University Daily Kansan, August 19, 1982 Page 15
TV celebrates 30th birthday
(C) , 1982, Los Angeles Times
HOLLYWOOD—Although few people may break out the champagne, television is celebrating an anniversary this summer.
During its 30 years, it has become an integral part of American life, ranked in importance alongside the bathhug, the telephone and even indoor toilets. It was also awarded at the Republic National Convention of 1952; 30 years ago this summer.
Even before then, "I Love Lucy" had been on the air for a year and Milton Berle and Sid Ceasar were national institutions.
But television was officially cut off for a time in 1948.
13 When television was launched in the country after World War II, the Federal Communications Commission began awarding licenses for stations. A license to telecast was like a license to broadcast money.
1) But the FCC discovered that in its paste it had created overlapping sigma-diags and a general state of confusion. A state was declared on additional licenses.
THE FREEZE lasted for two and one half years, during which television operated in a kind of twilight zone. Only 108 stations in 68 cities were on the air; Europe metropolitan centers such as St. Eusts and Pittsburgh had to make do with only a single channel to handle the output of the networks.
Such cities as Denver and Little Rock, Ark., and both Portland, Maine, and Portland, Ore., had no television at all.
In 1982 the freeze melted, and across the land new stations were licensed. The box was enshrined in farmhouses and town houses alike.
With the political circus of the 1952 Republican convention, the dam broke. The old politicians were carefully masking the presidential nomination to Sen. Robert Taft, "Mr. Republican." He was looking over their shoulders. Hastily, they shifted to "the people's choice," Dwight D. Eisenhower.
That convention sent people storming home from bars and clubs crying "His-
WHAT'S THE difference between television today and television in 1982? Thirty years ago NBC would have put the satiric "SCTV" at 8 p.m. on Sat-rnds instead of 12:30 a.m. And today NBC would put on "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca at 12:30 a.m. instead of 8 p.m.
tissue is passing us by *11*' and buying their first sets. By the time Ike's victory grin had faded from the tube, television had saturated America.
CBS is naking movies in Finland and Poland and France these days. In 1952, getting a show off the back lot took an act of God. Actually, most productions were jammed into tiny New York studios.
A few landmarks in the medium were:
- The Kathy Fiscus Story. The 1949 attempt to rescue a child who had fallen in a well in San Marino, Calif., caught the interest of the world as it was covered live in its entirety by television. The rescue attempt was watched by crowds of 50 to 60 people which stood on sidwalks watching sets inside stores.
- The debt of "I Love Lucy," 1951. Luceille Ball's refusal to do the comedy live, as CBS wanted, led her husband, Desia Arnaz, to develop the three-camera film technique in order to present "live" productions, which revolutionized the businesses, and, incidentally, created the rerun.
- "Home," "Today," "Tonight,"
* Matinee Theater," and "Wide, Wide
World." They were attempts by Sylvester
(Pat) Weaver to break the radio
mold and the soap opera syndrome with
his new television. He shaped
television into its modern form.
- "Omnibus," 1953-57. The Ford Foundation underwrote this weekly program in an attempt to prove television could be an art form. Alistair Cooke was the host and Robert Saudek was the producer. It covered the whole cultural spectrum from the Kabuki dancers to George Scott doing "Lear" to Jacques Coustein; and Mike Nichols and Eleanor May.
roses, " "Requiem for a Heavy-weight," "Old Man," "The Miracle Worker," and "The Plot to Kill Stalin." When James Aubrey at CBS scuttled the "Playhouse," he said no one was watching.
- "Playhouse 90," 1956-11. This was a culmination of television's Golden Age of Drama, offering a weekly series of comedic stories by Nuremberg." "Days of Wine and
But restauranteur Mike Romanoff said the show had been putting him out of business: Thursday night, usually a great night for restaurants, was deserted because everybody was home watching "Playhouse 90," he said.
"*The Great Debates.*" 1960. Whether the Kennedy-Nixon debate elected F. Kennedy or not is beside the point. Like the 1962 conventions that year, it proved what an effective political weapon television could be.
Three years later the coverage of the Kennedy assassination and its aftermath pre-empted all commercial telecasts on all networks and local stations.
- The Quiz Scandals, 1959. When it was discovered the contestants on the big money quiz shoes were cheating in answering the highly complex, intellectual questions, it shocked the nation, but it led to the launching of a number of highly responsible, factual and fictional programs, notably "The Defenders" and "Little Big House," substantial programs evolved, such as "All in the Family."
- "Heidi," 1988. This was the first genuine TV movie made with theatrical quality, While it outraged football fans because NBC cut off the end of a championship game to put it on, "Heidi" showed the possibilities of the TV movie. It paved the way for films such as "Silent night, Lonely Night," "My Sweet Charlie," and "Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."
- The Public Broadcasting Act, 1957. This led to the establishment of Public Broadcasting Service in 1969, a change from the old NET network. Here was a chance to learn something other than profit. PBS has been invaluable over the last 12 years, whether broadcasting "Sesame Street," "Washington Week in Review," "The Ascent of Man," "Master Teacher" or authorized media. * "60 Minutes," 1983. With this program news became a formidable commodity.
117th annual convocation to open year
The University of Kansas formally will open its 1982-1983 academic year Monday in Hoch Auditorium with the 117th annual convocation.
The convocation will be at 9:30 a.m. and classes scheduled for that hour will be canceled. 'Chancellor, Gene A., Brittie will ad'
Chancellor Gene A. Budig will address students, faculty and staff after a processional of dignitaries and faculty.
The program will include an announcement of the first Higuchi Endowment Research Achievement Award winners
Takerei Higuchi, KU Regents Distinguished Professor of chemistry and
pharmacy, established the awards in May 1917 to benefit other KU re-
The awards were named for Balfour Jeffrey, Olin Petfish, Dolph Simons Sr. and the late Irv Tin Youngberg, men research associated to KU's research programs.
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