100 Documents: Television Listings (1936)
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had spent several years experimenting with the new medium of television. In 1936, they built the first television station at Alexandra Palace (”Ally Pally”). The BBC programme planners were ordered to develop the first TV programming within just nine days.
The opening show was called “Here’s Looking at You”. It was broadcast on August 26th, with the announcer Leslie Mitchell’s opening words being, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the magic of television...”
Intermittent, irregular tests and broadcasts were held, and the first regular TV service was scheduled to begin on November 2nd. This service would alternate weekly between Baird’s 240-line intermediate film system and Marconi-EMI’s 405-line all-electronic system. Two program blocks would be broadcast every day (except Sunday), between 3/4pm and 9/10pm.
Before the regular service began, the concept of TV broadcasts had to be introduced, and this happened in the BBC’s “Television Number” of October 23rd. Following that, the BBC put together a supplement to its regular Radio Times magazine to show the weekly TV listings. The first supplement was published on October 30th.
Cover of the Radio Times, October 23rd.
The first advertised programmes included: the weather, musical numbers, household demonstrations such as “Mrs. Daisy Pain will give some tips about ironing”, an hour-long cabaret quartet with Bubbles Stewart doing “impressions of film stars”, commentary by John Piper on art exhibitions currently on display in London galleries, and a brief performance by “The Whistling Guard”.
On November 2nd 1936, at 3pm, the world’s first regular TV service began broadcasting. Only those living within 40km (25 miles) of the Ally Pally transmitter could get the broadcast, and there were perhaps 100-500 TV sets in Britain capable of receiving the broadcast.
Because the huge TV sets were expensive, TV was a new luxury for the rich. Those watching would dress up as if attending a stage play.
Three years later, Gerald Cock (head of BBC Television) said that he viewed TV as “essentially a medium for topicalities.” [A topicality is a subject of immediate interest.] He continued, “Excerpts from plays during their normal runs, televised from the studio or direct from the stage, with perhaps a complete play at the end of its run, would have attractive possibilities as part of a review of the nation’s entertainment activities. But, in my view television is from its very nature more suitable for the dissemination of all kinds of information than for entertainment.”