In Living Color

Sunday, June 25 — Today is the anniversary of the first color television broadcast. In 1951, CBS transmitted the appropriately named program “Premiere” from New York City and through stations in Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

 

Patty Painter hosted PREMIERE—the very first Commercial CBS Color System telecast on June 25, 1951, from 4:35 p.m. – 5:34 p.m.

Patty Painter hosted PREMIERE—the very first Commercial CBS Color System telecast on June 25, 1951, from 4:35 p.m. – 5:34 p.m.

 

By the end of 1957, while nearly 39 million U.S. households had TV sets, only 150,000 were color units. Sales of color sets caught up with those of black and white sets around 1970. Shortly thereafter, American consumers began preferring foreign manufactured sets, and in 1995, the last major domestic brand was sold to a Korean firm. What little receiver manufacturing remains is a $156 million dollar a year domestic business.

 

You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey here.

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