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PODCAST

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV

Over 100 weeks, we"re going to countdown to the Centennial of Video on Sept 7, 2027 by recounting the 100 Top Moments in the First 100 Years of Television.

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All Episodes

00:09:50

E16: Countdown #91: Bulova Time (1941)

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/12/07

"It was a big goddammed deal!" For one hundred weeks that started in October, 2025 this podcast is going to recall the “Top 100 Milestones in the First 100 Years of Television and Video.” The Countdown is pegged to culminate on September 7, 2027 – the 100th anniversary of the day television was invented. In this week's episode, commercial television finally arrives in the United States on July 1, 1941 with a 10-second ad for Bulova watches broadcast

en

00:09:14

E15: Countdown #92: Standards

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/30

Despite RCA's plunge at the New York World's Fair in the spring of 1939, the FCC proceeded cautiously before setting signal standards for the U.S. television industry. The National Television System Committee (NTSC) was formed in March 1940, and did not deliver a set of standards until March, 1941. When the NTSC standards were finally settled, they adopted a standard 20% sharper than the what RCA was using, which sent the company back to the drawing

en

00:09:14

E15: Countdown #92: Standards

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/30

Despite RCA's plunge at the New York World's Fair in the spring of 1939, the FCC proceeded cautiously before setting signal standards for the U.S. television industry. The National Television System Committee (NTSC) was formed in March 1940, and did not deliver a set of standards until March, 1941. When the NTSC standards were finally settled, they adopted a standard 20% sharper than what RCA was using, which sent the company back to the drawing

en

00:07:31

E14: Countdown #93: Play Ball!

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/23

The enduring relationship between television and professional sports in America began on August 26, 1939, when RCA’s experimental television station W2XBS broadcast the first televised Major League Baseball games – a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. Chapters (00:00:00) - 100 Years of Television: The First Sports Event(00:06:46) - 100 Years of Television

en

00:07:31

E14: Countdown #93: Play Ball!

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/23

For one hundred weeks that started in October, 2025 this podcast is going to recall the “Top 100 Milestones in the First 100 Years of Television and Video.” The Countdown is pegged to culminate on September 7, 2027 – the 100th anniversary of the day television was invented. In Countdown #93, we recount the first live telecasts of America's "National Pastime" in the summer of 1939 – a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s

en

00:11:19

E13: Countdown #94: Now We Add Sight To Sound - 1939

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/16

If David Sarnoff can be recalled for any single ambition, it is his desire to be remembered as the man who singlehandedly delivered television unto the world. Over more than a decade starting in the late 1920s, Sarnoff had spent an estimated $10 million of RCA's profits (that's roughly $240 million in 2025 dollars) on television research. By 1939, RCA's Board of Directors was starting to question when they might see some sort of payoff from all that

en

00:11:19

E13: Countdown #94: Now We Add Sight To Sound - 1939

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/16

If David Sarnoff can be recalled for any single ambition, it is his desire to be remembered as the man who singlehandedly delivered television unto the world. Over more than a decade starting in the late 1920s, Sarnoff had spent an estimated $10 million of RCA's profits (that's roughly $240 million in 2025 dollars) on television research. By 1939, RCA's Board of Directors was starting to question when they might see some sort of payoff from all that

en

00:12:33

E12: Countdown #95: Britain, 1936

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/09

Despite the tremendous engineering strides made in the decade after its invention, by 1936 the commercial adoption of television in the United States remained mired in litigation between Farnsworth – who had invented it – and RCA's David Sarnoff – who wanted to control it. There were no such impediments in the United Kingdom, where John Logie Baird started using the BBC radio airwaves for experimental television transmissions in 1929. But by 1934,

en

00:12:33

E12: Countdown #95: Britain, 1936

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/09

Despite the tremendous engineering strides made in the decade after its invention, by 1936 the commercial adoption of television in the United States remained mired in litigation between Farnsworth – who had invented it – and RCA's David Sarnoff – who wanted to control it. There were no such impediments in the United Kingdom, where John Logie Baird started using the BBC radio airwaves for experimental television transmissions in 1929. But by 1934,

en

00:07:37

E11: Countdown #96: Berlin, 1936

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/02

In addition to providing a showcase for Aryan Supremacy, Adolph Hitler's grand plan for the 1936 Berlin Olympics included demonstrating Nazi Germany's technical expertise with the first televised transmission of an international sporting event. His grand designs fell short when two Americans – Jesse Owens and Philo T. Farnsworth - stole the show. Chapters (00:00:00) - 100 Years of Television: Countdown to 2027(00:01:28) - The Birth of Television in

en

00:07:37

E11: Countdown #96: Berlin, 1936

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/11/02

In addition to providing a showcase for Aryan Supremacy, Adolph Hitler's grand plan for the 1936 Berlin Olympics included demonstrating Nazi Germany's technical expertise with the first televised transmission of an international sporting event. His grand designs fell short when two Americans – Jesse Owens and Philo T. Farnsworth - stole the show. Chapters (00:00:00) - 100 Years of Television: Countdown to 2027(00:01:28) - The Birth of Television in

en

00:09:37

E10: Countdown #97: Priority of Invention - 1935

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/26

In 1930 – seven years after applying for his patent – Vladimir Zworykin visited Farnsworth's laboratory in San Francisco. At the time, he was still employed by Westinghouse, and was given a three-day tour of Farnsworth's operations with the understanding that Westinghouse was considering taking a license for Farnsworth's patents. When he was handed a freshly-fabricated Image Dissector tube, everybody present heard him say This is a beautiful

en

00:08:41

E9: Countdown #98: The Picture Gets Its Sound – 1935

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/19

Television isn't just moving pictures that fly through the air. There is sound, too. And the clear, static-free audio we take for granted owes its existence to another of the electronics industry's unsung heroes: Edwin Howard Armstrong. Chapters (00:00:00) - We Should Have Laughed at Edison(00:00:21) - 100 Years of Television: Countdown to 2027(00:01:29) - In the Elevator of Edwin Howard Armstrong(00:07:38) - 100 Years of Television

en

00:08:41

E9: Countdown #98: The Picture Gets Its Sound – 1935

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/19

Television isn't just moving pictures that fly through the air. There is sound, too. And the clear, static-free audio we take for granted owes its existence to another of the electronics industry's unsung heroes: Edwin Howard Armstrong. Chapters (00:00:00) - We Should Have Laughed at Edison(00:00:21) - 100 Years of Television: Countdown to 2027(00:01:29) - In the Elevator of Edwin Howard Armstrong(00:07:38) - 100 Years of Television

en

00:07:01

E8: Countdown #99: The Franklin Institute - 1934

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/12

In the 1930s, video technology evolved rapidly in a world-wide race to deliver television to the marketplace. In the United States, the principal contestants were the giant Radio Corporation of America and a tiny company spearheaded by the wunderkind inventor from Utah by way of San Francisco, Philo T. Farnsworth. RCA had the capital, the technical resources, and the market clout to extend their dominance in all things radio into the nascent new

en

00:07:01

E8: Countdown #99: The Franklin Institute - 1934

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/12

In the 1930s, video technology evolved rapidly in a world-wide race to deliver television to the marketplace. In the United States, the principal contestants were the giant Radio Corporation of America and a tiny company spearheaded by the wunderkind inventor from Utah by way of San Francisco, Philo T. Farnsworth. RCA had the capital, the technical resources, and the market clout to extend their dominance in all things radio into the nascent new

en

00:13:36

E7: Countdown #100: Black Light Machine – 1928

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/05

The arrival of real (electronic) television was announced in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sept 3, 1927 - even as companies like AT&T were getting headlines for their mechanical systems along with independent experimenters like Britain's John Logie Baird. But once the news of Philo Farnsworth's invention hit the wire services, the race was on to reap the rewards of bringing a new medium to the marketplace. Chapters (00:00:00) - 100 Years of

en

00:14:39

E6: 1927 - Prologue To The Countdown – 1927

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/03

To have the right idea and make it work is everything. Meet Philo T. Farnsworth, the teenager who had the right idea and the young adult who made it work. …While the great minds of science, financed by the biggest companies in the world, wrestled with 19th century answers to a 20th century problem, the summer of 1921 found Philo T. Farnsworth… strapped to a horse-drawn disc-harrow, cultivating a field row by row, turning the soil and dreaming about

en

00:14:39

E6: 1927 - Prologue To The Countdown

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/10/03

To have the right idea and make it work is everything. Meet Philo T. Farnsworth, the teenager who had the right idea and the young adult who made it work. …While the great minds of science, financed by the biggest companies in the world, wrestled with 19th century answers to a 20th century problem, the summer of 1921 found Philo T. Farnsworth… strapped to a horse-drawn disc-harrow, cultivating a field row by row, turning the soil and dreaming about

en

00:09:05

E5: Before 1927 #5: It's A Quantum Thing

Philo T. Farnsworth & 100 Years of TV ·

2025/09/25

In the last episode, we talked about cathode rays and radio waves. But before this meandering journey through the history of science and technology can reach its destination — the actual inventing of television — physics itself has to make, quite literally, a quantum leap.

en

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