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This is a list of pre-World War II television stations of the 1920s and 1930s. Most of these experimental stations were located in Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia), Australia, Canada, and the United States. Some present-day broadcasters trace their origins to these early stations.
All television licenses in the United States were officially "experimental" before July 1941, as the NTSC television standard had yet to be developed, and some American television broadcasters continued operating under experimental licenses as late as 1947, although by then they were using the same technical standards as their commercial brethren.
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Call sign (original) | Call sign (current) | Frequency* | Channel (current) | Location (city) | On air | Owner (original) | Original broadcast system | Current broadcast system |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baird Television Development Company Ltd [1] via BBC transmitter 2LO [ citation needed ] | 361 meters 831 kHz [2] | London, England, United Kingdom | 1926–1935 [ citation needed ] | British Broadcasting Company | Mechanical television 30 lines 25 frame/s | [ dubious ] | ||
W2XB (also branded as WGY-TV from its sister radio station) | WRGB | 2.15 MHz | 6 | Schenectady Albany, New York, United States | May 10, 1928 – present | General Electric Co. | Mechanical television 24 (later 48) lines/21 frame/s | NTSC-M from 1942–2009; now ATSC digital. |
W1XAY (also branded as WLEX from its sister radio station) | 3.5 MHz | Lexington, Massachusetts, United States | June 14, 1928– March 1930 | The Boston Post | Mechanical television 48 lines/18 frame/s | |||
W3XK | 1.605 MHz & 6.42 MHz, later 2.00–2.10 MHz | Wheaton Washington, D.C., United States | July 2, 1928– 1932 | Charles Jenkins Laboratories | Mechanical television 48 lines | |||
W2XAL (also branded as WRNY from its sister radio station) | New York City, New York, United States | August 13, 1928– 1929 | Experimenter Publishing | Mechanical television 48 lines | ||||
W1WX (later became W1XAV) | 2.12 MHz | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | Spring 1929–1931 | Shortwave and Television Laboratory | Mechanical television 48 & 60 lines/15 frame/s | |||
W2XBS | WNBC | 2.75–2.85 MHz | Formerly Channel 1; moved to VHF Channel 4 from 1946–2009 (remains PSIP virtual channel); allocated to digital channel 28 from 1999–2018; moved to channel share with WNJU on channel 36 from 2018–present | New York City, New York, United States | 1929–1932, 1936–present | National Broadcasting Company | Mechanical television 60 lines/20 frame/s | 1941–2009, NTSC-M; now ATSC digital |
3UZ. Experiments carried out on the radio station after it had officially closed down for the night. [3] | 930 kHz | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | 1929 | Oliver John Nilsen | Mechanical television | |||
3DB. Experiments carried out on the radio station after it had officially closed down for the night. [3] | 1180 kHz | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | 1929 | The Herald and Weekly Times | Mechanical television | |||
W9XAP | WNBQ-TV (1948–1964) [4] now WMAQ-TV | VHF Channel 5 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | August 27, 1930– August 1933. 1948-present. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] | National Broadcasting Company | Mechanical television | 1948–2009 NTSC-M; now ATSC digital | |
VE9EC | 41 MHz | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | 1931–1935 | La Presse and CKAC radio | Mechanical television 60–150 lines | |||
W6XAO | KCBS-TV | Formerly on Channel 1, now VHF Channel 2 | Los Angeles, California, United States | June 1931– 1933, 1937–1948 as experimental Don Lee station; May 6, 1948– present | Don Lee | Mechanical television, film only, 80 lines/20 frame/s | 1948–2009, NTSC-M; now ATSC digital | |
Amateur radio station 4CM [10] | 136 metres | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | 1934 | Dr Val McDowall | Early experiments with electronic television | |||
W6XYZ | KTLA-TV | Formerly on Channel 4, now VHF Channel 5 | Los Angeles, California, United States | June 1942– 1946 experimental, Jan. 22, 1947– present | Paramount | 1947–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital | ||
W2XAB | WCBS-TV | 2.1–2.2 MHz | Now VHF Channel 2 | New York City, New York, United States | July 31, 1931– February 1933, 1939–present | Columbia Broadcasting System | Mechanical television 60 lines/20 frame/s | 1941–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital |
W2XWV | WNYW | Channel 4 (1938–1944), Channel 5 (1944 – present) | New York City, New York, United States | 1938– present | Allen B. DuMont | Unknown | 1944–2009 NTSC-M, now ATSC digital | |
W3XE | WPTZ (now KYW-TV) | – | VHF Channel 3 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | 1932–present | Philco Corporation | Mechanical television | 1941–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital |
W9XBK | WBKB (now WBBM-TV) | Formerly on Channel 4, then on VHF Channel 2, Now on VHF Channel 12 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | 1940–present | Balaban & Katz | 1944–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital | ||
W9XZV | Later KS2XBS (Phonevision experimental on Channel 2) | VHF Channel 1 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | 1939–1953 | ||||
2LO (BBC Television Service) | BBC One | 361 meters 831 kHz [2] | UHF (Channels 21–68, throughout UK) | London, England, United Kingdom | August 22, 1932– September 11, 1935 | British Broadcasting Corporation | Mechanical television 30 lines/12.5 frame/s | Now DVB |
BBC Television Service (Alexandra Palace) | BBC One | 45 MHz [ citation needed ] | UHF (Channels 21–68, throughout UK and on Astra 2D satellite) | London, England, United Kingdom | November 1936– September 3, 1939, June 7, 1946 – present | British Broadcasting Corporation | Mechanical television 240 lines (Baird system) and electronic television 405 line (Marconi-EMI system)/25 frame/s | Now DVB |
EIAR – Stazione sperimentale radiovisione di Monte Mario | RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana | 40.54 MHz (audio), 44.12 MHz (video) | VHF (channel 9) and UHF (channels 25, 26, 30 and 40) | Rome, Italy | July 22, 1939– May 10, 1940 | Electronic television 441 lines / 21 to 42 frame/s. | Now DVB | |
EIAR – Stazione sperimentale radiovisione Torre Littoria (now Torre Branca) | 40.50 MHz (audio), 44.00 MHz (video) | Milan, Italy | April 12–28, 1940 | Electronic television 441 lines / 21 to 42 frame/s. | ||||
Radiovision PTT (1935) later Paris Television (1943) then RTF (1946) (Eiffel Tower) | TF1 | 37 MHz (180 & 455 lines) later 42–46 MHz (441 lines) | UHF Channels 21–69 (System L + DVB throughout France and FTA on AB3 satellite) | Paris, France | November 1935 – 1937 (60 lines, then 180 lines) later 1938–1939 (455 lines) then 1943–1956 (441 lines) | Ministry of Information | Mechanical television 60 then 180 line later electronic television 455 then 441 line/25 frame/s | Now DVB |
Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow | Berlin Potsdam, Germany | 1935–1944 (tests started in 1929) | Deutscher Fernseh-Rundfunk | Electronic television 180 lines/25 frame/s/50 fields/sec (started broadcasting in 441 lines in mid-1937) | ||||
Moscow test broadcasting station МТЦ (from Shukhov tower) | LW band | Moscow, Soviet Union, now Russia | 1931–1941 | Mechanical television | ||||
USSR TV (ТВ СССР) | Первый канал | 49.75 MHz (video) 56.25 MHz (audio) | TV channels:R1 (441 lines 25 fps) | Moscow, USSR, now Russia | 1938–1941, 1945-1949 | Ministry of Culture | Electronic television | Now SECAM, PAL also DVB |
Doświadczalna Stacja Telewizyjna | Telewizja Polska | TVP channels: TVP1, TVP2, etc. | Warszawa, Poland | 1935–1939 (test broadcasting: 1937–38) | Mechanical television | Now PAL and DVB | ||
Call sign (original) | Call sign (current) | Frequency* | Channel (current) | Location (city) | On air | Owner (original) | Original broadcast system | Current broadcast system |
NTSC is the first American standard for analog television, published in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard.
A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, channel 2 refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video (VSB) and 59.75 MHz for analog audio (FM), or 55.31 MHz for digital ATSC (8VSB). Channels may be shared by many different television stations or cable-distributed channels depending on the location and service provider
Color television or colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white television technology, which displays the image in shades of gray (grayscale). Television broadcasting stations and networks in most parts of the world upgraded from black-and-white to color transmission between the 1960s and the 1980s. The invention of color television standards was an important part of the history and technology of television.
Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an antenna. The term terrestrial is more common in Europe and Latin America, while in Canada and the United States it is called over-the-air or simply broadcast. This type of TV broadcast is distinguished from newer technologies, such as satellite television, in which the signal is transmitted to the receiver from an overhead satellite; cable television, in which the signal is carried to the receiver through a cable; and Internet Protocol television, in which the signal is received over an Internet stream or on a network utilizing the Internet Protocol. Terrestrial television stations broadcast on television channels with frequencies between about 52 and 600 MHz in the VHF and UHF bands. Since radio waves in these bands travel by line of sight, reception is generally limited by the visual horizon to distances of 64–97 kilometres (40–60 mi), although under better conditions and with tropospheric ducting, signals can sometimes be received hundreds of kilometers distant.
Multichannel Television Sound, better known as MTS, is the method of encoding three additional audio channels into analog 4.5 MHz audio carriers on System M and System N. It was developed by the Broadcast Television Systems Committee, an industry group, and sometimes known as BTSC as a result.
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
In North American broadcast television frequencies, channel 1 was a former broadcast (over-the-air) television channel which was removed from service in 1948.
Narrow-bandwidth television (NBTV) is a type of television designed to fit into a channel narrower than the standard bandwidth used for official television standards.
WNYE is a non-commercial educational FM radio station licensed to New York City. The station is operated, along with WNYE-TV, by NYC Media, a division of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. Studios are located at the City University of New York's Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue, and the transmitter is at the former Condé Nast Building.
The Independent Television Network Ltd also known as ITN Ltd or simply as ITN is a Sri Lankan state-governed television and radio broadcaster located in Wickramasinghepura, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka. It is a Shrama Abhimani Award winner , broadcasts content to a wide demographic within Sri Lanka as well as the expatriate community. The programmes are broadcast in three languages: Sinhala, Tamil, and English. The ITN broadcast coverage extends to 99% of the island of Sri Lanka.
WSCR – branded as 670 The Score – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago metropolitan area and much of surrounding Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and parts of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., WSCR is a clear-channel station with extended nighttime range in most of the Central United States and part of the Eastern United States. WSCR is the Chicago affiliate for the BetQL Network, CBS Sports Radio, the Fighting Illini Sports Network and the NFL on Westwood One Sports; the flagship station for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bulls radio networks; and the home of radio personalities David Haugh and Matt Spiegel.
The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture.
The concept of television is the work of many individuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first practical transmissions of moving images over a radio system used mechanical rotating perforated disks to scan a scene into a time-varying signal that could be reconstructed at a receiver back into an approximation of the original image. Development of television was interrupted by the Second World War. After the end of the war, all-electronic methods of scanning and displaying images became standard. Several different standards for addition of color to transmitted images were developed with different regions using technically incompatible signal standards. Television broadcasting expanded rapidly after World War II, becoming an important mass medium for advertising, propaganda, and entertainment.
WUKY is a listener-supported, public FM radio station in Lexington, Kentucky. Owned by the University of Kentucky (UK), it has an Adult Album Alternative radio format, airing more than 100 hours of music per week. Some news and informational programming is supplied by National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI), American Public Media (APM) and the BBC. The station broadcasts from state of the art radio studios in northwestern Lexington at the intersection of Greendale Road and Spurr Road.
Apex radio stations was the name commonly given to a short-lived group of United States broadcasting stations, which were used to evaluate transmitting on frequencies that were much higher than the ones used by standard amplitude modulation (AM) and shortwave stations. Their name came from the tall height of their transmitter antennas, which were needed because coverage was primarily limited to local line-of-sight distances. These stations were assigned to what at the time were described as "ultra-high shortwave" frequencies, between roughly 25 and 44 MHz. They employed amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions, although in most cases using a wider bandwidth than standard broadcast band AM stations, in order to provide high fidelity sound with less static and distortion.
A number of experimental and broadcast pre World War II television systems were tested. The first ones were mechanical based and of very low resolution, sometimes with no sound. Later TV systems were electronic.
Band I is a range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first time there was defined "for simplicity" in Annex 1 of "Final acts of the European Broadcasting Conference in the VHF and UHF bands - Stockholm, 1961". Band I ranges from 47 to 68 MHz for the European Broadcasting Area, and from 54 to 88 MHz for the Americas and it is primarily used for television broadcasting in compliance with ITU Radio Regulations. With the transition to digital TV, most Band I transmitters have already been switched off.
Ulises Armand Sanabria was born in southern Chicago of Puerto Rican and French-American parents. Sanabria is known for development of mechanical televisions and early terrestrial television broadcasts.
441-line is the number of scan lines in some early electronic monochrome analog television systems. Systems with this number of lines were used with 25 interlaced frames per second in France from 1937 to 1956, Germany from 1939 to 1943, Italy from 1939 to 1940, as well as by RCA in the United States with 30 interlaced frames per second from 1938 to 1941. Broadcasts were planned in Finland for 1940, but eventually cancelled due to World War II. Some experiments with similar systems were carried out on the USSR in the 1930s and Japan in 1939.
London (2LO), Nov 1922, 361m