Special Reports

The Magic Of TV, As Seen In 1981

CHICAGO (CBS) ― If you had occasion to watch CBS 2's special "Inside Out: The Magic of TV" when it first aired on Aug. 15, 1981, you probably watched it on a TV set with a pair of dials on the right hand side and bunny-ear antennas protruding from the top. You probably didn't have a remote control, you likely didn't have a VCR, and if you had cable, the options were extremely limited.

If you had a computer, it probably sported a monochrome screen with green text on a black background, and had two disk drives for those 5 1/2 inch floppy disks.

But in this half-hour special, former CBS 2 Health and Science editor Roger Field shows that even 27 years in the past, the technology that brought television programming to the air had advanced in leaps and bounds since the days of the medium's infancy.

Here's a look at how television was made in 1981.

 VIDEO: How Far We'd Come
In this first segment, Roger tells us about the dramatic changes that had come to the television industry as of 1981. In the earliest days of television, what went out over the air was whatever could be assembled in a TV studio with bright lights and broadcast live. But a few decades later, satellite technology had made it possible to broadcast from anywhere in the world, and replay old broadcasts at any time. As Roger tells you about the earliest television broadcasts, you'll see archive film of some of CBS 2's legendary personalities – Lee Phillip, John Coughlin, and Irv Kupcinet.


 VIDEO: The Science And Technology Of Television
In 1981, of course, the capabilities of computers, digital technology and other necessities of television production were far more limited. But in this next segment, you'll notice that a lot of the tools and technologies used in television production back then are basically less advanced versions of the same ones in use today. Roger shows us what's inside the familiar news van, how microwave technology worked, methods for editing video, and how a ChromaKey screen, a TelePrompTer and other tools work.


 VIDEO: The Magic And Occasional Mistakes Of TV
Of course, both people and technology can run into a glitch every once in a while. In this last segment, Roger shows us a few slightly embarrassing moments from vintage CBS 2 newscasts. He also tells us about what the industry was expecting in the future – closed captioning technology, VCRs and satellite cable among them.

To be sure, all this seems like ancient technology in today's world of DVDs and streaming video. And a lot has changed in the world of television in 27 years. Videotape has largely been supplanted by high-definition disks. Still photos are stored in a computer database instead of a huge magnetic disk.

Not too long after this program aired, technology made it possible to superimpose descriptive graphics over the anchor's shoulder without a ChromaKey screen. But ChromaKey is still our best friend when it comes to weather forecasts.

And of course, in 1981, hardly anyone had ever heard of the Internet; the first message ever posted on a Usenet message board (remember those?) was sent into cyberspace just a few months before this program aired.

But now, thanks to the wonders of the information age, video editing, graphic design and a variety of other TV technologies are far easier to use. And thanks to the Internet, you can watch this program again anytime you want on your computer, 27 years later!


As TV enters the next generation, make sure you're prepared. As you probably know, by law, television stations nationwide must switch from the old method of transmitting TV signals known as analog to digital television (DTV) on February 17, 2009. DTV is a new type of broadcasting technology that delivers movie-quality pictures and sound, more channels and even high definition television (HDTV) to consumers with HD television sets.

While the benefits of DTV are remarkable, millions of households risk losing television reception unless they take the easy steps to receive a digital signal. And he CBS Television Stations Group and the National Association of Broadcasters will assist you throughout the entire transition process.

For more information, including frequently asked questions, how to hook up your converter box, and a special report by Ed Curran, click for our Digital TV page.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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