W2XCR was founded in 1931 in
Long Island City, New York
Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
by the radio station WGBS (now
WINS). During the early part of 1931, but before the call letters were changed to WINS, the station began experimenting with
mechanical television
Mechanical television or mechanical scan television is a television system that relies on a mechanical scanning device, such as a rotating disk with holes in it or a rotating mirror drum, to scan the scene and generate the video signal, and a si ...
broadcasting,
operating a Jenkins mechanical scanner through the experimental transmitter, W2XCR. The station broadcast using both 48-line, 15 frame/s, and 60-line, 20 frame/s standards during 1931.
Mechanical TV broadcast in the AM radio band (550–1,500 kHz) in 1928 and 1929. With 24- and 30-line systems, only about 10 kHz of bandwidth was needed, so standard radio channels could be used. Some stations also broadcast in the shortwave band. Beginning in 1930, the 2-3 Mc. band was used for television, with 100 kHz channel width. 60-line systems required about 40 kHz of bandwidth. TV broadcasts could be identified by their distinctive sound.
See also
*
List of experimental television stations
This page is a list of the experimental television stations before 1946. After 1945 (in the United States) the television frequencies were opened up to commercialization and regular broadcasts began. Regular broadcast television start dates vary wi ...
*
Oldest television station
This is a list of pre-World War 2 television stations of the 1920s and 1930s. Most of these experimental stations were located in Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia), Australia, Can ...
*
Charles Jenkins Laboratories Charles Jenkins Laboratories was founded in by Charles Francis Jenkins, developer of the Phantoscope, the first commercial tv station W3XK and the first commercial television company.
History
Charles Francis Jenkins in 1890 moved to Washingto ...
*
W3XK
W3XK is widely regarded as the oldest television station in the United States. It was operated by Charles Jenkins of Charles Jenkins Laboratories from July 2, 1928 to 1934. It is believed to be the first station to broadcast to the general publi ...
*
W2XBS
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station W ...
References
External links
A U. S. Television Chronology, 1875-1970
Experimental television stations
History of television in the United States
Television pioneers
{{NewYork-tv-station-stub