April 1939 Television is Introduced at the New York Worlds Fair By RCA and NBC

Why not be your own part time travel agent? Get great vacations, enjoy your own 24/7 internet travel store with unlimited potential. All this for less than $500!!!! April 1939, Television Begins its first Public Broadcasts at the New York Worlds Fair.

Some 45,000,000 people attended the New York Worlds Fair, but few photographs seem to have been taken of the RCA Television Exhibit. Cameras may not have been allowed as television was still experimental. The entry level television receiver was $600, which was about the price of a new car. Due to the low number of television receiving sets available it is estimated than only several hundred viewers were able to watch the opening ceremonies and visitors being televised.

The Garden behind the Tube Shaped RCA Exhibit Building

There was a fully equipped yacht with all the latest radio devices for communication and safety at sea. It was part of the radio-marine section of the Radio Corporation of America Exhibit and was supplied by the Elco works.

In front of the Yacht People Stood in Line to be Televised by NBC's Telemobile Units. A signal was sent via the "Telemobile" (RCA/NBC mobile Television van) to the Empire State transmitter and rebroadcast to the television sets at the fair.

Above Copyright Photo Courtesy Sea Bird Publishing, Inc., 2002. All rights reserved (321)727-0801 or jculber@grafixupix.com

The woman to the right was the RCA/NBC moderator for fair visitors being televised. All but top photograph belong to the Restelli collection at historytv.net

Visitors who appeared on television at the RCA Exhibit received the card pictured below as a souvenier. It must have seemed like magic to those few who witnessed this event! The first retail revenue to flow into television would be from visitors to the exhibit and customers willing to pay $600 for a television receiving set. Commercial television and advertising dollars would not be forthcoming for another 2 years.
World War II would end TV equipment production, and broadcasts from 1941 to 1945 would be very limited. Manpower and resources were directed towards the war effort. But a strong post war economy and a new "Television Industry" would fuel the exponential growth of television.
It wouldn't be until 1946 when television would take off with the introduction of the $375 630TS RCA Victor television set. The growth of network programing in this new art and studio production would evolve into a multi billion dollar and global industry.

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