Commercial Television is 70 years old today.

[MelodyMaster]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Back in 1941 TV was 441 lines 30 frames sec/60 fields sec/ interlaced, with AM sound. Which must have sounded awful. Then WW2 happened. Japan, which according to the history I was taught in school did not exist before Dec 1941, attacked Pearl Harbour and with Germany WW2 was on, and no consumer electronics was made for a few years. Afterwards the FCC decided to make it 525 lines, and make sound FM, to Sarnoff's great joy...

The British 405 line standard, in use until the 80's, used AM sound which wasn't "awful." I still have quite a few audio recordings of 405 I'd made, from the late 50s to 1963, for a current reference. And of course early missing doctor Whos use off-air 405 line sound for CD compilations...