The Heart of the Home: Mayen Aguilera - Professor: Ziad Qureshi - Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design , shared experiences and space For previous generations, television has been an integral part of human life during the modern period. Shared experiences driven by television were there from first memories of watching Saturday morning cartoons to the Super Bowl. As new technologies fragment and take away the essence of what television once was in our homes, what will be the new heart of our homes? The unrealized impact of this technology on American society is currently underappreciated, unless one lived through its heyday during the 1950’s and 1960’s. This research looks at the , the different broadcasting systems and networks, and how the physical components of television have evolved since the 1900’s to the present day. Over time television technology has grown exponentially not only in the United States but across the World. Television became an information provider and after its invention became a gateway into places people had never seen before. It also became a cyclical framework in people’s lives and it created social norms that heavily influenced the standards of beauty and fashion. Time Broadcasting Screens Broadcasting Networks Space 1900 1 1st Television B&W Television Radio Radio The first televison set is seen Amplifier Transmitter Receiver Photocell The Big Three 9 at the 1900 Paris World Fair Electric Waves Aerial Aerial Starting in 1948, the Big Three television networks, Before Television 0 Screens NBC, CBS, and ABC, dominated U.S. television. In the 1930’s and 1940’s before television became a Mechanical TV Mask Mask Neon 0 1900s Tube household item, living rooms were shared experience 1910 Ground Ground spaces. Families came together to sit and interact with Motor Motor Televised each other. The fireplace was the heart of the home Subject Viewer Scanning Reproducing since it provided warmth during the cold weather and Disk Disk 1000 Watt lamp Watt 1000 furniture was centered around the fireplace. 1920 Long Distance 1 To Generator 110 Volt 60 Cycle R.C. Line The first long distance 9 The Transmitter The Receiver television test ran from Washington D.C. and 2 New York 7 Image Resolution & Pixel Geometry: Terrestial TV relatively low, ranging from 30 to PBS 1927 about 120 lines. Not considered part of the Big Three, PBS is a non-commercial American public broadcaster and television program distributor. 1 W3XK UHF antenna 9 Regarded as one of the oldest 2 TV stations to broadcast to the 8 general public of the U.S. 1930 1950’s Electronic TV 1 The heart of the home that once used to be the Begins broadcasting in Terrestial fireplace was slowly being replaced by the television. 9 Digital Tuner Conventional TV Germany, England, Italy, The furniture placement in living rooms were now Broadcast 3 D-Terminal, terminal centered around the new technology. Television sets France, and the U.S. Station 5 Transmitter were bulky and usually were a stand alone piece of furniture. CRT TV Color Television 1939 The Fourth Network 1 RCA It wasn’t until 1986 that a fourth television network, TVs are tested at the 1939 World Fair. Fox, began competiting with the Big Three. It 9 wasn’t until 1994 that Fox became a major RCA becomes one of the first TV brands Focusing Horizontal Anode Deflection television network. 3 and begins selling TVs to the public Plates Accelerating Screen 9 Grid Anode

1940 Electron Beam B & W Electron Gun 1 Cathode Electronic black and Vertical 9 Deflection white television begins Plates 4 Aquadag broadcastingin the U.S. 1 1960’s & 1970’s Image Resolution & Pixel Geometry: During this era, television changed the definition of Standard-definition television (SDTV) what the “living room” meant to American society. Fifth Networks Cable TV > - 720×480 Families were coming together to watch American 1950s In the mid 1990s, The Warner Bros. Television 1 NBC > - 720×576 Network (The WB) and United Paramount Network sitcoms like I Dream of Jeannie and I Love Lucy while (UPN) tried competing with the Big Three and Fox eating TV dinners, which rose in popularity during this 9 Launched the "the world's first but were unsuccesful. They were eventually joined Satellite time. 4 regularly operating television network" into the The CW. and became the first major television 7 network in the U.S. + = 1950 CRT Uplink Cable Tv 1 Though it originated in 1948, 9 didn’t start 5 gaining popularity until the Television 50’s and 60’s 0 Channel Cable Television Systems Individual Subscribers Cable television introduced over one hundred new channels. The cable subscription usually included the basic networks, national cable networks, premium networks, pay-per-view channels, and 1 Color Tv on-demand programming. All-electronic color television Image Resolution & Pixel Geometry: 9 Enhanced-definition television (EDTV) is introduced in the U.S. Multi-System Operator 5 > - 720 × 480 1980’s 3 > - 720 × 576 Gaming systems like Atari became popular during this time period. The definition of the living room that was Satellite TV established during the previous began to 1962 disintegrate as the younger generations became 1960 immersed in gaming consoles. Presidential Election 1 Satellite Presidential debate between 9 CRT John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon becomes the first 6 televised presidential debate 0

1 Satellite TV 9 Telstar, a spherical statellite orbiting the Earth 1990’s & 2000’s is able to deliver television programming to a There were not any significant changes of the living 6 viewer’s location by relaying the information room from the 80’s to the 90’s and early 2000’s 2 from a besides the interesting choices of furnishings in the Streaming Services Satellite spaces. Gaming consoles continued to rise and new Dish Internet television increased the popularity of streaming services, since Smart Tvs came with the technologies, like the PlayStation and . Converter applications pre-installed. Internet television is Broadcast considered over-the-top content because it delivers Moon Landing 1 Center media over the Internet without a system provider. Neil Armstrong’s landing on 9 the moon is televised nationally 6 Television 9 1970-90 Image Resolution & Pixel Geometry: Internet TV HD - 1280×720 2010s 2010’s 1 Flat screen TVs With the rise of mobile devices and streaming services 9 Panasonic developed the flat screen the living room lost its essence of being a place to TV and began selling the TV in 1997. share experiences and also the popularity of having 9 in the bedroom. 7 2000 Plasma

Analog Switch-off 2 TV Content Tower The switch from analog to digital 0 Provider television began in 2008 for the U.S. 0 8

Image Resolution & Pixel Geometry: 2010 Full HD - 1920×1080

Wifi 2 Smart TVs Hine, Thomas. Populuxe. New York: Knopf, 1987. Mass acceptance of smart TVs began Klein, Christopher. "The Birth of Satellite TV, 50 Years Ago." History.com. July 23, 2012. 0 NBC, ABC, and CBS logos from the 1950's and 60's. Accessed September 18, 2017. in the late 2000s and early 2010s, http://www.kingoftheroad.net/colorTV/colorTVlogos.html. 1 "Screen resolution? Aspect ratio? What do , , QHD, 4K and 8K mean?" Digital and eventually they will become the Citizen. May 23, 2017. Accessed September 13, 2017. http://www.digitalcitizen.life/what- 0 dominant form of television screen-resolution-or-aspect-ratio-what-do-720p--1080p-mean. OLED Accessed September 13, 2017. http://www.history.com/news/the-birth-of-satellite-t Laptop Smart TV Cell phone v-50-years-ago. "Television Timeline." Math. Accessed September 13, 2017. http://www.softschools.com/timelines/television_timeline/31/.