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January 1948 Radio-Craft
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Craft,
published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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The
Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories*
was one of the earliest manufacturers of television sets for consumer purchase.
They were in operation long before committees like the
NTSC were formed to standardize
television broadcast signal formats. There were various methods competing for reproducing
the image at the receiver end - including electromechanical and purely electronic
schemes. Regular readers of electronics magazines like this edition of Radio-Craft
followed the evolution of TV with great, though somewhat guarded, enthusiasm.
As with many technologies that seemed at the time to have mostly commercial and
consumer applications, development during the war years yielded to the needs of
victory for the Allied forces. Television prices were relatively high even in the
late 1940s, so most households still did not have a TV set; radios still ruled in
the domestic entertainment realm. High-end combinations like this TV / radio / phonograph
model unapologetically catered to the more affluent customers. Even so, the number
of television broadcast stations was growing so rapidly and causing so much co-channel
interference that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a moratorium
on new station licenses from 1948 through 1952 while the government and industry
worked out a plan to alleviate the problem. Television ownership in the U.S. grew
from about 200,000 households in 1948 to more than a million in that timespan. Just
as the market was able to satisfy the public's demand for affordable TVs, color
was introduced (mid-to-late 1950s), once again setting off a new round of haves-versus-have-nots.
For the record, I grew up in a have-not household ;-(
* Note that the company name included a space between "Du" and "Mont," whereas
most mentions do not have it. It was the same with De Forest.
Du Mont Television Ad
 A Fortunate Few Can Own Such a Television
Receiver
Illustrated: Westminster model - with television, AM-FM radio, automatic phonograph.
Cabinets designed by Herbert Rosengren.
Du Mont's Salon and Drawing Room models you will see television at its finest
... a brilliant picture on a large screen, clear and undistorted. Matching the picture
quality is unsurpassed sound reproduction, whether on television, standard radio,
FM, or radio-phonograph. Visit your nearest Du Mont dealer.
DU MONT
First with the Finest in Television
Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc. * General Television Sales Offices and Station
WABD, 51 Madison Ave., New York 22, N.Y. * Home Offices and Plants, Passaic, N.J.
Posted January 6, 2020
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