Radical Software, Volume I, Number 2
The Electromagnetic Spectrum,
Autumn 1970
Click cover for thumbnails
Despite the 'Software' in the name, video hardware
was still a mystery for many «Radical Software»
readers in 1970. Many had no production skills at all,
or any real notion of how television and videotape recording
worked. Technical information in accessible form was
at a premium.
At the time, most technical literature was written
for engineers or engineering students. Eric Siegal,
Parry Teasdale, Don Ward, Charles Bensinger, Ken Marsh,
Videoforms, and others provided many short courses on
the electronics and mechanics of video production, educating
a generation of video tyros to a technical appreciation
of the medium. Not being technical writers by profession,
they made a real attempt to explain the principles of
television and video in language that non-technicians
could understand. Teasdale, Marsh, and Bensinger would
go on to write accessible books on video technology.
Cable television was also a subject of great interest
to early video activists. This issue begins with Beryl
Korot's fine exposition of the ins and outs of Cable
TV circa 1970.
In 1969, the FCC ruled that cablecasters with over
3500 subscribers had to originate some local programming.
But cablecasters saw their job as relaying broadcast
signals to clients with bad reception. Most were unwilling
to take on the job of program origination. It just wasn't
their trade.
But many video people saw an opportunity in the 'public
access' channels that the FCC encouraged. Broadcast
was not an option. Half-inch video signals could not
be broadcast, even on PBS stations. They did not meet
the signal set by the Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers. It was illegal to broadcast a
substandard signal. But cable TV did not come under
FCC broadcast regulations, and could deliver a video
signal without degradation.
Video activists could, they thought, gain an audience
with their message of change using the public access
channels. So FCC rules, cable TV economics, and the
electromagnetic spectrum were important issues to the
video community.
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