JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
[Hugo Gernsback with his TV glasses, 1963]
The "Experimental Visual License" is a very nice turn-of-phrase, and it occurs in a technical and less poetic sense in this nteresting and nicely designed pamphlet from the earliest days of popular commentary on the new medium of television. The ABC of Television was published in 1937 by the exceptional and extremely busy Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967, basically the inventor of the SciFi magazine) in his Short Wave & Television journal.
The pamphlet includes technical basics ("fundamentals of scanning", "mechanical systems", "Cathode ray emission", transmitter operation") as well as some popular and necessary information, like "when will we have television" and a list of television stations.
Just for the record, this publication lists 25 active stations, including low wattage stations like W2XAX, the Atlantic Broadcasting Company, in NYC at 50 Watts--there were 9 broadcasters with 150 Watts or less of the 25 listed. There's also a list of nine other "discontinued" television stations ("experimental visual licenses and permits discontinued or expired"), which is where that phrase crackles into life.
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