Historical Note

Television observed an anniversary, and it came as a surprise to many of the U.S.'s nearly 13 million set owners. It was ten years ago last week that the first commercial (sponsored) TV shows, borrowed straight from radio, went out from NBC's transmitter atop the Empire State Building in Manhattan, /-

Television's real growth came after World War II, and by its tenth birthday last week, commercial TV was very commercial indeed; a TV set was no longer a temperamental toy, but the everyday benzedrine or phenobarbital of the masses. Now there are 109 stations in 66 cities; the hour of TV time that cost $120 on July 1, 1941 cost $3,250 last week. There are four Eastern networks, each with an outpost on the West Coast; the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. is building the last section of a coaxial cable and radio relay system which will link them all up early next year.

/- Among the performers that day: District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, accepting a check on behalf of the U.S.O.

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