20. Vast Wasteland
When in 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minnow labeled television as a “vast wasteland,” he meant that early broadcasters failed to see the public benefit opportunity of TV. At that time, the north star for broadcasters was profiting through advertising. They only considered content that they believed would return a good earning, overlooking more educational options. It’s hard to say how much Minnow’s speech affected broadcasting in the long run, but the ’60s did turn out more educational programs.
19. First Satellite for Broadcast
After World War II ended, the Cold War kicked into high gear. Along with it came the race to dominate space. The Russians were first in many categories; first to launch a satellite, first to put a human into orbit, but it was Bell Labs—an American company—that launched the Telstar 1 satellite. Along with the subsequent Telstar satellites from Bell Labs, it allowed broadcasters to send signals greater distances by carrying signals above the Earth’s horizon. To this day, Telstar still orbits the planet in peaceful silence, it’s working days long since faded into the horizon.