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Prewar television stations

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History of television in the United States
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This is a list of pre-World War II 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, Canada, and the United States. Some present-day broadcasters trace their origins to these early stations.

All television licenses in the United States were officially "experimental" before July 1941, as the NTSC television standard had yet to be developed, and some American television broadcasters continued operating under experimental licenses as late as 1947, although by then they were using the same technical standards as their commercial brethren.

List

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  • Present North American broadcast television starts at 54 MHz (VHF)
  • Present day UK TV broadcasts begin at 470 MHz (UHF)
Television stations
Call sign
(original) 		Call sign
(current) 		Frequency* Channel
(current) 		Location
(city) 		On air Owner (original) Original broadcast system Current broadcast system
Baird Television Development Company Ltd[1] via BBC transmitter 2LO[citation needed] 361 meters
831 kHz
[2] 		London, England, United Kingdom 1926–1935
[citation needed] 		British Broadcasting Company Mechanical television
30 lines
25 frame/s 		[dubious – discuss]
W2XB (also branded as WGY-TV from its sister radio station) WRGB 2.15 MHz 6 Schenectady
Albany, New York, United States 		May 10, 1928 – present General Electric Co. Mechanical television 24 (later 48) lines/21 frame/s NTSC-M from 1942–2009; now ATSC digital.
W1XAY (also branded as WLEX from its sister radio station) 3.5 MHz Lexington, Massachusetts, United States June 14, 1928–
March 1930 		The Boston Post Mechanical television 48 lines/18 frame/s
W3XK 1.605 MHz & 6.42 MHz,
later 2.00–2.10 MHz 		Wheaton
Washington, D.C., United States 		July 2, 1928– 1932 Charles Jenkins Laboratories Mechanical television 48 lines
W2XAL (also branded as WRNY from its sister radio station) New York City, New York, United States August 13, 1928– 1929 Experimenter Publishing

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company

Mechanical television 48 lines
W1WX
(later became W1XAV) 		2.12 MHz Boston, Massachusetts, United States Spring 1929–1931 Shortwave and Television Laboratory Mechanical television 48 & 60 lines/15 frame/s
W2XBS WNBC 2.75–2.85 MHz Formerly Channel 1;
moved to VHF Channel 4 from 1946–2009 (remains PSIP virtual channel);
allocated to digital channel 28 from 1999–2018;
moved to channel share with WNJU on channel 36 from 2018–present 		New York City, New York, United States 1929–1932, 1936–present National Broadcasting Company Mechanical television 60 lines/20 frame/s 1941–2009, NTSC-M; now ATSC digital
3UZ. Experiments carried out on the radio station after it had officially closed down for the night.[3] 930 kHz Melbourne,
Victoria,
Australia 		1929 Oliver John Nilsen Mechanical television
3DB. Experiments carried out on the radio station after it had officially closed down for the night.[3] 1180 kHz Melbourne,
Victoria,
Australia 		1929 The Herald and Weekly Times Mechanical television
W9XAP WNBQ-TV (1948–1964)[4]

now WMAQ-TV

VHF Channel 5 Chicago, Illinois, United States August 27, 1930– August 1933. 1948-present.
[5][6][7][8][9] 		National Broadcasting Company Mechanical television 1948–2009 NTSC-M; now ATSC digital
VE9EC 41 MHz Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada 		1931–1935 La Presse and CKAC radio Mechanical television 60–150 lines
W6XAO KCBS-TV Formerly on Channel 1, now VHF Channel 2 Los Angeles,
California, United States 		June 1931– 1933,
1937–1948
as experimental
Don Lee station;
May 6, 1948–
present 		Don Lee Mechanical television, film only, 80 lines/20 frame/s 1948–2009, NTSC-M; now ATSC digital
Amateur radio station 4CM[10] 136 metres Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia 		1934 Dr Val McDowall Early experiments with electronic television
W6XYZ KTLA-TV Formerly on Channel 4, now VHF Channel 5 Los Angeles,
California, United States 		June 1942– 1946 experimental,
Jan. 22, 1947– present 		Paramount 1947–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital
W2XAB WCBS-TV 2.1–2.2 MHz Now VHF Channel 2 New York City, New York, United States July 31, 1931–
February 1933,
1939–present 		Columbia Broadcasting System Mechanical television 60 lines/20 frame/s 1941–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital
W2XWV WNYW Channel 4 (1938–1944), Channel 5 (1944 – present) New York City, New York, United States 1938– present Allen B. DuMont Unknown 1944–2009 NTSC-M, now ATSC digital
W3XE WPTZ (now KYW-TV) – VHF Channel 3 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States 1932–present Philco Corporation Mechanical television 1941–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital
W9XBK WBKB (now WBBM-TV) Formerly on Channel 4, then on VHF Channel 2, Now on VHF Channel 12 Chicago, Illinois, United States 1940–present Balaban & Katz 1944–2009, NTSC-M, now ATSC digital
W9XZV Later KS2XBS (Phonevision experimental on Channel 2) VHF Channel 1 Chicago, Illinois, United States 1939–1953
2LO (BBC Television Service) BBC One 361 meters
831 kHz
[2] 		UHF (Channels 21–68, throughout UK) London, England, United Kingdom August 22, 1932– September 11, 1935 British Broadcasting Corporation Mechanical television 30 lines/12.5 frame/s Now DVB
BBC Television Service (Alexandra Palace) BBC One 45 MHz
[11] 		UHF (Channels 21–68, throughout UK and on Astra 2D satellite) London, England, United Kingdom November 1936–
September 3, 1939,
June 7, 1946 – present 		British Broadcasting Corporation Mechanical television 240 lines (Baird system) and electronic television 405 line (Marconi-EMI system)/25 frame/s Now DVB
EIAR – Stazione sperimentale radiovisione di Monte Mario RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana 40.54 MHz (audio), 44.12 MHz (video) VHF (channel 9) and UHF (channels 25, 26, 30 and 40) Rome, Italy July 22, 1939–
May 10, 1940 		Electronic television 441 lines / 21 to 42 frame/s. Now DVB
EIAR – Stazione sperimentale radiovisione Torre Littoria (now Torre Branca) 40.50 MHz (audio), 44.00 MHz (video) Milan, Italy April 12–28, 1940 Electronic television 441 lines / 21 to 42 frame/s.
Radiovision PTT (1935) later Paris Television (1943) then RTF (1946) (Eiffel Tower) TF1 37 MHz (180 & 455 lines) later 42–46 MHz (441 lines) UHF Channels 21–69 (System L + DVB throughout France and FTA on AB3 satellite) Paris, France November 1935 –
1937
(60 lines,
then 180 lines)
later 1938–1939
(455 lines)
then 1943–1956
(441 lines) 		Ministry of Information Mechanical television 60 then 180 line later electronic television 455 then 441 line/25 frame/s Now DVB
Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow Berlin
Potsdam,
Germany 		1935–1944 (tests started in 1929) Deutscher Fernseh-Rundfunk Electronic television 180 lines/25 frame/s/50 fields/sec (started broadcasting in 441 lines in mid-1937)
Moscow test broadcasting station МТЦ (from Shukhov tower) LW band Moscow,
Soviet Union,
now
 Russia 		1931–1941 Mechanical television
USSR TV (ТВ СССР) Первый канал 49.75 MHz (video) 56.25 MHz (audio) TV channels:R1 (441 lines 25 fps) Moscow,
USSR,
now
 Russia 		1938–1941,
1945-1949 		Ministry of Culture Electronic television Now SECAM, PAL also DVB
Doświadczalna Stacja Telewizyjna Telewizja Polska TVP channels: TVP1, TVP2, etc. Warsaw,
Poland 		1935–1939
(test broadcasting:
1937–38) 		Mechanical television Now PAL and DVB
Call sign
(original) 		Call sign
(current) 		Frequency* Channel
(current) 		Location
(city) 		On air Owner (original) Original broadcast system Current broadcast system

See also

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Individual television stations

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Broadcast television systems

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References

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  1. ^ Burns, Russell W. (2000), "Chapter 6 Company Formation and long-distance television", John Logie Baird, Television Pioneer, IEE history of technology series, vol. 28, Stevenage, Herts, UK: The Institution of Electrical Engineers, pp. 131, ISBN 978-0-85296-797-3
  2. ^ a b Isaacs, Allan. "Dating a Radio: How Old?". Allan's Virtual Radio Museum. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. London (2LO), Nov 1922, 361m
  3. ^ a b R. R. Walker, The Magic Spark, 1973, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne.
  4. ^ "Call Letters Switch (page 21)". Billboard. September 5, 1964. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  5. ^ "Copy of W9XAP station license". Samuels, Rich. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  6. ^ Parker, Bill (October 28, 1984). "transcript of Bill Parker letter, who was assigned the construction of the television studio at the Daily News building in 1929". Television Experimenters. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
  7. ^ "Early Chicago Television-W9XAP". Hawes TV. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  8. ^ "Early television-W9XAP-WMAQ Chicago". Early Television. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  9. ^ "W9XAP first broadcast-transcript from Daily News story-August 28, 1930". Daily News. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  10. ^ Bruce Carty, Australian Radio History, Self-published, Sydney, 2011.
  11. ^ "Vintage BBC Transmitters - 2LO and AP". The British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved June 4, 2024. A high power transmitter at 45 MHz with a bandwidth of some 3 MHz was edge of technology in the 1930's
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