History of U.S. Television

The author provides a meticulously detailed account of the TV station business from its virtual beginnings in the late 40's until 1976. It examines the details behind the FCC "freeze" on any new TV license grants in 1948 until the implementation of the "Sixth Order & Report," which transformed TV transmission standards in 1953, and the author's deep involvement in the solution.

It tracks the history of the TV networks and their interaction. It follows the author's participation in the foundation of virtually every TV institution: The TV Code, the TV Bureau of Advertising, the TV Information Office, AMST, etc. It covers the conversion, by the author, of Taft Broadcasting Company from a troubled family group to the largest single group operator, including what was then (1963) the biggest dollar volume deal in the history of broadcasting. It treats in detail the succession of events that moved Taft from basically a CBS affiliate to an ABC affiliate, resulting in the rise of ABC to first place in prime time, and the fall of CBS for the first time from first to last, resulting in the firing of CBS president Jim Aubrey.

We follow the acquisition by Taft of the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon empire, and the subsequent huge world-wide distribution income from TV animation and allied merchandising. In short, it is a compendium of everything of importance that happened in the world of TV for the thirty years before the ascendancy of cable, satellite distribution, and the other electronic marvels that have completely transformed the medium.