U.S. Census Bureau January 13: First TV Sets
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2014 -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
FIRST HOME TV "SETS"
Profile America - Monday, January 13th. Couch potatoes can trace their roots to this date in 1928, when three experimental television sets were installed in private homes in Schenectady, New York. Not that there was much to see, the test broadcast by General Electric and RCA being of a woman smoking, followed by a man playing a ukulele. The first home receivers' screens were only 1½ inches square; a far cry from today's theater-sized flat screens. And in another departure from 1928's lonely three, the percentage of U.S. households with TV sets now has held steady for many years at over 98 percent, and of course, many households have multiple sets. Even with heavy foreign competition, U.S. manufacturers ship close to $1.2 billion worth of TV sets annually. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
Sources: http://www.cbs6albany.com/contact_us/features/birth/#.Urm_ZVN9t8E
Kane's Famous First Facts #7810 http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/exhibits/mason_&_associates/documents/time... http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/technology/tv.aspx http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_spec...
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.... http://www.grimeton.info/the_development_of_television.html
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau.