1. RTV 3007 • Intro to Television
The Sixties
RTV 3007 • Intro to Television

2. The Shape of TV in 1964
CBS pays $28 million for the rights to NFL Football. Turns a profit immediately.
The instant replay transforms football from an incomprehensible jumble on screen to a ballet of end-runs, passes, strategy and coordination.
SuperBowl 1, 1967: I4

3. The Shape of TV in 1964
Afternoon soap operas catch on and become very profitable. Days of our Lives 1965:
Johnny Carson takes over The Tonight Show, launching late- night talk shows as a TV staple Popular TV dramas were centered around the theme of clandestine international operations by the CIA: Mission: Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy and Get Smart. Amazon

4. The Birth of Cable TV
Cable TV grew out of Community Antenna TV (CATV).
CATV was popular in areas where broadcast reception was difficult. A large antenna was constructed and cables run from the antenna to individual homes.
By 1962, 800 cable systems served 850,000 homes.
FCC forbid cable systems from carrying anything but local broadcast signals until 1972.
Home Box Office launches in HBO was the first cable network to use satellite transmission.
By 1979, more than 16 million US homes subscribed to cable TV.

5. The Daisy Ad – 1964 Presidential Race
US involvement in Vietnam was highlighted in 1964 presidential campaign
GOP candidate Barry Goldwater suggested using “low-level atomic device”
Johnson campaign responded with the Daisy and Ice Cream ads:
Ads were developed by Doyle, Dane Bernbach
Ads were shown on TV only once. They were replayed endlessly on news and talk shows.

6. 1964 The Vietnam War Begins
Johnson escalated US involvement in Vietnam in 1964, violating international agreements and limitations placed on the presidency by Congress.
In 1964, US warships were attacked by North Vietnamese forces. The Senate passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which let the US use “all necessary measures” to “prevent further aggression.” KqGcaOM

7. Press Coverage of Vietnam War
Although the press was supportive of the Vietnam efforts, US public opinion started to turn against US involvement.
Johnson exerted great pressure on US news organizations to cover Vietnam War in a supportive manner
Press travelled with military in Vietnam. They were not censored and could go where they wanted to.
However, military reviewed all news reports after broadcast. Journalists who criticized the war were pressured.

8. Press coverage of vietnam war
Some reporters defied the military. In 1965 Morley Safer of CBS reported on US soldiers torching the village of Cam Ne:
Fred Friendly resigned from CBS in 1966 when the network refused to air Senate hearings critical of the Vietnam War

9. The Growth of the Counter-Culture
Americans started turning against TV and “The Establishment” and embraced alternative media: underground film, off-Broadway theater, cafes, folk rock, demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, teach-ins, love-ins.
TV did not know how to handle hippies, yippies, teeny-boppers and peaceniks.
CBS removed a performance by Pete Seeger from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour:

10. The Growth of the Counter-Culture
“Make Love Not War” was a popular slogan. Members of the Civil Rights movements linked their cause with the peace movement.
Blowing in the Wind –
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

11. 1968 Johnson loses TV support for war.
Cronkite sees a “stalemate,” Frank McGee (NBC) says US is “losing the war.”
March 31 - Johnson withdraws from 1968 presidential race

12. 1968
April 4 – Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis.
June 5 – Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles.
July – Riots erupt outside of Democratic National Convention in Chicago

13. 1968
November – Richard M. Nixon is elected president
Imagine (1971)

14. RTV3007* INTRODUCTION TO TELEVISION
The Moon Landing
RTV3007* INTRODUCTION TO TELEVISION

15. First Moon Landing – JULY 20, 1969
Realization of a goal set by Pres. John F. Kennedy
Apollo 11 crew – Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong
NASA’s fifth manned space mission
Broadcast to a world-wide audience
Actions of the astronauts were scripted for a TV audience
CBS Coverage (some animation used):
First

16. RTV 3007 * INTRODUCTION TO TELEVISION
The End of Nixon
RTV 3007 * INTRODUCTION TO TELEVISION

17. The End of Nixon
May 4, Kent State Shootings June 17, Break-in at the Watergate Hotel
May 17-August 7, Watergate hearings televised
March 1, 1974 – Indictment of “Watergate 7”
August 9, Nixon Resigns

18. The End of Vietnam
April 30, The Fall of Saigon ABC - ITN -