Prewar television stations

This is a list of prewar television stations of the 1920s and 1930s that were among the first in the world. Most of these experimental stations were located in Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, The Netherlands, and Russia), Canada and the United States. Some present-day broadcasters trace their origins to these early stations.

All television licenses in the United States were officially "experimental" before July 1941, as the NTSC television standard had yet to be developed, and some American television broadcasters continued operating under experimental licenses as late as 1947, although by then they were using the same technical standards as their commercial brethren.

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Television stations

Television Call sign (Original)	Television Call sign (Current)	Television frequency	Television channel (Current)	City/location	On air	Owner (Original)	Original broadcast system	Current broadcast system
W2XB (also branded as WGY-TV from its sister radio station)	WRGB	2150 kHz	6	Schenectady, New York/Albany, New York, USA	May 10, 1928	General Electric Co.	Mechanical television 24 (later 48) lines/21 frame/s	NTSC-M from 1942–2009; now digital.
W1XAY (also branded as WLEX from its sister radio station)		3500 kHz		Lexington, Massachusetts, USA	June 14, 1928– March 1930	The Boston Post	Mechanical television 48 lines/18 frame/s
W3XK		1605 kHz & 6420 kHz, later 2.00-2.10 MHz		Wheaton, Maryland/Washington, D.C., USA	July 2, 1928– 1932	Charles Jenkins Laboratories	Mechanical television 48 lines
W2XAL (also branded as WRNY from its sister radio station)				New York City, USA	August 13, 1928– 1929		Mechanical television 48 lines
W1WX (later became W1XAV)		2120 kHz		Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Spring 1929– 1931		Mechanical television 48 & 60 lines/15 frame/s
W2XBS	WNBC	2.75-2.85 MHz	Formerly Channel 1, now VHF Channel 4	New York City, USA	1929–1932, 1936–present	National Broadcasting Company	Mechanical television 60 lines/20 frame/s	Now NTSC-M
Baird Television Ltd. via BBC transmitter 2LO		831 kHz [1]		London, England, United Kingdom	September 30, 1929– June 1932		Mechanical television 30 lines/25 frame/s
W9XAP	WNBQ-TV (1948-1964)[2] now WMAQ-TV		VHF Channel 5	Chicago, Illinois, USA	August 27, 1930[3][4][5][6][7]	National Broadcasting Company	Mechanical television	Now NTSC-M
VE9EC			41 MHz	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	1931–1935	La Presse and CKAC radio	Mechanical television 60-150 lines
W6XAO	KCBS-TV		Formerly on Channel 1, now VHF Channel 2	Los Angeles, California, USA	June 1931–1933, 1937–1948 as experimental Don Lee station; May 6, 1948–present	Don Lee	Mechanical television, film only, 80 lines/20 frame/s	Now NTSC-M
W6XYZ	KTLA-TV		Formerly on Channel 4, now VHF Channel 5	Los Angeles, California, USA	June 1942–1946 experimental, Jan. 22, 1947–present	Paramount		Now NTSC-M
W2XAB	WCBS-TV	2.1-2.2 MHz	Now VHF Channel 2	New York City, USA	July 31, 1931–February 1933, 1940–present	Columbia Broadcasting System	Mechanical television 60 lines/20 frame/s	Now NTSC-M
W2XWV	WNYW		Channel 4 (1938–1944), Channel 5 (1944–Present)	New York City, USA	1938–present	Allen B. DuMont	Unknown	Now NTSC-M
W3XE	WPTZ (now KYW-TV)	-	VHF Channel 3	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	1932–present	Philco Corporation	Mechanical television	Now NTSC-M
W9XBK	WBKB (now WLS-TV)		Formerly on Channel 4, now VHF Channel 7	Chicago, Illinois, USA	1940–present	Balaban & Katz		Now NTSC-M
W9XZV	Later KS2XBS (Phonevision experimental on Channel 2)		VHF Channel 1	Chicago, Illinois, USA	1939–1941
2LO (BBC Television Service)	BBC One	831 kHz[1]	UHF (Channels 21–68, throughout UK)	London, United Kingdom	August 22, 1932–September 11, 1935		Mechanical television 30 lines/12.5 frame/s	Now PAL and DVB
BBC Television Service (Alexandra Palace)	BBC One	45 MHz[1]	UHF (Channels 21–68, throughout UK and on Astra 2D satellite)	London, United Kingdom	November 1936–September 3, 1939		Mechanical television 240 lines (Baird system) and electronic television 405 line (Marconi-EMI system)/25 frame/s	Now PAL and DVB
EIAR - Stazione sperimentale radiovisione di Monte Mario	RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana	40,54 MHz (audio), 44,12MHz (video)	VHF (channel 9) and UHF (channels 25, 26, 30 and 40)	Rome, Italy	July 22, 1939 - May 10, 1940		Electronic television 441 lines / 21 to 42 frame/s.	Now DVB
EIAR - Stazione sperimentale radiovisione Torre Littoria (now Torre Branca)		40.50 MHz (audio), 44.00 MHz (video)		Milan, Italy	April 12 - April 28, 1940		Electronic television 441 lines / 21 to 42 frame/s.
Radiovision PTT (1935) later Paris Television (1943) then RTF (1946) (Eiffel Tower)	TF1	37 MHz (180 & 455 l.) later 42–46 MHz (441 lines)	UHF Channels 21–69 (System L + DVB throughout France and FTA on AB3 satellite)	Paris, France	November 1935–1937 (60 then 180 l.) later 1938–1939 (455 l.) then 1943–1956 (441 lines)		Mechanical television 60 then 180 line later electronic television 455 then 441 line/25 frame/s	Now SECAM and DVB
Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow				Berlin/Potsdam, Germany	1935–1944 (tests started in 1929)		Electronic television 180 lines/25 frame/s/50 fields/sec (started broadcasting in 441 lines in mid-1937)
Doświadczalna Stacja Telewizyjna	Telewizja Polska		TVP channels: TVP1, TVP2, etc.	Warszawa, Poland	1935–1939 (test broadcasting starts between 1937-38)		Mechanical television	Now PAL and DVB

See also

• Timeline of the BBC
• History of television
• Timeline of the introduction of television in countries
• Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries
• Geographical usage of television
• Moving image formats
• Oldest radio station
• List of experimental television stations
• Narrow-bandwidth television
• Television systems before 1940

Individual television stations

• WRGB
• WNBC-TV
• WCBS-TV
• KCBS-TV
• BBC / BBC Television

Broadcast television systems

• Television systems before 1940
• NTSC
• PAL
• SECAM

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} How Old?
2. ^ Call Letters Switch (page 21). Billboard. 5 September 1964. http://books.google.com/books?id=kkUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21&dq=wmaq+intitle:billboard&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=1950&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=1975&as_brr=0&as_pt=MAGAZINES&cd=132#v=onepage&q=wmaq%20intitle%3Abillboard&f=false. Retrieved 27 April 2010. 
3. ^ "Copy of W9XAP station license". Samuels, Rich. http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wmaq/w9xap/w9xaplicense.html. Retrieved April 25, 2010. 
4. ^ Parker, Bill (28 October 1984). "transcript of Bill Parker letter, who was assigned the construction of the television studio at the Daily News building in 1929". Television Experimenters. http://www.televisionexperimenters.com/sanabria.html. Retrieved 11 May 2010. 
5. ^ "Early Chicago Television-W9XAP". Hawes TV. http://www.hawestv.com/mtv_chicago/mtv_cgo.htm. Retrieved April 25, 2010. 
6. ^ "Early television-W9XAP-WMAQ Chicago". Early Television. http://www.earlytelevision.org/w9xap.html. Retrieved April 25, 2010. 
7. ^ "W9XAP first broadcast-transcript from Daily News story-August 28, 1930". Daily News. http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wmaq/w9xap/firstbroadcast.html. Retrieved 25 April 2010. 

External links

• Prewar US Stations
• 1936 German Olympics
• W1XAY at TVHistory.tv
• European Television Stations in 1932