science · 04 September 1951 · 73 years ago
In 1951, President Harry Truman inaugurated transcontinental television service in the U.S. when AT&T carried his address to the opening session of the Japanese Peace Convention in San Francisco. The conference would formalize the end of hostilities with Japan, opening the door for Japan's economic recovery. The largest single television audience to date, estimated at over 30 million people, viewed the President Harry Truman, some as far away as New England. Eighty-seven stations all over the U.S. received and broadcast Truman's speech, the result of a $40 million infrastructure investment by AT&T. Microwave radio technology transmitted the television signal from San Francisco to Chicago. From there, it was carried on existing coaxial cables to the East Coast..
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