io9
Eugene F. McDonald, Jr., hated TV commercials. Television was a new medium in the late 1940s, with few shows and still fewer channels, but McDonald already felt it was being ruined by advertisers. Unlike the untold legions who have shared his opinion, then and now, McDonald was in a position to do something about it. He was the president of Zenith Electronics Corporation. McDonald ordered his engineers go to work on a device that would allow viewers to mute the damn things, thus making ads unprofitable and leading to their demise. Or so he hoped.
Eugene F. McDonald, Jr., hated TV commercials. Television was a new medium in the late 1940s, with few shows and still fewer channels, but McDonald already felt it was being ruined by advertisers. Unlike the untold legions who have shared his opinion, then and now, McDonald was in a position to do something about it. He was the president of Zenith Electronics Corporation. McDonald ordered his engineers go to work on a device that would allow viewers to mute the damn things, thus making ads unprofitable and leading to their demise. Or so he hoped.Zenith introduced the first television remote control in 1950. Presciently named the "Lazy Bones," the device was attached by a wire to the television set. When consumers complained that whatever convenience the Lazy Bones offered was negated by the number of times they tripped over its cord, Zenith's designers went back to the drawing board. This time they came up with the wireless Flashmatic (1955), which aimed a beam of light at sensors located on the set. Alas, sunny days wreaked havoc with the system.
But Zenith's intrepid techs were not about to be outfoxed by a wayward sunbeam. The Space Command remote was introduced the following year. Using ultrasonic waves, the Space Command needed no batteries or wires. "Is it magic?" read an early ad, "It's like nothing you have ever seen before—anywhere!" A 1961 patent for a "tiny" microphone (miniature by standards of the day; photos show a device about the size of a paperclip) led to improved remote control performance, hence the promotional film clip above and its emphasis on seven different functions (among them tint, fine tuning, and color).
There was a drawback, however. A tabletop television set plus Space Command remote control cost $259.95; a console model was $550 (roughly $2,000 and $4,000 respectively, in today's money). Certainly, price was one of the reasons it took so long for remote controls to infiltrate American households. According to the New York Times, as late as 1976, only 9.5% homes had one.
Originally a luxury toy, today's infrared remotes are indispensable and omnipresent. Zenith estimates that as of 2000, 99% of television sets and 100% of DVD players are equipped with them. Couch potatoes everywhere salute you, Eugene F. McDonald!
Comments
Really need to mention Robert Adler. He pretty much invented the modern remote control:
[en.wikipedia.org]
I still remember the little TV set my Grandmother had in her bedroom. It litteraly used a clicker, or what they call the Space Command above. It had one button on the center of the remote, which you pulled down until it clicked. It would turn the TV on, and then cycle through the channels in order, until you hit the last channel, which would then turn the TV off. I took it apart once, and tried for hours to figure how it worked w/o batteries or an LED.
My grandparents had one of those boxes attached by wire to the television to control the TV well into the late 90s.
What happened to the part about not needing batteries? We could use that today.
@Rusty626: Except when your dog barked and changed the channel.
I assume the mechanical energy created by the "clicking" generated the sound waves neccessary to control the TV?
@BloggyMcBlogBlog: Yes, Adler is the man behind the Space Command. Eugene Polley invented the Flashmatic. And apparently there was at least some ill-will between the two of them over who "invented the remote control," though Adler's technology lasted much longer.
@Oxfordian: That's correct regarding the early models (at least as I understand it). Transistors later made it possible to generate the tones electronically and that's where the batteries came in.
I was doing research for a paper at school last fall and reading old issues of the weekly Variety. In a small item, a competing set manufacturer warned that remote controls with a mute button would threaten the entire "free to air" television model, and implied McDonald was "un-American" -- no small accusation during McCarthy's red scare.
Could this battle have signalled the start of the entertainment industry versus consumer electronics manufacturer war that is still waged today?
a mute button designed to kill ad revenue completely ignores the fact that american families are deathly afraid of long periods of silence that might force them to actually interact.
looking at the picture kinda reminded me ot Videodrome. Io9 should give some shout-outs to Videodrome for sure.
My father had one of the first home VCR systems, and it had a wired controller. You could just pause/play it. It was rather awesome.
If my wife and I are watching tube and I don't hit the mute quickly enough when a commercial comes on, she dives for the remote, with talons extended. Conditioning works.
Media companies hate the ability to zap commercials. It's why we have promos popping up all over our entertainment.
Maybe we should lobby for a federal subsidy to support Tivo's legal team.
@Lynn Peril: Isn't that more of a step in the other direction of evolution?
Is anyone interested in producing a remote that doesn't need batteries? Anyone?
@Klappstuhl: No one is interested in producing anything that would limit the amount of other shit you have to buy to make it work.
My folks had a Space Command tv and remote, but at one point lost the remote. Fortunately they had accidentally discovered previously that jingling your house/car keys would change the channel just fine, so they didn't really miss it.
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