The Pioneers (2)

The British Broadcasting Company was formed in the UK on 18 October 1922 and on November 1 of that year a licence fee of 10 Shillings (50 pence) was introduced. John Reith became General Manager of the BBC on December 14 1922, and the British Broadcasting Company became the British Broadcasting Corporation when it was established by Royal charter on January 1 1927.

In the late 1920s John Logie Baird experimented with colour television, stereoscopic (3D) television, recorded television ('Phonovision') and television using infra-red light. In 1927 Baird formed the Baird Television Development Company, Ltd. (BTDC), in that year he also demonstrated his television system over a distance of 438 miles between London and Glasgow using a telephone line, which could be called, effectively the world's first demonstration of 'cable television' transmission. In 1928, Baird's company achieved its first transatlantic television transmission between London and New York. In the same year Baird was able to transmit for the first time to a ship in mid-Atlantic.

In 1927 Dr Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson had demonstated what is considered by some to be the first reception of a television transmission into the home, in the United States. This demonstration in the city of Schenectady, New York, used the G.E. (General Electric)* system; 48 lines at 16 frames and the transmissions were received in the Schenectady homes of Alexanderson himself and two G.E. board members. The transmissions were received on television sets with screens of only 1.5 square inches. *(the General Electric Company was formed in 1892 with the merging of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company).

Dr Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson

On the 20th of August 1929 the BBC began to broadcast experimentally using John Logie-Baird's studio and his 30 line system. In 1930 Luigi Pirandello's play 'The Man with the Flower in his Mouth' became the first simultaneous sound and vision play to be broadcast by the BBC. John Logie-Baird appeared on the WMCA Radio Station in the United States on October 18 1931 to discuss a proposal for a joint venture between his company and WMCA to start a television station, this may have been successful had it not been for an objection by Radio Pictures Incorporated on the grounds that Baird's company was not American owned.

Baird will probably be remembered mainly for the development of electro-mechanical television system, although his achievements are by no means limited to this. His other work also included a demonstration of 'large'- screen television in 1930 in London's Coliseum and also in Berlin and Paris. John Logie-Baird also achieved the first live transmission of the Epsom Derby horse race in 1931.

The 1930s was the decade when vigourous development of electronic television systems was undertaken, primarily by Marconi in the U.S. In 1935 the BBC leased the eastern part of Alexandra Palace (commonly known as 'The Home of Television'), it was from there that the very first public television transmissions in the UK were made. In 1936 Alexandra Palace played host to the BBC's technical trials of the equipment from two competing companies: EMI-Marconi's 'Emitron' electronic system and the Baird mechanical system. The Marconi-EMI Emitron system was installed in Studio A, while Baird's mechanical system based on the 'Nipkow disc' system was in Studio B. After evaluation of both systems, it was decided that the BBC would opt for the Marconi-EMI Emitron camera system in preference to Baird's 205 line mechanical 'Nipkow disc' system.

Thus, the BBC adopted The EMI-Marconi 405 line system for its transmissions.November 2 1936 saw the official inauguration of the World's first regular high-definition television service from Alexandra Palace in London. One of the very first presenters was Elizabeth Cowell who would introduce the new television service with the words "This is direct television from Alexandra Palace". Alexandra Palace was used as the main centre for BBC transmissions until 1956, after which it was used for the news service only. However, the BBC did produce programming for the Open University at Alexandra Palace until 1981.

Alexandra Palace in North London is located between Muswell Hill and Wood Green, it originally opened as 'The People's Palace' in 1873 - sixteen days later it was destroyed by fire. On May 1 1875, and a little under two years, the newly re-built Alexandra Palace opened.

The BBC used an ouside-broadcast van for the first time on May 12 1937 for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The BBC closed its television service on September 1 1939 for the duration of the Second World War, it re-commenced on June 7 1946.

At around the time the BBC in the UK was closing down in 1939 'for the duration', in the United States it was a different story with many new stations starting to broadcast. Many U.S. television 'firsts' were acheived at this time, for example on June 1 1939 the first televised heavy-weight boxing match was held at New York's Yankee Stadium between Max Baer and Lou Nova. Another 'first' was the Major League baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn on August 26 1939, this was broadcast on W2XBS.

The very first television recordings in the world were made by Baird, not long after his first demonstrations of television; these recordings are on wax discs and are still in existence to this day. Before his death in 1946 John Logie Baird was planning television systems which would use 1000 lines and 1700 lines respectively; he was over 40 years ahead of anyone else though, as it was not until 1990 that the Japanese introduced a system using 1125 lines.

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