During World War II, scientists and engineers in Allied countries made significant technological advances in electronics, radar, and communication technology to gain the upper hand on the battlefield. In this speech, Larry E. Gubb of the Philco Corporation describes some potential peacetime applications of these advancements. For example, he said, electronics developments could improve manufacturing safety; radar developments could improve safety for railroad, air, and sea transportation; and wireless communication developments could improve the geographic reach of broadcasting, bring cultures together, and foster peace. However, Gubb believed that television was one of the most promising and exciting developments: when combined, these breakthroughs would facilitate better television transmission and reception, which in turn could provide entertainment, educational value, and commercial potential to the American public.

During World War II, scientists and engineers in Allied countries made significant technological advances in electronics, radar, and communication technology to gain the upper hand on the battlefield. In this speech, Larry E. Gubb of the Philco Corporation describes some potential peacetime applications of these advancements. For example, he said, electronics developments could improve manufacturing safety; radar developments could improve safety for railroad, air, and sea transportation; and wireless communication developments could improve the geographic reach of broadcasting, bring cultures together, and foster peace. However, Gubb believed that television was one of the most promising and exciting developments: when combined, these breakthroughs would facilitate better television transmission and reception, which in turn could provide entertainment, educational value, and commercial potential to the American public.

The early twentieth century saw many impressive technological developments, particularly in transportation and communication technology. The first airplanes flew in the early 1900s, and World War I motivated the development of airplane manufacturing shortly thereafter. But these early models had one major limitation: pilots had to navigate using visual cues. As a result, flying at night was difficult, and flying in adverse weather conditions, such as fog or rain, was impossible. Pilots also had to watch the sky for other aircraft to avoid collisions. This limited military use and slowed the expansion of peacetime applications, such as airmail and commercial flight. Radar technology existed as early as the late nineteenth century, but it did not mature enough to be a useful technology until World War II.

Telephone and telegraph also existed during the late nineteenth century, but their use grew dramatically in the early twentieth century. In 1900, the first major telephone system (the American Bell Telephone Company) had almost 600,000 phones. By 1910, that number reached 5.8 million. The number expanded further when the transcontinental telephone line began operating in 1915. However, telephone and telegraph connections were limited to locations that could be hard wired to each other or to a central system.

Likewise, radio technology existed in the late nineteenth century. Some of its early applications included wireless telegraph communication between ships at sea and voice transmissions from airplanes and emergency vehicles. By 1910, AM radio was broadcast to American homes for entertainment purposes, and in 1920, KDKA in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, became the first commercial radio station in the United States. Radio proved immensely popular for both news and entertainment, but a limited number of bandwidths existed within the AM frequencies. By the 1940s, all of the available AM frequencies were occupied. New interests sought to broadcast over the air, but capacity could not be expanded using the existing technology. Regulatory and market hurdles also blocked expansion into the FM frequencies during the first half of the twentieth century.

In order to gain a strategic advantage during World War I, scientists and engineers in Allied nations undertook enormous research and development efforts. These efforts led to enormous gains in electronics, radar, and wireless broadcasting technology, many of which had enormous potential for peacetime applications. In his speech to the Cornell Club of Michigan on October 17, 1945, Larry E. Gubb discussed some of these technologies. As the chairman of the board of the Philco Corporation, Gubb was closely tied to the world of radio, television, and communication technology. His company saw significant opportunity for peacetime application of these new technologies—particularly the television—and hoped to spread enthusiasm and to create a market for these ideas.

In 1906, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company emerged from prior efforts of brothers Thomas and Frank Spencer and their business associates to establish an electronics manufacturing company. By 1919, the company sought to grow its business through a national advertising campaign that branded the company with a new, easier-to-remember name: Philco.

After World War I, Philco expanded its product line and developed new technologies to make battery-powered radios more convenient for home use. The company eventually began to manufacture receivers, and business expanded rapidly. By the end of 1929, Philco was the third-largest radio manufacturer in the industry. Meanwhile, engineers busily researched television broadcast and reception technology.

In 1932, Philco split into two subsidiary companies because of legal issues. Larry E. Gubb became the president of the subsidiary Philco Radio & Television Corporation. In 1939, Gubb became the president of the parent company, still known as the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company. In 1941, he was appointed chairman of the board, and he became the name and face publically associated with Philco and its products throughout the 1940s.

Radar and the atomic bomb were unquestionably the two outstanding scientific developments of World War II. The atomic bomb came in the last few days before Japan’s capitulation, but radar and its many developments had already made a tremendous contribution to winning the German war and had brought the Japanese phase very near to a victorious conclusion.

Atomic energy seems certain radically to change our technology, our industry—in fact our whole economic life. But in its practical peacetime applications, I doubt if we are to see any great transformations take place in the near future.

Radar and electronics, on the other hand, because of the years of fundamental research in television, and the tremendous impetus resulting from the war in applying this fundamental research, will begin immediately in the postwar period to have peacetime applications never before dreamed of.

The greatest secrecy has surrounded these radar and electronic developments during the war. Their contributions both to the offense and defense were so great that only recently have the Government authorities allowed much of the story to be told.

Practically every key radar project had a code name that kept from revealing its true function. For a long time to come you will hear and read about the “George,” the “Dog,” the “Loran,” and “Rebecca,” and most spectacular of all—the “Mickey.”

Submarine Menace

Let us go back to the early months of 1942 for a moment The thin thread of trans-Atlantic shipping that tied the United States to Britain was menaced by U-boat wolf packs. Not only the ships on which Britain’s very life depended but also American coastal vessels were being sunk within sight of our own cities all along the Atlantic seaboard. At that time, with the U-boat the major German weapon against the United States, a counter weapon had to be developed quickly,… and airborne radar was the answer to guide the planes quickly to the surfaced submarines and make them an easy target.

The first American search radar could spot a surfaced submarine no farther than eight nautical miles. Then came the GEORGE. This was the first aircraft radar to present a complete map on its picture tube. From this circular radar picture, it was easy to tell not only the distance of a target but also its exact direction in degrees. Using the GEORGE a plane could spot a surfaced submarine 25 nautical miles away, or three times the range of the earlier equipment. For a long time, the Germans did not know how our planes were so quickly and surely finding their submarines. They did not suspect that it was micro-wave radar!

Gradually the Allies got the upper hand; great numbers of the U-boats were destroyed, and our cargo ships and transports began to move more freely across the Atlantic.

Then the German scientists got busy. They designed new types of submarines that were far harder to locate. You will remember the scare we had in the early months of 1945 when the Germans put to sea in U-boats that were reported to stay under water for 30 days with only a breathing tube, nicknamed the Schnorkel, above the surface of the water.

By this time, millions of our boys were in England and on the continent, and they had to be constantly supplied with ammunition and food, and this Schnorkel submarine, for a time, offered one of the greatest threats to the Allies winning the war.

Now it was our scientists’ turn to produce a counter-weapon, and out of our laboratories came new supersensitive radar equipment which had the power and range to pick up even the tiny portion of the Schnorkel tube sticking above the water.

If the war had not ended when it did, the NEW radar would have revealed and helped to destroy every Schnorkel submarine on the high seas.

Beyond any question, this victory of radar science over the submarines was one of the most thrilling in the entire history of the war!

Radar Bombing

Another scientific triumph was the precision bombing by our Air Forces in all kinds of weather—day or night.

You have read the testimony of Field Marshal Goering as to the devastating effects of precision bombing on Nazi production and communication lines. It was Radar, also, which made this possible.

The development of the “Mickey” Radar Bombsight was what the Army Air Forces and Navy called a crash assignment. They needed it in a desperate hurry. It came at a time when the Eighth Air Force was just beginning to build into a formidable striking force with hundreds of heavy bombers available in England. This huge fleet of bombers, however, was grounded and useless day after day because of bad weather conditions so prevalent in Western Europe.

A new type of Radar Equipment for pin-point bombing regardless of weather was critically needed if our air attack was not to fail. It was designed and produced with such great speed that as early as November 1943 the “Mickey”, as the new equipment was nicknamed, enabled the 8th Air Force Bombers to destroy the U-boat pens at Wilhelmshaven through heavy clouds. And in February 1944 the “Mickey” dealt a death blow to Hitler’s Luftwaffe by bombing German ball-bearing and aircraft factories.

It was “Mickey” Radar, again, that made it possible for allied bombers to pulverize Nazi coastal defenses just 30 minutes before the invasion of Normandy, which saved many thousands of American lives.

This bombing attack was so devastating that General H. H. Arnold is reported to have called the Radar Bombsight the most important piece of equipment used by the Army Air Forces in the invasion of France.

Navigation

Another piece of Radar—the Loran—is credited with being the most revolutionary instrument of navigation since the invention of the first compass.

The Loran enables the navigator of a plane to find his exact position at any instant… accurately and rapidly. In the plane, signals are picked up from pairs of “Master” and “Slave” beacon stations on the ground. These beacons may be 1500 miles away. Beacon signals appear on an aircraft Loran indicator tube similar to a television picture tube and give the distance of the plane from the beacon stations. Then the navigator consults a simple chart and knows exactly where his plane is at that instant.

So an airplane or ship equipped with this new instrument can travel any predetermined course, day or night, regardless of weather, without depending on celestial navigation.

It was planes equipped with the Loran that carried bombs, explosives… incendiaries… even the atomic bomb to the homeland of Japan and crushed them without the need of invasion. And Loran helped them to return safely to their tiny island bases in the vastness of the Pacific.

In the peacetime world, this radar system of aerial navigation will help to make worldwide air travel safer and more rapid than ever before.

Proximity Fuse

Another piece of hitherto secret electronic equipment is the Proximity Fuse, containing a tiny radio transmitter and receiver no bigger than a pint milk bottle… with five miniature vacuum tubes placed in the nose of shells, bombs and rockets. After the projectile is fired, this tiny radio sends out radio beams and in return receives a reflected signal. When the projectile is 60–70 feet from the target it is detonated by the fuse, thereby making its explosive force many, many times greater than if it were exploded on contact.

This Proximity Fuse made anti-aircraft fire many times more effective because it was not necessary to hit the target to destroy it. It was a leading factor in curtailing the Buzzbomb attacks on London, at a most critical time, and it saved thousands and thousands of tons of shipping and American lives by neutralizing the Japanese suicide bomber attacks.

War Windup

These are only four of the great electronic developments during World War II. But they may give you some idea of the advances that have taken place in the whole field of electronics in the short space of 48 months.

In his biennial report, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, states that the radar equipment developed by the U. S. and Britain was superior to the electronic devices of either Germany or Japan.

I could spend hours telling you of other wartime developments, but I feel that you are most interested in how this greatly expanded knowledge of electronics may be applied to our peacetime future.

Electronics Peacetime Future

Thanks to the development of Radar, air travel will be far safer than ever before. Planes equipped with radar instruments should never crash into mountains in darkness or bad weather. Nor should there be collisions between planes. Passenger planes will be guided with unerring accuracy to tiny island bases in every sea and ocean.

Installed in ships, Radar will enable even the largest vessels to come into harbors in dense fog. Collision between ships at sea will be avoided; and even icebergs—the ever present dread of mariners—can be detected and avoided by Radar.

Industrial Uses of Electronics

Industrial uses of electronics which were already important before the war have received a tremendous impetus… and new industrial uses will continue to be found as the years go by.

Tiny vacuum tubes, some of them no larger than your little finger, are opening up new fields in the way of electronic controls that make manufacturing safer, more precise and more automatic than ever.

We have electronic enumerators that count passing articles far faster than the eye can see.

Electronic sorters that discard oversize and undersize, off color or defective articles… with amazing speed.

Electronic devices inspect the inside of things where the eye cannot see.

Other electronic instruments regulate temperature, eliminate smoke and automatically control entire batteries of operating machines.

Great new opportunities for expansion lie ahead in this field of industrial electronics to make factory life easier, better, and safer.

Communications

Tremendous new developments are taking place in the whole field of communications. We are now at work on a technique whereby you may have a telephone in your automobile. Soon you may be able to pick up the telephone in your car and call your home… your office… while driving along the highway.

You may soon be able to write a letter or a telegram… drop it in a slot, and have it reproduced instantly— thousands of miles away… by television… with the speed of light, and for less than it now costs to send an air-mail letter.

Link System

The day may not be far distant when all our telephone and telegraph wires may be obsolete—replaced by wireless link systems. You will see the beginning of this development in the rebuilding of Europe.

It is inconceivable that the thousands and thousands of miles of wired communications which have been destroyed in Europe will be replaced—when these signals can be beamed through the air by the use of radio links which can be installed so much more cheaply and with such a low cost of maintenance.

And it’s inconceivable that this radio link development will not come into widespread use in this country.

For instance, our railroads which depend on wired communications to direct the operation of their trains and to assure the safety of their passengers, have a tremendous problem of maintenance in keeping these wires open in bad winter weather. A series of automatic radio link stations along a railroad’s right of way—with uninterrupted service because the signals are carried through the air—would be a tremendous improvement. Several major railroads are already experimenting with such a system.

China

One of the greatest futures for radio relay link systems is in carrying both broadcasting and television signals, as well as other forms of communication, into mountainous and undeveloped areas… where cost and maintenance are basic considerations.

We, in America, take for granted and enjoy nationwide network radio programs, which are put on at a central source and carried to the various broadcasting stations by wire. But only a small part of the world has these advantages, and means must be developed for better communication.

Take China, for instance. The Chinese speak a great many different dialects. One province can’t even understand the language of another. The Central Government is thinking of establishing broadcast stations in the principal populated areas—connected by radio links—because in that mountainous country the cost of wire installation and maintenance would be prohibitive. The Government then hopes to begin gradually to teach the people a single language and thus help to unite the nation.

Knowledge builds understanding, and there is a tremendous opportunity to educate millions of people in the world through the use of radio broadcasting. It may have a great effect in the future on world peace.

India

There is a similar problem in India with its caste system and many languages. And here again, the Indian government is thinking in terms of a network broadcasting system which will bring their people closer together.

The impact of a centralized communications system upon the lives, customs, and habits of these tremendous populations could be very far reaching.

There are two outstanding immediate developments in the radio industry in which you will participate in the near future. One of them is the development of a new FM broadcasting system, which will be nationwide. The other is Television.

The entire radio industry is on the eve of great revolutionary developments.

For the past 25 years we have had sound radio broadcasting—and while there have been constant advances and improvements—there have been no fundamental changes.

While we had FM in a limited way before the war, tremendous improvements have been made in this radio system during the war… for FM radio was one of the principal means of military communications—particularly between tanks.

FM will do two things that have hitherto been impossible.

First of all, it will give us a high degree of freedom from noise and static. It will also make it possible, if the public so desires, to provide improved “high-fidelity” reproduction of musical programs.

How many times, particularly during the summer months, have you wanted to listen to your favorite radio program, only to have it so badly marred by static that you finally had to give it up?

With FM you will be able to listen without interference even during heavy thunderstorms.

In the second place, consider, if you will what it may mean to the public and the radio industry to have hundreds and perhaps thousands of new broadcasters go on the air. We have long since reached the limit in the number of possible AM stations.

Lots of people with the money and a desire to broadcast have not had a chance to do so. There just are not enough AM channels to go around,

FM uses another part of the spectrum and thousands of new stations can go on the air. In Detroit, for example, you have 5 AM stations now in operation. With FM, you may be able to have as many as 25.

Since FM makes it possible for new groups and new interests to enter broadcasting, it will probably result in greater competition for the attention of the radio audience. You may very well hear new and more varied types of programs on the air.

This development, too, should benefit the listening audience.

I predict that within the next five years, close to $2 billion will be invested in new FM stations and in receiving sets that will allow the public to listen to FM programs.

Television

By far the most important development from which the public will derive the greatest benefit as a result of the electronic advances in World War II, will be Television for the home.

I predict it will not be many years before practically every family in the United States will have a television receiver in their home just as they have a radio set today.

With television, you will be able to sit in your own living room and see the great events of the world pass before your eyes.

Can you imagine the tremendous interest of having television give you a front row seat at the inauguration of the next President of the United States!

Can you imagine watching the finest football games—and see them, play by play—in your own living room in Detroit—even though the game may be in Los Angeles!

Can you imagine the interest your wife will have in viewing fashion’s latest creations when she sees them by television right in her own home!

You have been promised for about 10 years that television was just around the corner. We can now tell you definitely that it is here. Probably never before has the product of a great new industry reached such an advanced stage before it was offered to the public.

The radio industry had already invested about $25,000,000 in television research and development before the war. And on top of all the research carried on in this field by the pioneering companies before the war… is now added the great store of new knowledge and new experience resulting from the war effort.

It was peacetime television research that made radar the outstanding weapon that it was, and the development of radar in turn greatly advanced the whole television art.

Just a few months ago, the FCC after a thorough study of the entire problem, gave television the “green light” and assigned it definite, permanent frequency allocations in the spectrum.

Broadcasters, set manufacturers and the public can all proceed now with confidence, to get the television industry going on a substantial basis, and I believe you will be surprised at the great speed with which it grows.

It is my opinion that the Commission is to be greatly commended on the vigorous stand it took in clearing the way for television.

In my opinion the Commission has adopted the policy best suited to the public interest—and one that will give the American public television at the earliest possible date. And they held to this position in the face of a great deal of opposition by certain broadcasting groups who wanted television delayed.

They have provided the means for the American public to get the benefit of television in the frequencies we are now using with a black and white picture. And that picture will be highly acceptable, entertaining and exciting to the American people.

The Commission has further provided for a continuation of research in the higher frequencies and in color which will assure that the television art will be continually and steadily advanced.

The problem of launching television is not an easy one—nor is it an inexpensive one. In the advance of television a great deal of programming research and high cost program production is necessary to make it available to the American public. And this must be done in anticipation of later recovering what has been spent—because, of course, there is no television audience of any size at the present time.

But the FCC, by clearing the way for receivers to be made and broadcast programs to be put on the air in the frequencies where our experience lies has assured the American public of television reception in many of our important cities within a matter of months.

Further, I believe that it will take a number of years before satisfactory programs in the high frequencies—and color—on an every-day basis can be given to the American public.

So, in effect, as the industry grows and develops, the American public can and will be enjoying television in black and white and in the lower frequencies.

Eventually, we will have color in the higher frequencies that will give an even finer picture.

I doubt, however, if anyone in this audience would have foregone the pleasure of his automobile as a means of transportation—or the pleasure of motoring—for many years to wait for the development of 1945.

It is my feeling that television, like any other industry, will develop faster and better when put to use, rather than if it were to be restricted to the laboratory.

And television, in my opinion, is far too big an industry and too important to the American people to be held up for nebulous future developments when the present picture is as good as it is today and can give the American public so much in the way of pleasure and entertainment immediately.

Projection Television

As to television receivers, the better ones will probably be of the projection type, where the image, reflected on a screen is large enough and clear enough so that you and your family will be able to see it anywhere in the average size room.

In the latest design of projected television, you will be able to look at the picture in daylight or with the lights on, so that the idea of sitting in total darkness for a television show will soon be a thing of the past.

The lower priced sets will probably be of the present type—where the picture is seen on the end of a cathode-ray tube like that used in radar. The size and detail of this picture will be reflected in its price.

And my prediction is—you will shortly have good television sets from $150 up—and maybe even lower.

Link Development

One of the greatest problems of television is that of establishing network programs.

Network television broadcasts are necessary to good tele* vision. We all have been educated to expensive, elaborate radio network programs—and we will not be satisfied in television with anything less than a network system of programming. Also the economics of television broadcasting indicate the desirability of network programs. This forces on us the need of linking local television stations together into a network.

Sometime previous to the war, the coaxial cable was considered the only satisfactory means of transmitting a television signal from city to city.

But, during the last five years—especially during the war —tremendous advances have been made in radio links, and it now looks as if television will have two choices in building networks:

(1) Coaxial cable

(2) Radio links

Using the coaxial cable to link television broadcast stations together is well known. The problem is the cost of the cable itself—and also the expense of installing it.

Since the war our knowledge of microwave radio relays has progressed tremendously, so that these two systems will undoubtedly be competing with each other as to initial cost, maintenance and technical advantages to determine which is the best method of linking television broadcast stations together.

Philco has pioneered in the development of these radio relay links by carrying television signals from Washington, D. C. to Philadelphia over a series of four intermediate booster stations on April 17, 1945 and our initial experiments were highly satisfactory.

These radio links are so located that there is “line-of-sight” transmission, thus assuring dependable operation in all kinds of weather.

There is no reason why this experimental technique cannot be greatly expanded; so that we look forward in a reasonable length of time to the development of television relay Stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Coast, that is, a nationwide television network which permits the same centralized creation of programs in television that we have in radio.

When this is accomplished—can you imagine the advantage to a motor car company in being able to show pictures of—and demonstrate its new models… perhaps with a good looking girl at the wheel… to thousands and thousands of customers sitting in the living rooms of American homes!

Some of the leading department stores in the East are already tying in with television broadcasting to demonstrate their latest fashions to the ladies. Think what it would mean to a retailer to demonstrate his newest products to the housewife right in her own home!

Think of the educational possibilities when television programs may be thrown on the screen in schools all over America!

If radio has been a vital factor in affecting public opinion in this country—and you all have a good idea of how much it has contributed—imagine the increased influence of television when sight is added to sound.

Conclusion

So I can see nothing ahead but a great expansion in the entire field of electronics… developments in communications… in industrial applications of electronics; and in television which will, I believe, forge ahead rapidly.

It has been predicted that the capital expenditures and the production of durable consumer goods in the communications field alone will exceed $5 billions in the next five years.

This means the creation of great employment… new wealth… new opportunities… and a contribution to a higher national standard of living.

The history of the electronics industry in the past 30 years, marked by the introduction of such great new things as the transcontinental telephone and radio, is only a preview of the tremendous developments just ahead of us.

In this speech, Larry E. Gubb discusses technological advances in radar and electronics developed during World War II and their potential applications in peacetime. With respect to radar, he describes how improvements in American search radar systems allowed the Allies to spot German U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean from a distance of twenty-five nautical miles—a dramatic improvement from earlier systems with a maximum distance of eight nautical miles. Radar bombsight allowed pilots to target bombing raids with great precision and carry out raids even in poor weather conditions. Navigation radar allowed airplanes and ships to navigate using radar beacons rather than visual cues, which revolutionized flight and shipping. A vessel could travel “any predetermined course, day or night, regardless of weather, without depending on celestial navigation.”

Gubb explains how these developments can improve transportation safety even during peacetime. Planes equipped with radar systems no longer need to rely on visual cues to navigate. Instead, they can be guided to avoid obstacles and land on target safely even in darkness or bad weather. Radar systems also allow ships to safely enter harbors in fog and avoid obstacles at sea, including icebergs and other ships.

Other general electronics developments likewise have substantial peacetime applications. For example, tiny vacuum tubes used in electronic controls can improve the safety of manufacturing equipment by helping to “regulate temperature, eliminate smoke and automatically control entire batteries of operating machines.”

Wartime research also brought advancements in communication technology. Gubb discusses the wireless link system that could replace damaged telephone and telegraph wires across Europe, as well as allow US railroads to operate uninterrupted service during bad weather. He highlights the usefulness of wireless broadcasting in mountainous and undeveloped areas, where cost and maintenance might make wired connections impractical or impossible. In particular, FM radio—one of the principal means of military communication—has higher fidelity than AM radio, is less likely to be marred by static during poor weather conditions, and provides additional bandwidths to new broadcasters.

Finally, Gubb discusses how these advancements led to significant developments in television transmission and reception technology, and he predicts that color television will soon be available. He believes that television sets will eventually be in every household in the United States and sees television’s enormous potential for entertainment and commercial applications. He says that advancements in wireless communication will facilitate the formation of national television networks—similar to those already existing for radio—particularly in areas where physical linkages using coaxial cables are inconvenient or impossible.

The US government kept many of the most dramatic and impressive research efforts in electronics, radar, and broadcast technology closely guarded secrets during World War II because of their strategic importance. But once the war ended, the American public finally had an opportunity to see the results of these secret projects and experience the changes they could bring to life, culture, and society.

Like many others, Gubb believed that wireless communication technology could help unite the world and promote peace. He specifically mentioned China and India, large countries with geographical features that made a wired national communication system impractical or impossible. Both countries also had many regional subcultures that could not effectively communicate with one another because of differences in language and lifestyle. The government of these nations hoped that wireless broadcasting could facilitate a centralized communication system to educate people and encourage the development of a single national language and a uniform culture.

Developments in FM radio allowed for the establishment of additional commercial and public radio stations. Gubb believed this would “result in greater competition for the attention of the radio audience” and lead to “new and more varied types of programs on the air.”

But above all else, Gubb and his fellow researchers were thrilled by the prospect of television. In his speech, he hailed the excitement of having a “front row seat at the inauguration of the next President of the United States,” or “watching the finest football games” taking place in Los Angeles from your living room in Detroit. He also believed that placing television sets in schools could provide new educational opportunities. Commercial opportunities abounded, since companies could advertise their goods directly in visually compelling ways “to the housewife right in her own home.”

At the time of Gubb’s speech, technology existed for black-and-white projection and cathode-ray tube television sets; color television sets were still under development. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had recently assigned definite, permanent frequencies for television broadcast, which further paved the way for television to become as ubiquitous as Gubb and his associates dreamed.

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