Synopses & Reviews
Now if I just remembered where I put that original TV play device--the universal remote control . . .
Television is a global industry, a medium of representation, an architectural component of space, and a nearly universal frame of reference for viewers. Yet it is also an abstraction and an often misunderstood science whose critical influence on the development, history, and diffusion of new media has been both minimized and overlooked. How Television Invented New Media adjusts the picture of television culturally while providing a corrective history of new media studies itself.
Personal computers, video game systems, even iPods and the Internet built upon and borrowed from television to become viable forms. The earliest personal computers, disguised as video games using TV sets as monitors, provided a case study for television's key role in the emergence of digital interactive devices. Sheila C. Murphy analyzes how specific technologies emerge and how representations, from South Park to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, mine the history of television just as they converge with new methods of the making and circulation of images. Past and failed attempts to link television to computers and the Web also indicate how services like Hulu or Netflix On-Demand can give rise to a new era for entertainment and program viewing online. In these concrete ways, television's role in new and emerging media is solidified and finally recognized.
Review
andquot;This brilliant example of a materialist analysis of technology shows how the fevered fantasies of television's early years were 'acts of invention as real as soldering together circuits in a lab.'andquot;
Review
andquot;With valuable scholarship, Sewell provides a useful corrective to the existing account of the prehistory of television and illuminates the formative processes of television as a medium.andquot;
Review
"Philip Sewell’s exploration of radio-era television powerfully illuminates a formative chapter in the medium’s history, one with special relevance today as the constellation of practices called television continues to transform."
Alexander Russo - author of Points on the Dial: Golden Age Radio beyond the Networks
Review
andquot;Murphy makes a compelling argument that television provides key precedents and frameworks for understanding contemporary digital media. With sophisticated analysis grounded in accessible and engaging prose, this book fills a unique gap in the body of media scholarship.andquot;
Review
andquot;An ambitious book that defines television not simply as a device or a means of production but instead as an environment. Murphy successfully and effectively elaborates on this idea by introducing numerous concrete examples such as portable music players, various game consoles, and remote controllers. This is an accessible, jargon-free resource. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;Philip Sewellandrsquo;s exploration of radio-era television powerfully illuminates a formative chapter in the mediumandrsquo;s history, one with special relevance today as the constellation of practices called television continues to transform.andquot;
Review
andquot;Sewell explores the history of USand#160;television's development into what was to become a mainstay of society. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;Television in the Age of Radio effectively establishes a rich, revised history of the development of television as a cultural formation. It offers insight beyond the surface-level policy and commercial power struggles and impacts to reveal a deep history of whom, how, and what made television what it was when released as a consumer product.andquot;
Synopsis
Television in the Age of Radio is a unique account of how television came to be, not just from technical innovations or institutional struggles, but from cultural concerns that were central to the rise of industrial modernity. A major revision of the history of television, it provides investigations of the values of early television amateurs and enthusiasts, the passions and worries about competing technologies, and the ambitions for programming that together helped mold the medium.
Synopsis
Television existed for a long time before it became commonplace in American homes. Even as cars, jazz, film, and radio heralded the modern age, television haunted the modern imagination. During the 1920s and 1930s, U.S. television was a topic of conversation and speculation. Was it technically feasible? Could it be commercially viable? What would it look like? How might it serve the public interest? And what was its place in the modern future? These questions were not just asked by the American public, but also posed by the people intimately involved in television's creation. Their answers may have been self-serving, but they were also statements of aspiration. Idealistic imaginations of the medium and its impact on social relations became a de facto plan for moving beyond film and radio into a new era.
In Television in the Age of Radio, Philip W. Sewell offers a unique account of how television came to be--not just from technical innovations or institutional struggles, but from cultural concerns that were central to the rise of industrial modernity. This book provides sustained investigations of the values of early television amateurs and enthusiasts, the fervors and worries about competing technologies, and the ambitions for programming that together helped mold the medium.
Sewell presents a major revision of the history of television, telling us about the nature of new media and how hopes for the future pull together diverse perspectives that shape technologies, industries, and audiences.
About the Author
Sheila C. Murphy is an assistant professor in the screen arts and cultures department at the University of Michigan.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Substance of Things Hoped For
1. Questions of Definition
2. Engendering Expertise and Enthusiasm
3. Programming the System for Quality
4. Seeing Around Corners
Conclusions: Why Not Quantity Television?
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index