Few know it but the Bell System and Western Electric were inovative with the advent of television. In addition, these associated companies were responsible for marvels like audio amplification, the transistor (which received a Nobel Prize) and countless other innovative means of communication that were previously unhead of...or at least highly improved at unprecedented speed, quality, etc.

This is a 1947 article that commemorates the 20th Anniversary of Long Distance Television introduced by the Bell System (in 1927). Thanks to Western Electric and Bell System engineers, coast-to-coast television across America became possible. All of this was connected at the speed of light and in subsequent years (after this 1947 story) the Bell System was the backbone for television and other communications, eventually making satellite relay connections via the TelStar program in the early 1960s.

The dedicated work of Bell System engineers and the innovative products that built the backbone of America's communication network in prior decades should never be overlooked nor underestimated. Albeit analog, we would not be where we are in the digital age if it was not for the wonderful engineering that our "Bell Phone Company" engineers once provided us.

Music and voice long distance transmissions required lower broadband requirements, connecting network radio stations across the country since the 1920s via openwire and paired cable. In later years high quality stereo transmissions were accomplished thanks to the Bell infrastructure and equipment connecting radio stations to concert halls, live concerts, etc.

Click "View Original" to see the nice photo and text. If you are unable to, here are the details:

Caption, on right, beneath photo:

"At the 1927 demonstration, Dr. Hebert E. Ives explained the television system developed in Bell Telephone Laboratories"

Text, below:

"April 7 is a notable day in communication history, for on that day in 1927 was the first demonstration of television over long distances. Large scale images were flashed from Washington, D.C., by wire and from Whippany, N.J., by radio to a demonstration in New York City. "It was" said a newspaper, "as if a photograph had suddenly come to life, smile, talk, nod its head and look this way and that."

(Contined from 1947 article)... "That was the first of many public demonstrations, each to mark an advance in television art. In 1929 came color television, and in 1930 a two-way system between the headquarters buildings of A.T.& T. and Bell Laboatories. When the first coaxial cable was installed in 1937, television signals for 240-line pictures were transmitted between Philadephia and New York and three years later 441-line signals were transmitted. By May, 1941 sucessful experiments had been made on a 800-mile circuit.

"End of the war brought heightened tempo of development. Early in 1946 began the regular experimental use of coaxial cable for television between New York and Washington, and a few months later a microwave system for television transmission was demonstrated in California.

"Transmission facilities will keep pace as a great art advances to wide public usefulness'

BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES

Article from Popular Science in 1947.

==============================