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The year 1928 in television involved some significant events.

Below is a list of television-related events during 1928.

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Global television events

{| width=100% class="wikitable"

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! Month !! Day !! Event

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| January || 13 || Dr.&nbsp;Ernst Frederik Werner Alexanderson performs the first successful public television broadcast. The pictures, with 48&nbsp;lines at 16&nbsp;frames per second, are received on sets with 1.5&nbsp;sq.&nbsp;inch screens in the homes of four General Electric executives in Schenectady, New York. The sound is transmitted by the WGY radio station.

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| February || 09 || John Logie Baird transmits television pictures across the Atlantic. The pictures are transmitted from Motograph House, London by telephone cable to Ben Clapp's station GK2Z at 40&nbsp;Warwick Road, Coulsdon, Surrey, and then by radio to Hartsdale, New York, United States.

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| June || 12 || The first outside broadcast is made by John Logie Baird on his roof in 133&nbsp;Long Acre, London, featuring the actor Jack Buchanan.

|- valign="top"

| rowspan="2" valign="top"| July

| 02 || Charles Francis Jenkins begins thrice-weekly television broadcasts in Washington, D.C., transmitting silhouette motion pictures. Station W3XK broadcasts from 8 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, testing on 46.72 metres for distance reception and on 186 metres locally.

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| 03 || John Logie Baird demonstrates a colour television system achieved by using a scanning disc with spirals of red, green and blue filters at the transmitting and receiving ends.

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| August || 14 || Hugo Gernsback's radio station, WRNY (New York City) begins a regular, if limited, schedule of live television broadcasts, using a mechanical system developed by a South-American inventor. It transmits 48-line images.

|- valign="top"

| rowspan="2" valign="top"| September

| 1 || Philo Farnsworth demonstrates his image dissector camera and "oscillite" tube receiver for the press, with the transmission of motion picture clips, described by a reporter as "a queer looking little image in bluish light now, one that frequently smudges and blurs." It is the first public demonstration of an all-electronic television system.

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| 11 || The first broadcast of a play by television, melodrama The Queen's Messenger, on General Electric's W2XAD from Schenectady, New York, utilising techniques created by Ernst Alexanderson. Three electromechanical cameras are used.

|}

Births

{| width=100% class="wikitable"

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! Date !! Name !! Notability

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| January 5 || Walter Mondale || U.S. politician (died 2021)

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| January 8 || Sander Vanocur || U.S. television journalist (died 2019)

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| January 11 || Mitchell Ryan || U.S. actor (Dark Shadows) (died 2022)

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| January 20 || Peter Donat || Canadian-American actor (Flamingo Road, The X-Files) (died 2018)

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| February 1 || Stuart Whitman || U.S. actor (Cimarron Strip) (died 2020)

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| February 11 || Conrad Janis || U.S. jazz musician and actor (Mork & Mindy) (died 2022)

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| February 13 || Gerald Fried || U.S. composer (died 2023)

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| February 22 || Bruce Forsyth || English entertainer and presenter (Sunday Night at the London Palladium, The Generation Game) (died 2017)

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| rowspan="2"| February 29 || Joss Ackland || English actor (died 2023)

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| Irene Sunters || Actress (died 2005)

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| March 20 || Fred Rogers || U.S. television personality and musician (Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) (died 2003)

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| April 1 || George Grizzard || U.S. actor (Law & Order) (died 2007)

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| April 4 || Estelle Harris || U.S. actress (Seinfeld) (died 2022)

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| April 7 || James Garner || U.S. film and television actor (Maverick, The Rockford Files) (died 2014)

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| April 23 || Bill Cotton || British executive, controller of BBC One (1977–1981), managing director of BBC Television (1981–1987) (died 2008)

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| rowspan="2"| May 23 || Jeannie Carson || English-born U.S. actress (Search for Tomorrow, Hey, Jeannie!)

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| Nigel Davenport || Actor (died 2013)

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| June 4 || Ruth Westheimer || Talk show host (died 2024)

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| June 20 || Martin Landau || U.S. actor (Mission: Impossible) (died 2017)

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| July 1 || Birgitta Ulfsson || Finnish actress (Mumintrollet) (died 2017)

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| July 13 || Bob Crane || U.S. disc jockey and actor (Hogan's Heroes) (died 1978)

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| July 15 || Tom Troupe || U.S. actor

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| July 22 || Orson Bean || U.S. actor (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) (died 2020)

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| August 10 || Eddie Fisher || Actor (died 2010)

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| August 17 || Willem Duys || Dutch radio and television presenter (died 2011)

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| September 1 || George Maharis || U.S. actor (Route 66)

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| September 19 || Adam West || U.S. actor (Batman) (died 2017)

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| September 23 || Roger Grimsby || U.S. actor (died 1995)

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| September 28 || Robert Chandler || U.S. television executive (died 2008)

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| October 17 || Don Collier || U.S. actor (Outlaws) (died 2021)

|-

| rowspan="3"|October 25

| Hal Bruno

| U.S. journalist (ABC News) (died 2011)

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| Marion Ross || U.S. actress (Happy Days)

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| Anthony Franciosa || U.S. actor (died 2006)

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| November 11 || Sanford Socolow || U.S. broadcast journalist (died 2015)

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| December 10 || Dan Blocker || U.S. actor (Bonanza) (died 1972)

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| December 16 || Terry Carter || U.S. actor (McCloud) (died 2024)

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| December 17 || George Lindsey || U.S. actor (The Andy Griffith Show) (died 2012)

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| December 28 || Bill Cardille || U.S. broadcast personality (died 2016)

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| December 29 || Bernard Cribbins || English actor (died 2022)

|}

Deaths

  • December 19 - J. Hartley Manners, 58, author of the first TV drama The Queen's Messenger

References