Latest Episodes
October 19, 2025
E9: Countdown #98: The Picture Gets Its Sound – 1935
Television isn't just moving pictures that fly through the air. There is sound, too. And the clear, static-free audio we take for granted owes...
00:08:41
October 12, 2025
E8: Countdown #99: The Franklin Institute - 1934
In the 1930s, video technology evolved rapidly in a world-wide race to deliver television to the marketplace. In the United States, the principal contestants...
00:07:01
October 05, 2025
E7: Countdown #100: Black Light Machine – 1928
The arrival of real (electronic) television was announced in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sept 3, 1927 - even as companies like AT&T were...
00:13:36
October 03, 2025
E6: 1927 - Prologue To The Countdown – 1927
To have the right idea and make it work is everything. Meet Philo T. Farnsworth, the teenager who had the right idea and the...
00:14:39
September 25, 2025
E5: Before 1927 #5: It's A Quantum Thing
In the last episode, we talked about cathode rays and radio waves. But before this meandering journey through the history of science and technology...
00:09:05
September 22, 2025
E4: Before 1927 #4: Cathode Rays and Radio Waves
Today’s installment covers two more technologies needed to achieve real television. One is another step toward the electronic picture. The other redefines how those...
00:12:51