This Was Television On July 2
1928: We now begin your regularly scheduled programming
Charles Francis Jenkins received authorization from the Federal Radio Commission (then in charge of the public airwaves) to begin broadcasting from W3XK, an experimental station in suburban Washington, D.C. This was the first regularly scheduled television service in the United States. Regular and sporadic broadcasts would pop up, primarily in New York City, over the next few years.
Little is known today about the nature of Jenkins’s earliest programs. The only surviving records are a local newspaper’s comments section, whose authors agreed that “this used to be so good but now its [sic] shit.” -A.D.
Today’s Birthdays: Larry David, Steinbrenner portrayer (65); Dan Rowen, first half in Laugh-In (d. 1987); Saul Rubinek, Daphne Moon suitor (64); Ron Silver, Fox promo Hall of Famer (d. 2009); Ashley Tisdale, musical high-schooler (27).
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