By Robert Farr
Staff Writer, Science Service (Institute for the Popularization of Science)
(Published August 1945)

Contents

Introduction

Is Television Ready for the Public?

• The industry predicts

Uncle Sam Looks at Television

• Why the controversy then?
• Battle in the spectrum

Who Are the Leaders in the Fight?

• The go-ahead-now group
• The wait-for-better-pictures bunch
• All problems solved
• The silent actors
• The last word

Television and Family Life

• What you’ll be seeing
• Charlie McCarthy or the Chicago Roundtable?

What Kind of Television?

• War improvements cut costs
• Look before you buy
• Network possibilities
• Buy wisely
• Color television

Science Where Magic Failed

• The wave is quicker than the eye
• The electronic highway
• Dissecting the spectrum

A Picture Becomes a Parade

• The kinescope
• How television works
• Mobile television

Movies and Television

• Television in theaters

To the Discussion Leader

• Reading and preparation
• What type of discussion?
• Questions for discussion
• Hints to help leaders

For Further Reading

Introduction

When the bomb bays of a B-29 swing open above Tokyo,* a dense fog may cover the city. The bombardier couldn’t see the ground if he tried. But he doesn’t try. It makes no difference to him for he uses radar to find his target, fog or no fog.

Clouds through which the human eye cannot see are no barrier to the echoing electronic waves of radar. And radar is closely akin to television. Wartime experience with radio direction and range finding is helping to answer many of the technical questions involved in television. The answers are bringing closer the day when you may be able to reach out into the ether and pull into your own living room a picture that moves.

*This pamphlet was in press when Japan surrendered. Lines appropriate during the war have not been reconverted to peace.