The first television picture was broadcast in 1926 from Arlington, Virginia to Washington, D.C. The technological achievement was of a picture of a weather map.

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, father of Candice Bergen, was the first president of the Television Academy.

In 1950, the sitcom laugh track was introduced in the U.S. on "The Hank McCune Show"; that TV program was canceled during midseason.

The first televised tour of the White House, led by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and hosted by Charles Collingwood, was broadcast simultaneously by CBS and NBC in 1962. The tour was watched by an estimated 46,500,000 viewers, offering them their first opportunity to see many of the rooms of the President's home.

The Avengers, which aired in the United States on ABC from 1966 to 1969, was the first British show ever to air in a U.S. network's prime time fall schedule. The tongue-in-cheek spy show starred Patrick Macnee as John Steed, the urbane British undercover agent.

As a college sophomore, Oprah Winfrey was the first African-American news co-anchor on a local U.S. TV station.

In 1990, Upjohn ran the first TV commercial in the U.S. during which an actor said he had diarrhea.

Author: Vicki McClure Davidson

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