VOA文化艺术2023--Ohio Museum Shows History of Television Technology

Ohio Museum Shows History of Television Technology

The history of television began long before millions of Americans gathered in front of their black-and-white sets and watched shows like Lucy, Uncle Miltie, and Howdy Doodie.

"Everybody thinks TV started in the ‘50s or the late '40s," said Steve McVoy. "Almost nobody knows it existed before World War II and even goes back to the ‘20s."

McVoy is the founder¹ and president of the Early Television Museum in Hilliard, near Columbus in the state of Ohio. The museum holds a large collection of televisions from the 1920s and 1930s. It has many of the post-World War II, black-and-white sets that changed the entertainment industry. There are also several early color sets developed in the 1950s.

"The original idea for the museum was to deal with the earliest television technology," McVoy said. "The sets got pretty boring after 1960, just these big things in plastic cabinets²."

Doron Galili is a researcher of media studies at Stockholm University, Sweden, and writer of Seeing by Electricity: The Emergence³ of Television, 1878 – 1939.

He visited the museum in 2016. He said the museum not only gives the technological⁴ history of television but also, "... its place within popular culture, and modern design and material culture."

The backstory

As a child, McVoy would walk around his neighborhood in Gainesville, Florida with a sign that advertised free television repairs. "Nobody accepted my offer," he said, adding it was unlikely⁵ he could have repaired a set if anyone had asked.

A few years later, McVoy worked in a television repair shop and learned⁶ those skills. He opened his own shop, Freedom TV, in the mid-1960s. He then formed businesses related⁷ to the television industry. Finally, in 1999, he sold his holdings, and looking for something to do, decided⁸ to start collecting old television sets.

The first set he bought was an RCA TRK 12 which was introduced at the 1939 World's Fair. "I think I paid about a thousand... for it," McVoy said, adding that it was in disrepair and missing⁹ several parts. "A complete one would have cost five or six thousand; the pre-war sets are very valuable."

McVoy opened the Early Television Museum in 2002. It is housed in a large, former storage building. Each room has an audio¹⁰ guide, voiced by McVoy. Visitors can also watch a few old shows on some of the sets. Until a few years ago, McVoy helped repair many of the museum's televisions himself. "My eyesight and the stability¹¹ of my hands makes it difficult now," he said.

How TV began

Early televisions were first developed in the mid-1920s by John Logie Baird in England and Charles Jenkins in the United States.

Information from the museum says that by 1930 "television was being broadcast from over a dozen stations in the U.S., not only in the major cities such as New York and Boston, but also from Iowa and Kansas. The television screens at the time were small." The picture quality was extremely poor, with limited programming.

Television, McVoy said, made its big entrance to the public on April 30, 1939. That was the time U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the World's Fair in New York with a live broadcast.

Information from the museum says that about 7,000 sets were made in the United States in 1939 and 1940, and only about 350 still exist.

World War II halted¹² the production of TV sets in the United States. But technology from the war was used to make better TV when a large increase in sales and programming began.

McVoy's research found there were about 200,000 sets in the U.S. in 1947 and 18 million by the end of 1953. Then came the popular I Love Lucy program in 1951 and The Honeymooners in 1955.

Color television came in 1954. Sales began slowly because of the high cost. It was not until the early 1970s that color sets outsold black-and-white ones.

The Early Television Museum collection is one of the world's largest. About 180 television sets are shown in order by age, with another 50 in storage.

"We have (an example of) virtually¹³ every set that is available," McVoy said. But he is still searching for one made by Philo Farnsworth in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

"Only three still survive as far as we know and they're all already in other museums," McVoy said. "If a fourth ever shows up, we'd go to our donors¹⁴ and would be able to get it."

Words in This Story

museum – n. a building in which interesting and valuable things (such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects) are collected and shown to the public

original – adv. when something first happened or began

boring – adj. dull and uninteresting

stable – adj. not easily moved

dozen – n. a group of 12 people or things

virtually – adv. very nearly

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 cabinets   

n.内阁( cabinet的名词复数 )；橱；（有特殊用途的）小房间；展览艺术品的小陈列室

参考例句：

• Along each wall stretched uniform green metal filing cabinets. 每面墙边都一溜摆着相同的绿色金属档案柜。 来自辞典例句
• The cabinets display seventeenth-century blue-and-white porcelain. 展柜中陈列着17世纪的青花瓷。 来自辞典例句

3 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

4 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

5 unlikely   

adj.未必的，多半不可能的；不大可能发生的

参考例句：

• It was very unlikely that he would do that.他不见得会做那种事。
• It is unlikely that she will come. 她不大可能来了。

6 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

7 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

10 audio   

n./adj.音频(响)(的)；声音(的)，听觉(的)

参考例句：

• Often,the meeting is recorded on audio or video media for later reference.通常这种会议会以视频或者音频形式记录下来，供以后查阅。
• You don't even have to pay for audio programs.你大可不必为自己听这些节目付费。

11 stability   

n.稳定，稳固

参考例句：

• The situation is tending towards stability.局势趋于稳定。
• She lacks emotional stability.她的情绪不稳定。

12 halted   

v.（使）停下来( halt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The terrorists have halted their bloody campaign of violence. 恐怖分子已经停止了他们凶残的暴力活动。
• She walked towards him and then halted. 她向他走去，然后停下。

13 virtually   

adv.实际上，事实上

参考例句：

• The job was virtually completed by the end of the week.到周末时这项工作差不多完成了。
• He was virtually a prisoner.他实际上是个囚犯。

14 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》