Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

485.0. ""The Telephone" on "The American Experience", PBS" by NETCAD::MORRISON (Bob M. LKG2-A/R5 226-7570) Tue Feb 04 1997 14:57

  "The American Experience" on PBS is running a trilogy on inventions of the
late 19th century. Fascinating stuff. PBS has, of course, done this stuff at
length on Nova, but this trilogy is focused on the social and economic effects
of these inventions, not the science.
  The first show, "The Telephone", was shown last night. Some thoughts:
  Interesting the way the phone company started out as a monopoly (owned by
A.G. Bell), then a mix of competing companies, then a publicly held monopoly
(the Bell System), then (since the 1970's) a mix of competing companies again.
(This program only covered thru 1929, so didn't cover the last version of the
phone company.)
  I liked the footage of the 50-foot-high telephone poles with 20 crossarms
on them and 20 wires on each crossarm. I have seen these in photos before, and
I can imagine how some people must have detested them. Add to this the clutter
of power lines and trolley wires, and you have a real mess.
  The program didn't really do justice to some of the early 20th century
improvements such as dial phones and automated exchanges.