History of U.S. Television--A Personal Reminscence

by Lawrence H. Rogers II


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Softcover
£20.19
£14.00
Softcover
£14.00

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 14/08/2000

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 516
ISBN : 9781434371942

About the Book

The author provides a meticulously detailed account of the TV station business from its virtual beginnings in the late 40's until 1976. It examines the details behind the FCC "freeze" on any new TV license grants in 1948 until the implementation of the "Sixth Order & Report," which transformed TV transmission standards in 1953, and the author's deep involvement in the solution.

It tracks the history of the TV networks and their interaction. It follows the author's participation in the foundation of virtually every TV institution: The TV Code, the TV Bureau of Advertising, the TV Information Office, AMST, etc. It covers the conversion, by the author, of Taft Broadcasting Company from a troubled family group to the largest single group operator, including what was then (1963) the biggest dollar volume deal in the history of broadcasting. It treats in detail the succession of events that moved Taft from basically a CBS affiliate to an ABC affiliate, resulting in the rise of ABC to first place in prime time, and the fall of CBS for the first time from first to last, resulting in the firing of CBS president Jim Aubrey.

We follow the acquisition by Taft of the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon empire, and the subsequent huge world-wide distribution income from TV animation and allied merchandising. In short, it is a compendium of everything of importance that happened in the world of TV for the thirty years before the ascendancy of cable, satellite distribution, and the other electronic marvels that have completely transformed the medium.


About the Author

Lawrence H. Rogers, II, earned a bachelor's degree with honors in history from Princeton University, then served as an artillery captain in Patton's Third Army in World War II, before building the first TV station in West Virginia, where he worked from 1946 until 1959. He then became chief operating officer and president of Taft Broadcasting Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which capacity he served until 1976.

He was also Chairman of the Board of the Cincinnati branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Then he became president and CEO of Omega Communications, Inc., which owned and operated WOFL-TV in Orlando, Florida. Earlier on, he had designed and built the first privately-owned microwave transmission system in the TV industry, to bring live network service and major league baseball to West Virginia. He also brought an end to the FCC's ban on editorializing by broadcast licensees and became radio and TV's first editorialist. After selling Orlando, he sailed a 48-foot boat across the Atlantic with his family and lived the next ten years in the Mediterranean.