A Brief History of Modern Entertainment
Did you know that 100 years ago there were no TV's, radios, video games, websites, Mp3 players or personal computers? For at least 6,000 years, mankind lived without electronic media.
In the year 1906 only 14% of homes in the U.S. had a bath tub! Today there are more TV's per household than there are people per household.
At that same time only 8% of homes had a telephone. Today almost 60% of American teens have their own cell phone and it is estimated that more than 50% of 8-12 year olds will have their own cell phone within the next three years.
A hundred years ago the average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour. Today, teens alone spend over 160 billion dollars a year and much of that is on entertainment.
Back then there were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S. Today, the average child will see 16,000 murders portrayed on TV by the time they are 18.
Today more than 45 million homes in the US have a video game console in their home (more than 50% of homes with televisions).
1879 The first commercial power station opens in San Franscisco.
1896 The first "theater" in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to showing motion pictures is established in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1906 On Christmas Eve the first radio program broadcast included the song
"O Holy Night" and a passage from the Bible.
1941 The first TV broadcast in the U.S.
1954 The first color TV broadcast in the U.S.
1969 ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet is launched by the Dept of Defense.
1972 The first video game console (Magnavox Odyssey) was released to the public.
1976 Apple 1 Personal Computer goes on sale.
1978 Sony introduces the "Walkman", the first portable stereo.
1982 The Compact Disc hits the market.
1985 Microsoft introduces Windows operating system.
1989 The World Wide Web was invented (the "internet" was earlier, The seed of what would become the internet was created by ARPANET in 1969. It was basically a group of researchers working for the Department of Defense.)
1994 Sony Playstation 1 is released.
1995 Classmates.com is one of the earliest online social networks.
1996 The first DVD player hits the market.
2001 The iPod hits the market (5 GB).
2003 MySpace emerges as a social network which reaches 100 million profiles by August of 2006. It was purchased by News Corportation in 2005 for $580 million.
2005 YouTube is launched and over 3 billion videos are watched in January 2008 alone. 100 million videos are watched everyday and 50,000 new videos are being added each day.
2007 The popular video game Halo 3 sets an all-time entertainment record with $170 million in sales in the first 24 hours.
2008 A 30 second commercial during the Superbowl cost $2.7 million. There were a total of 63 commercial spots.
Did you know that 100 years ago there were no TV's, radios, video games, websites, Mp3 players or personal computers? For at least 6,000 years, mankind lived without electronic media.
In the year 1906 only 14% of homes in the U.S. had a bath tub! Today there are more TV's per household than there are people per household.
At that same time only 8% of homes had a telephone. Today almost 60% of American teens have their own cell phone and it is estimated that more than 50% of 8-12 year olds will have their own cell phone within the next three years.
A hundred years ago the average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour. Today, teens alone spend over 160 billion dollars a year and much of that is on entertainment.
Back then there were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S. Today, the average child will see 16,000 murders portrayed on TV by the time they are 18.
Today more than 45 million homes in the US have a video game console in their home (more than 50% of homes with televisions).
1879 The first commercial power station opens in San Franscisco.
1896 The first "theater" in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to showing motion pictures is established in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1906 On Christmas Eve the first radio program broadcast included the song
"O Holy Night" and a passage from the Bible.
1941 The first TV broadcast in the U.S.
1954 The first color TV broadcast in the U.S.
1969 ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet is launched by the Dept of Defense.
1972 The first video game console (Magnavox Odyssey) was released to the public.
1976 Apple 1 Personal Computer goes on sale.
1978 Sony introduces the "Walkman", the first portable stereo.
1982 The Compact Disc hits the market.
1985 Microsoft introduces Windows operating system.
1989 The World Wide Web was invented (the "internet" was earlier, The seed of what would become the internet was created by ARPANET in 1969. It was basically a group of researchers working for the Department of Defense.)
1994 Sony Playstation 1 is released.
1995 Classmates.com is one of the earliest online social networks.
1996 The first DVD player hits the market.
2001 The iPod hits the market (5 GB).
2003 MySpace emerges as a social network which reaches 100 million profiles by August of 2006. It was purchased by News Corportation in 2005 for $580 million.
2005 YouTube is launched and over 3 billion videos are watched in January 2008 alone. 100 million videos are watched everyday and 50,000 new videos are being added each day.
2007 The popular video game Halo 3 sets an all-time entertainment record with $170 million in sales in the first 24 hours.
2008 A 30 second commercial during the Superbowl cost $2.7 million. There were a total of 63 commercial spots.
Helpful Links
More on today's media
P.O. Box 201
Mt. Carroll, IL 61053
Mt. Carroll, IL 61053
