The gift of the television

Rachna Chhabria shares his story ahead of World Television Day on November 21

Nikhil arrived in Golpur town to take the blessings of his great-grandfather Lakshman Chawla. Bade Dada, as the old man in his late 90s was called by everyone, was surprisingly agile and alert for his age.

After knocking on the half-opened door, Nikhil entered Bade Dada’s room. Bade Dada was watching the news on the television. It was his favourite pastime.

“Bade Dada, I’ll come back later,” Nikhil said.

“I’m done watching the news,” Bade Dada switched off the television set. “You know beta, TV is a big gift for us, old people.”

Nikhil smiled at the childlike expression on his great-grandfather’s face.

“On September 7, 1927, a young American inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth II was successful in completing the first model aka prototype of the first all-electronic television and he successfully demonstrated it in San Francisco. It was also the day I was born,” Bade Dada said. “It’s unbelievable that this talented 21-year-old had lived in a house without electricity for the first 14 years of his life.”

“What about Scottish engineer John Logie Baird?” Nikhil asked.

“Actually the credit can’t be given to any one person as the television was invented in several stages and many inventors had a claim for its patent. Baird too had given a demonstration of a mechanical television in the 1920s. He experimented with a transparent rod that allowed the transmission of pictures on the television. Both Baird and Farnsworth are considered the pioneers of the TV,” Bade Dada said.

“During his teens Farnsworth became fond of reading science magazines and this in turn drew him towards the problem the television was facing. He realised that the earlier television relied on the spinning disc which was a major part of its mechanical system, this would have the handicap of slowness in scanning.”

“The need of the hour was a machine that would be able to scan multiple images assembling them in a single second. He came to the conclusion that this feat could only be achieved through an electronic system. By 1922, Farnsworth had readied a basic outline of the electronic television.”

Nikhil listened keenly. “Farnsworth had gained admission into Brigham Young University as a special student while he was still in school. But, sadly due to his father’s death, he had to leave the university to support his family, alongside he completed his high school. In 1926 he started working on a model of the television in a laboratory. Farnsworth successfully demonstrated an electronic television transmission on September 7, 1927. Later he filed a patent for his system. As all creators do, Farnsworth constantly worked on his television, trying to make it better and better.”

Nikhil nodded. “Television has come as a big boon for people. Sitting in their living rooms, people have all kinds of entertainment at their fingertips or at the touch of a remote. With the availability of many channels and programmes, people are spoilt for choice,” Bade Dada smiled.

“It has also given birth to a legion of couch potatoes,” Nikhil laughed.

“Yes,” Bade Dada laughed along. “Over the years, advanced technology made the TV sets slicker. I’ll show you a photograph of an earlier television set,” he said as he opened a photo album to show a black and white picture to Nikhil.

“This is huge,” Nikhil stared at the box-like object.

“It was September when the television came to India. The first transmission was done from Delhi on September 15, 1959. It was done on an experimental basis from a small studio, using a low-power transmitter, 21 television sets, and with the assistance of All India Radio engineers and programming people. From 1965, we had a daily news bulletin of just five minutes, and the entire broadcast was all of three hours. Slowly, the television reached other cities. Initially, there was only Doordarshan, a channel run by the government-owned Prasar Bharati. We would look forward to ‘Chitrahaar’, a weekly song show, and the Sunday morning serials ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’.”

“You are a treasure trove of TV knowledge, Bade Dada,” Nikhil said.

“Can you believe that before the invention of the remote control, televisions had rotating dials or buttons for volume control and also to change the channel?” he quipped.

“So every time one had to change the channel one would have to get up and do it manually?” Nikhil asked.

“Yes,” Bade Dada nodded. “It all changed in 1955 when Zenith introduced the first wireless TV remote, introducing a marvellous technology of flashing lights to switch the TV sets on and off. Called the Zenith Flash-Matic, it had a single button. It was invented by Eugene Polley.”

“Wow, television has a long history and it’s such a game-changer,” Nikhil said.

(The author is a children’s author and columnist.)