Golden Age of Television

The Golden Age of Television was the period in American television history when shows were produced primarily live on air. During this era, television became the entertainment medium of choice throughout the country. The Golden Age lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, when television productions shifted primarily to pre-recorded shows.

Prior to the Golden Age, there were attempts at producing and releasing television programming on a predictable schedule. One of the earliest examples of such a show was CBS's horror anthology The Television Ghost (1931-1933). Shows like this were produced using basic techniques to accommodate primitive technology. Early television sets used rotating disks to transmit pictures from a transmitter to the receiver. The sets were cumbersome to operate,...