1931 in television
Encyclopedia
The year 1931 in television involved some significant events.
Below is a list of television
-related events in 1931.
Below is a list of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
-related events in 1931.
Events
- May 1 - The first wedding is broadcast on television, on New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's W2XCRW2XCRW2XCR was founded in 1931 in Long Island City, NY by the radio station WGBS . During the period early part of 1931, but before the call letters were changed to WINS, the station began experimenting with mechanical television broadcasting, operating a Jenkins mechanical scanner through the...
. - July 21 - CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's station W2XAB began broadcasting 28 hours a week in New York City. http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/television5.html
- August - At the Berlin Radio Show, Manfred von ArdenneManfred von ArdenneManfred von Ardenne was a German research and applied physicist and inventor. He took out approximately 600 patents in fields including electron microscopy, medical technology, nuclear technology, plasma physics, and radio and television technology...
gives the world's first public demonstration of a television system using a cathode-ray tube for both transmission and reception. Ardenne never develops a camera tube, using the CRT instead as a flying-spot scanner to scan slides and film. - October 30 - NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
installs a television transmitter on top of the Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
. - November 1 - Television images are transmitted from JOAK radio station in TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by Professors Kenjiro Takayagani and Tomomasa Nakashima. The still images comprise 80 lines at 20 frames per second. - December 22 - NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
begins broadcasting experimental test transmissions from the Empire State Building transmitter. - December 23 - Don Lee BroadcastingDon Lee (broadcaster)Donald Musgrave Lee was the exclusive west coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles in the early 20th century. In 1919 Lee purchased the Earl Automobile Works of Hollywood, California. Harley Earl, the son of the company's owner, was kept on as manager...
signs on W6XAO (later KTSL) from Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with low-definition electromechanical television, broadcasting one hour of film footage, six days per week. - CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's first television station, VE9EC, begins broadcasting in Montreal, Quebec. VE9EC was owned jointly by radio station CKAC and the newspaper La Presse.
Television shows
| Series | Debut | Ended |
|---|---|---|
| The Television Ghost The Television Ghost The Television Ghost was an early television show broadcast from 1931 to 1933 by W2XAB New York City, an experimental television station of Columbia Broadcasting System. Each episode lasted for 15 minutes.... |
1931 | 1933 |
Births
- January 13 - Charles Nelson ReillyCharles Nelson ReillyCharles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
, actor, game show panelist (d. 2007) - January 14 -[Himanshu Dev],engineer
- January 17 - James Earl JonesJames Earl JonesJames Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, actor - January 19 - Robert MacNeilRobert MacNeilRobert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, OC, known sometimes as Robin MacNeil, , is currently a novelist and formerly was a television news anchor and journalist who had paired with Jim Lehrer to create The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1975.-Early life:MacNeil was born in Montreal, the son of Margaret...
, news reporter - February 13 - Geoff EdwardsGeoff EdwardsGeoffrey Bruce Owen "Geoff" Edwards is an American television actor, game show host and radio personality. Over the past decade and a half, he has been a writer and broadcaster on travel. He was born in Westfield, New Jersey....
, game show host - March 11 - Rupert MurdochRupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
, media mogul - March 22 - William ShatnerWilliam ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
, actor - March 26 - Leonard NimoyLeonard NimoyLeonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
, actor - March 27 - David JanssenDavid JanssenDavid Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive , the starring role in the 1950s hit detective series Richard Diamond, Private Detective , and as Harry Orwell on Harry O.In 1996 TV Guide...
, actor (d. 1980) - April 6 - Ivan DixonIvan DixonIvan Dixon was an American actor, director, and producer best known for his series role in the 1960s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for his role in the 1967 telefilm The Final War of Olly Winter, and for directing hundreds of episodes of television series...
, actor (d. 2008) - April 26 - Bernie BrillsteinBernie BrillsteinBernard J. "Bernie" Brillstein was an American film and television producer, executive producer and talent agent.-Life and career:...
, agent, producer (d. 2008) - May 23 - Barbara BarrieBarbara BarrieBarbara Barrie is an American actress and author of children's books.-Personal life:Barrie was born as Barbara Ann Berman in Chicago, Illinois, of Jewish heritage, the daughter of Frances Rose and Louis Berman. She was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. She graduated from University of Texas,...
, actress - June 8 - Dana WynterDana WynterDana Wynter was a German-born British actress, who was brought up in England and Southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than forty years beginning in the 1950s, most notably in the original version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.-Early life:Wynter was born as Dagmar...
, actress - June 14 - Marla GibbsMarla GibbsMarla Gibbs is an American television and film actress and singer. She is best remembered for playing Louise and George Jefferson's sarcastic maid, Florence Johnston, on The Jeffersons and spinoff Checking In...
, actress - June 20 - Martin LandauMartin LandauMartin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
, actor - July 6 - Della ReeseDella ReeseDelloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese , is an American actress, singer, game show panelist of the 1970s, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister. She started her career in the 1950s as a gospel, pop and jazz singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You...
, actress, singer - July 8 - Roone ArledgeRoone ArledgeRoone Pickney Arledge, Jr. was an American sports broadcasting pioneer who was chairman of ABC News from 1977 until several years before his death, and a key part of the company's rise to competition with the two other main television networks, NBC and CBS, in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.-Early...
, producer (d. 2002) - July 27 - Jerry Van DykeJerry Van DykeJerry Van Dyke is an American comedian and actor. He is the younger brother of comedian and actor Dick Van Dyke, and made his acting debut on The Dick Van Dyke Show with several guest appearances as Rob Petrie's brother, Stacey...
, actor - July 28 - Darryl HickmanDarryl HickmanDarryl Gerard Hickman is an American film and television actor, former television executive, and child star of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...
, actor - August 25 - Regis PhilbinRegis PhilbinRegis Francis Xavier Philbin is an American media personality, actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows since the 1960s. Philbin is often called "the hardest working man in show business" and holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera...
, talk show host - September 4 - Mitzi GaynorMitzi Gaynor-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
, singer, actress - September 10 - Philip Baker HallPhilip Baker Hall-Early life:Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of a factory worker father who was from Montgomery, Alabama. He attended the University of Toledo. As a younger man, Hall served in the military, started a family, and became a high school English teacher. In 1961, he decided to become an actor...
, actor - September 13 - Barbara BainBarbara BainMillicent Fogel , known professionally as Barbara Bain, is an American actress.-Early life:Bain was born in Chicago. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She moved to New York City, where she was a dancer and high fashion model. Bain studied with...
, actress - September 21 - Larry HagmanLarry HagmanLarry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
, actor - September 30 - Angie DickinsonAngie DickinsonAngie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
, actress - October 31 - Dan RatherDan RatherDaniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
, news reporter - November 8 - Morley SaferMorley SaferMorley Safer is a Canadian reporter and correspondent for CBS News. He is best known for his long tenure on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, which began in December 1970.-Life and career:...
, news reporter - November 12 - Dick ClairDick ClairDick Clair was an American television producer, actor and television and film writer, best known for the television sitcoms It's a Living, The Facts of Life, and Mama's Family.-Early life:...
, writer (d. 1988) - December 3 - Jaye P. MorganJaye P. MorganMary Margaret Morgan , known professionally as Jaye P. Morgan, is a retired popular music American singer, actress and game show panelist.-Early life:...
, game show panelist - December 11 - Rita MorenoRita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
, actress - December 23 - Ronnie SchellRonnie SchellRonald Ralph "Ronnie" Schell is an American actor, stand-up comedian and cartoon voice actor . Early in his career he appeared as himself as a contestant on You Bet Your Life opposite Groucho Marx, demonstrating a comic barrage of jive talk.-Life and career:Schell was born in Richmond, California...
, comedian - December 28 - Martin MilnerMartin MilnerMartin Sam Milner is an American actor best known for his performances in two popular television series, Adam-12 and Route 66....
, actor