Thanksgiving Day Special: Encore Presentation of Our Very First Episode: Introducing TV at the 1939 World’s Fair

Copyright: Robert Schuldenfrei

In this episode Andrew, Steve, and Jonathan discuss David Sarnoff’s introduction of television for RCA at the 1939 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows NY. Tune in to listen to this story about hope, the future, and looking for the “World of Tomorrow” during a time between economic depression and the cusp of world war. You might just learn something and have a few laughs along the way. Be sure to check out some of the historical photographs and documents embedded in this episode’s post.

Episode 103: DuMont Plus

Inspired by a real Jeopardy episode’s jokey category title, this week Jonathan and Steve discuss a hypothetical: what if The DuMont Network had survived past 1956? What would the channel have presented? Would we associate the NFL and DuMont like peanut and jelly? If it did survive for decades, what would its streaming service be showing us today?

Mining the Archive Mondays: Episode 02: The DuMont Network: 1946-1956

In this episode Steve, Andrew, and Jonathan discuss the often forgotten DuMont television network. Innovative, with stations in key east coast major markets, the DuMont network was ultimately done in by a combination of forces — the least of which being its uncooperative partner, Paramount Studios. Join us as we discuss DuMont and its legacy upon others’ later attempts at establishing a fourth network.

Mining the Archive Mondays: Episode 06: The Rural Purge

his week Steve, Andrew and Jonathan discuss the thinking behind CBS’s 1960s Rural Purge. Why did it happen? What types of content followed it? What does “the great man of history” have to do with it all? Was that the last time rural depictions ever graced the Tiffany network? So, give up your city livin’, grab a pitchfork, and don’t mind Uncle Joe (he’s just movin’ kinda slow) and join us down at the junction of 1960s ratings, demographics, and the network’s interpretation of Marshall McLuhan.

Episode 101: Binge-Watching with Emil Steiner

Two years later, Dr. Emil Steiner (Rowan University) returns to the program to discuss binge-watching with Jonathan and Steve. Whereas last time we primarily discussed sports documentaries, this time it is today’s popular mode of viewership, binge-watching – which is also the subject of Dr. Steiner’s new book Binge TV: The Rise and Impact of the Viewing Revolution (McFarland).

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