Television in the 50’sBy: Cortney Dlubak

News Broadcasting

Commerci

als

Candidates

1950’sWorks Cited

Sports

SportsSports were very popular in the 50’s. Television helped sports become more popular. Families would get together

and watch the different sporting events together. There were about 150,000

viewers per sporting events. Television helped families bond and helped them get there minds off of the Korean War that was going on. There were more leisure time for the Americans. Kids

looked up to baseball stars like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Henry

Aaron as a hero. Other popular sports in the 50’s were baseball, golf, football. All- American Girls

Professional Baseball League was also a big deal. It was exciting for woman to

play baseball rather than just men. Tennis, basketball, and golf also were

televised. The Olympics was also broadcasted for the first time.

American baseball in t

he 50’s

News Broadcasting News broadcasting started out by

the anchors reading the news while pictures were being seen. The

average American got a better feel on the daily news from seeing it

rather than just hearing about it. Not until 1951 did news

broadcasting actually start with a live news cast. The popular “Hear It Now” that was on the radio turned

into “See It Now”. The election was one of the main things that the news covered. They also helped the people become more aware of their

rights. From 1952 – 1953, NBC faced financial crisis and had to

reduce their news programming. While this was going on CBS

extended its news operations. This is where the series “See It Now”

started. CBS vs. NBC

CommercialsThe commercials of the fifties were very interesting and unique and were a better way of advertising the product. Music was added to help grab the attention of the audience. Although many commercials were boring and straight to the point. What helped sell their products was that they expressed the price and had full details of their product. Towards the end of the commercial, they had a full explanation of their product. Some explanations were through a jingle or a song. The commercials back then were more informative rather than comical and entertaining. Frosted flakes and Kool-aid were two of the big commercials in the 50’s. The commercials were about one minute long.

Kool-aid commercial in the 50’s.

CandidatesDwight Eisenhower was the first presidential campaign to be broadcasted on television. His campaign was advertised through commercials. His advertisements helped him win the election. Most of his commercials showed Eisenhower himself speaking directly to the viewers. This involved answering the average peoples questions. The commercials also used their slogan ‘I like Ike’ very heavily. The Eisenhower smile was used a lot in these advertisements also to demonstrate how happy he would be to be elected. Some of the commercials were acting like Eisenhower was already elected using “Citizens of Eisenhower” referring to the people. These commercials exceedingly helped Eisenhower win his election.

More informati

on on Ike

Extra Facts:

• There were about ten million television sets in the American homes.

• Color televisions were sold for more money towards the middle of the fifties.

• Around 3.1 millions Americans enjoyed television in the fifties.

• Some people refer to the 50’s as the “Golden Age of Television.”

Works Cited

• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/television-in-the-1950s.html. 2000-2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2010

• http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade50.html. Lone Star College, 9 July 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.

• http://www.tvhistory.tv/advertising3.htm. Add Free Stats. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.