However, today nearly every household owns at least one television, maybe even more. The television has almost become a household appliance that virtually every family has. It had not always been this way so what was responsible for the rapid increase in television viewers? Was it the introduction of new transmitters that allowed people better access to a television? Was it a fall in the price of televisions making them more affordable for the less wealthy people? Was it the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II? All of these questions help us to find out why the television has become so popular.
Many people can remember watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 in their living rooms or anywhere where a television could be found. It was a big event and not to mention historical with statistics showing that nearly eight million people viewed the coronation from their own homes. Another ten and a half million people viewed in the homes of friends and one and a half million packed into cinemas and halls to watch. Many people who had not previously owned a television, bought a set especially to watch the coronation. One report says that over a million new television sets were sold in the weeks leading up to the coronation. Second hand television sets were also being sold in the lead up to the coronation for which made it easier for people to obtain a set.
Many people believe that people wanted to watch the coronation as they had more respect and interest for the royal family than we have today. In their opinion watching the coronation was a way of getting closer to the monarchy and the television was the reason that this was possible. Others believe that the television was simply something new to indicate how technology was advancing around the time of the coronation and people wanted to be part of it.
However other statistics show that the rise in television viewers was increasing steadily throughout the fifties with no unusual rise around the time of the coronation. So if the coronation wasn’t responsible for the rise in television viewers, what was? Until 1950 there was only one transmitter at Alexandra Palace in London. This meant that only those within range of the transmitter could receive signals enabling them to watch television. In 1950 another transmitter was set up in the Midlands allowing more people access to television signals. More new transmitters were opened in Manchester, South Wales and Scotland meaning that eighty per cent of the population were within reach of television pictures.
The rise of television viewers in the 1950’s could have also been because of a new form of credit which enabled people to make a small payment and pay the rest in small instalments over the next weeks, months or even years. Many people did this as it was an easier way of getting a television set which meant that you had stepped up on the social ladder. Owning a television set was something used to show off wealth and being able to get a television easier was a way of showing off your money even if you were not incredibly rich. One source suggests why having a television set was so important:
‘I remember that we were one of the first three in the road to get one. If you had a car and a TV set, you’d really arrived’.
This gives us one reason of why people wanted to get a new television set and why the number of television viewers increased in the 1950s. Another reason why television was so popular was that more companies were broadcasting programmes and different channels emerged meaning that there was something to satisfy everyone.
The number of television viewers rose during the 1950s due to all of the factors mentioned and also simply due to the fact that technology was developing. For some people the television was a reminder of just how fast technology was developing and of course it was a new form of entertainment. The coronation was an opportunity for people to see exactly what a television could do. This probably gave people the incentive to purchase their own television sets. However it was not the sole reason for why the number of viewers increased in the 1950s.
