fairly good pictures having the clarity and details of the average home moving picture."
"The next corner to be turned, however, is an economic rather than an engineering one," the report said, "and it can be briefly stated in one short question—'Who is to pay for television?' Will the public accept a television service ''based upon a continuance of the present system of a commercial aural broadcasting and its extension into television? Will a 'looker-in' be willing to sit in a darkened living room at home intently peering into the screen of his television receiver?"
Point to Social Influence.
In trying to measure the social influence of television when it reaches the commonplace stage of present day radio receivers, the committee said it is likely that the main impact of television will be to intensify the social effects which broadcasting is already producing." In discussing the future use of visual broadcasting, the committee said "it seems reasonable to expect that the most popular type of entertainment by television will be the drama."
"The drama," the report stated, "may grow in importance at the expense of music, which, not requiring the sense of vision, has occupied such a large share of aural broadcasting time. The motion pictures, rather than the legitimate stage, doubtless will provide the dramatic patterns, since the televisioned drama need not be limited to the walls of a single indoor stage.
"The competition of the home theater with the moving picture theater may lead to important economic readjustments, rapidly or gradually, depending on the enlargeability of television screens, the abundance of televisors in homes, and on the controlling of patents and programs."
Look for Strict Censorship.
The committee also pointed out that the advent of the home theater with television would bring on a censorship more drastic than in present radio broadcasting since fewer broadcasting bands would be available for television.
The committee also pointed out that political speakers would be both seen and heard, and said facsimile transmission, akin to television, would open the way for radio delivery of newspapers by metropolitan and chain newspapers.
The report said color television was already a laboratory accomplishment and that developments had already started in three dimensional sight and sound, adding that it was not too much to expect fragrant odors of nature eventually would be transmitted by radio.

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1937
Roosevelt Congratulates NBC Upon New Studios
WASHINGTON, July 22.—(AP)—President Roosevelt declared tonight that it is not within the province of the reactionaries to put obstacles in the way of orderly development.
He made the statement in a letter congratulating the National Broadcasting Company upon the opening of new studios in Washington.
“The watchword of silence must he progress," he said. "It is not within the province of reactionaries to put obstacles in the way of orderly development nor to mark boundaries beyond which radio may not go.
Television Expected
"I believe that sooner than many of us realize television will be established in homes throughout the country. Indeed it may not be long before radio will make it possible for us to visualize at the breakfast table the front pages of daily newspapers or news reports, no matter how remote we may be from the place of their publication and distribution."
Wheeler Speaks
Senator Wheeler, Democrat of Montana, a leader of the forces which brought about the shelving of the president's court reorganization bill, spoke at the opening of the new studios. He said radio, by providing a medium for the discussion of national issues by the leaders on both sides, has contributed to the efficiency of democratic government.
"It can continue to perform this duty only if free and uncensored use of radio facilities is maintained," Wheeler declared.
Postmaster General Farley also spoke, asserting radio has brought about a keener interest in public affairs than ever before.

MONDAY, JULY 26, 1937
Iowa University Buys Equipment For Television
IOWA CITY, Ia., July 26.—(Special)—Prof. E. B. Kurtz, head of the electrical engineering department, today announced the purchase of new television equipment with which to launch a new experimental program for the coming year. The new equipment will make the television pictures [on W9XUI?] about 10 times as clear as that formerly used here, and will also transmit the pictures once again as fast. Iowa is one of the few colleges in the country taking part in television experimentation [on W9XK]. (Daily Times, Davenport, Iowa)

Television Patents Agreement Reached
PHILADELPHIA, July 26.—(AP). Announcement was made Monday that a licensing agreement has been entered into between Farnsworth Television, Incorporated, and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company whereby each grants extensive rights under its patents to the other.
Donald K. Lippincott, of San Francisco, representing the Farnsworth interests, said "this clears the path for co-operation between the Bell System, Farnsworth and certain Farnsworth licensees, helps to clarify a difficult patent situation and brings one step nearer the broad use of television and other advances in communications."
The agreement was signed in New York last week by C. P. Cooper, vice president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and Philo T. Farnsworth.