Order of the Iron Test Pattern

[Tom_Ryan]

Back in 1979 prior to the National Association of Broadcaster's convention, the Order of Iron The Test Pattern came into being to fill a need for recognizing contributors to the field of television. Long standing contributors and relics of the TV industry with decades of service have been recognized.

Through the years there have been many notable recipients...

How many of you remember Chuck Pharis receiving the Rust Collector Award?

or

Bill McCord for receiving the oldest working engineer award?

It seems that the television industry is changing dramatically from what it once was many years ago. I wonder who the Order of the Iron Test Pattern will recognize in the future:

when...(imagination a work here...just pretending...)

0) The next mobile phone you buy at Radio Shack...turn it on, go to steaming video mode and see on the display...Indian Head Cell Phone Test Pattern!

1) FCC forces rebanding of all off-air television broadcasts to cable or wireless phone service providers in urban centers to preserve radio spectrum.

2) Conventional TV replaced by 4G wireless service providers who offer small portable multi-media hand-held voice/data/video devices that simply connect wirelessly to your home large Flat-Panel display.

The future of American televison doesn't seem to be in the hands of Americans! The Dumont, Farnsworth, Blonder Tongue, RCA, GE, Zenith, Adminral, and broadcaster like ABC, NBC, and CBS companies that historically molded the TV industry, to name a few, are either gone or dwindling. Think what the future might bring as wireless cellphone service providers strive at convergence of multi-media technologies: offering mobile multi-media services of voice, high speed data, broadcast video all in one product. Traditional television industry is only a small niche of the potential convergence that multi-media industry is headed.

So, who do you think the Order of the Iron Test Pattern will honor in the future?

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by Tom_Ryan

So, who do you think the Order of the Iron Test Pattern will honor in the future?

Roundie Caretakers!

[Dave S]

Originally Posted by Tom_Ryan

The Dumont, Farnsworth, Blonder Tongue, RCA, GE, Zenith, Adminral, and broadcaster like ABC, NBC, and CBS companies that historically molded the TV industry, to name a few, are either gone or dwindling.

How true! I guess we can't stop "progress", but as collectors and historians, it's fortunate that we are able to appreciate and document and preserve artifacts and memories from the early days of the television revolution. Here in New Jersey, we're particularly fortunate since so much of the early work in the United States happened nearby. Our club meets at the Sarnoff Corporation, the old RCA Princeton labs where so much of television technology was - and continues to be - invented. Our new museum is on Marconi Drive, in a cottage Marconi built as part of his legendary transatlantic receiving station. It's easy enough to drive past where Farnsworth worked in Philadelphia, or where Atwater Kent made his radios. Or where Edison electrified Roselle, NJ or Pearl Street in New York City. Or Armstrong's tower in Alpine. Likewise, DuMont's old neighborhood is just down the road - I knew a man who worked with him, and with Jenkins. It's very cool to have been in Edison's labs, and his house. Prefer your history more recent? Drop in to Bell Labs! Heck, I only found out recently that I used to live a block from where Tesla once had offices in Rahway. And today (like it or not!) Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Ikegami and other major players in the television industry have their U.S. headquarters here. I don't know if anyone else gets off on that kind of stuff, but it's very inspiring to me!

Yes most of the movers and shakers from the companies you mentioned are gone now. But there's a notible exception: we're very lucky to have both Ben Tongue and Isaac Blonder as members of our local club. It's really a privilige to be able to have inventors of that caliber as friends. Here's a valued photo, a snapshot from one of our meetings.

--Dave Sica