Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne, with radio broadcasters 3DB and 3UZ using the Radiovision system developed by American Charles Francis Jenkins. John Logie Baird had already electrically transmitted moving pictures in 1925 in the UK, and in the United States electronic television was first successfully demonstrated in San Francisco on September 7, 1927.
Britain was introduced to television on August 26, 1936. Because there were no TV sets in any homes at that time, a crowd of 6000 viewers squashed into an exhibition hall in London to watch Paul Robeson singing Ol’ Man River and a documentary about the history of the written word. By the end of 1936 it is estimated there were still only 2000 television sets in the entire world, although the number climbed with the coronation of King George VI in 1937, when it was reported that 9000 television sets were sold in the UK. At the time, you could buy a car for the same cost as a television set.
In the United States, Roosevelt became the first American President ever to be televised during the opening ceremony of the 1939 World’s Fair, with sets going on sale to the public the very next day in order to watch the daily broadcasts. Harry Truman would become the first president to make an address from the White House, on October 5 1947.
Between 1946 and 1950, RCA Laboratories were working on producing a colour TV system and on December 17, 1953 the first colour transmissions were broadcast in the United States – they were for commercials. A study in 1947 had discovered that 68% of American viewers remembered the names of the sponsors of the programs, a fact that encouraged Gillette to pay more than US$100,000 for the rights to televise a boxing match in 1948.
The first Australian television licenses were issued in Sydney and Melbourne in 1955 and test transmissions began mid-1956. Mainstream professional television was finally launched in Sydney on September 16, 1956 by Bruce Gyngell, with the words: “Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to television.” When the first broadcast by the ABC was transmitted on November 5 of that year there were several glitches, including a music reel that went to air with no sound, a newsreel that tore, and the inadvertent filming of newsreader Michael Charlton with a drink and smoke in hand.
The 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games was broadcast as a test transmission by all three television stations operating in Melbourne at the time. Because so few people had televisions in their homes, large crowds would gather outside shop windows to catch a glimpse of the Games on the small screen. At the time, a television set cost between six and ten weeks’ pay for the average worker. It’s estimated that only 1% of Sydney residents and 5% of Melbourne residents owned a television at the end of that year. By 1960, 70% of homes in both cities had a TV set.
In 1959 television was introduced to Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, with Tasmania following a year later and the Australian Capital Territory in 1962. It was nearly another decade before television was introduced to the Northern Territory in 1971.
When the first TV arrived in the WA town of Busselton, at Valentine’s Sales and Service in 1962, Busselton residents went down to Queen Street after dinner with pillows, blankets, a thermos of tea and the children in pyjamas to watch programs on the television that was displayed in the shop window. The antennas were over 15m high and the viewing was usually obscured by some degree of ‘snow’. Peter and John Valentine took it in turns to go to the shop each night at 11pm to switch the TV off.
The early programs were basically a televised broadcast of established radio shows such as Pick-A-Box, and hosted by radio personalities. Local content comprised chat and variety shows such as Bandstand (which ran for 14 years), news and current affairs, but as the new medium became more popular the broadcasters started looking to the UK and the US for extra content. After Channel 0 (now Channel 10) began broadcasting in the mid-1960s, the Australian public began to demand more homegrown programs and Australian drama steadily became very popular. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, GTV9’s live coverage entered the record books as the longest continuous live broadcast on television.
Although the British had been broadcasting in colour since July 1967 (the first colour program was a four-hour live broadcast of day 6 of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships), it was 1975 before the Australian TV broadcasters followed suit. At that time, it was estimated that a colour television would require a minimum of four service calls a year, based on experiences in the USA and UK. The Australian public was undeterred, however, because within five years of the colour set being introduced, nearly 80% of homes had one – making it the fastest adopter of colour television in the world.
A simplified explanation of how the TV works
A television camera converts captured images into electronic signals and assesses the colours contained in each image. This information is sent to a transmitter that converts it into radio waves that are picked up by television aerials. The electron gun and a picture tube – yes, there really is a tube in the ‘tube’ – help to convert the signals back to the original image, which is then displayed on the screen.
Television makers
All of the early television companies were radio manufacturers who branched out into making TVs. Although there were 15 manufacturers in the UK before WWII, HMV (affiliated with RCA) and EMI Marconi made more than half the sets.
Famous for their fashionable yet dependable television sets, RCA was the most widely sold brand in the United States, with the Victor being particularly popular. The RCA screens ranged from 15 to 21 inches (so the large-screen TVs of today aren’t such a new thing) and the sets were offered in a range of finishes including black, white and wood grain. The average cost of an RCA television in the 1950s was US$200 to US$600.
In the UK the viewers were looking for a timeless elegance to go with their TV viewing and they found it with the Pye television, which was also known for being trustworthy and reasonably priced. The screens were a lot smaller than the RCA sets – typically between 9 and 12 inches – but the televisions were also far more affordable: a Pye TV in the 1950s cost between £50 and £150. They were also sold in a range of colours, from vibrant primary shades to black and white.
The brilliantly named Telefunken was the brand of choice in Germany. With its sophisticated appearance and reputation for dependability, the Telefunken had large screens of a similar size to RCA and were also sold in black, white and wood grain finishes. In the 1950s a Telefunken television set was priced between DM1000 and DM2500.
It was quite a lot of money to pay for something that many people felt compelled to hide. Contemporary women’s magazines suggested the addition of a television would ruin the aesthetics of a living room and the architectural journal Interiors devoted an entire issue to the problem of placing the television discreetly in a room. Solutions included hiding it behind bookshelves and paintings and even putting it inside the fireplace. Undeterred, by 1960 people were spending an average of five hours a day watching their TV sets.
Collecting vintage television sets
During WWII there was a lot of progress made on picture tube technology, resulting in brighter pictures and bigger screens. Advances in radar technology led to more sensitive sets that could pick up more stations from a greater distance and after the war there were many more channels.
Most collectors collect black and white sets from 1939 to 1949 and colour sets through 1960. For black and white sets made after 1949 the values drop off dramatically (with some exceptions). There were a lot more TVs produced after the mid-1950s, so there are many still around and they started to become less visually interesting. An exception to this rule is the futuristic orange JVC Videosphere (model 3240), produced in the early 1970s. The design, first released in Japan in 1970, was supposedly inspired by astronaut helmets. Small and portable (the screen is 9in), they were fitted with a chain at the top so they could be hung from the ceiling. The Videosphere was made in ivory and orange, with a small number of white, grey and black models also being released (the black is the rarest). Another popular orange TV, but in a more conventional design, is the JVC 3510. Both sell for an average of between $200 and $400.
