From RABBIT EARS To TELEVISION ANTENNAS: The Beginning of Cable Television

Every term in the History of Telecom class I teach at Oregon State University, I always ask for a show of hands from students: "How many of you get your TV from an antenna?" I ask. "Not a satellite dish, an antenna. Rabbit ears, or a big thing on the roof." I usually see two or three hands, out of a class of 70 students. The fact is, broadcast TV is a ghost of its former self. Cable TV is how almost everyone gets his or her television these days. Cable TV - CATV, or "Community Antenna Television" - is a huge industry today. And it all started, believe it or not, with a guy on a rooftop in Astoria, Oregon, pursuing the sweet and simple goal of doing something nice for his wife. Here's how it happened: