Chapter 301 Television Industry (1/2)

"On April 3, 1933, at 2 p.m., President Roosevelt visited the Courier Television Factory in Brooklyn...when he saw clips of his speeches and fireside chats on the color television in the factory laboratory. , couldn't help but sigh: "The future will be the era of television!"

"He sat in front of the color TV and repeatedly watched his own TV clips for a long time before reluctantly leaving. It is said that when President Roosevelt left, Mr. Colin Looper specially gave President Roosevelt a color TV... President Roosevelt specially gave the It is placed in the office of the White House. Whenever I have free time, I will turn on the TV and watch the clips inside...

The news of Roosevelt's visit to the Courier Television Factory was like a signal that promoted the development of the television industry.

On the day the Courier World newspaper published the report alone, the factory sold hundreds of TV sets, and demand exceeded supply.

Judging from market feedback, the public still maintains a great interest in the emerging machine TV, especially after Roosevelt's "promotion", many people who did not originally pay attention to this industry have gradually become interested in it. However, due to the limitations of purchasing channels and financial resources, the main buyers of televisions in New York City are still the upper class who were not affected by the Great Depression.

"Mr. Colin Looper, you should see this..."

Pulitzer Building, Louise Walton handed a newspaper to Colin.

"RCA, the best television set in the world."

Looking along the newspaper that Louis handed over, there was a TV advertisement from RCA in large fonts on the front page of the newspaper.

Although RCA lost ground to the evidence prepared by Dewey in the television patent litigation, this was obviously not enough for them to give up in the television patent battle.

In fact, since the initial patent lawsuit, RCA has filed various small lawsuits one after another. At the same time, it is said that the RCA has already begun to appeal within the company, apparently intending to replicate the original situation with RCA. Farnsworth's approach to patent litigation was to use these lawsuits, large and small, to delay Colin's development in television.

At the same time, on the other hand, radio companies continue to argue that because the TV patent eulogy has not yet been concluded, they also have the right to produce and develop the TV industry.

Unlike Philo Farnsworth, Colin had enough capital to fight against RCA and had no intention of being beaten passively.

In fact, after the patent lawsuit, Dewey also filed several lawsuits against wireless companies.

"Don't worry."

Taking his eyes back from the newspaper, Colin told Louis in front of him: "Our first priority right now is to produce enough televisions to supply New York City and even the United States. As for the American Radio Company..."

Since they like to produce TV sets, let them produce them.

For others, the development of the TV industry may be for the huge benefits behind it, but for Colin, this is the least important part. From the beginning, his focus in promoting the development of TV is to value the huge benefits behind this industry. With its huge influence, it can gain more [faith] through the development of the television industry.

Of course, it's one thing not to care, and another thing to suffer a loss.

Radio Corporation of America vowed that it would only charge patent fees and would never pay them.

Then Colin asked them to pay back the TV patent fees they owed one by one when the time comes. Every TV they produce now will represent a large sum of patent fees in the future.

The production of TV sets is proceeding in an orderly manner, and the factory's assembly line has reached the optimization stage after this period of deployment.

From the initial output of only a few dozen units a day to around 50 or 60 units, Colin is already interested in opening a new production line as the sales of TV sets increase.

However, the television is just a listening medium, just like the radio.

What really attracts people is the media behind the television or radio that produces and provides the programs.

Compared with the booming radio programs, the development of television programs is obviously much slower. Although this is closely related to the television itself as an emerging industry, the caution on the radio side is also one of the reasons.

At present, the mainstream listening method in the market is still radio.

This point has a great relationship with the market share of the radio itself.

Because of the Great Depression, a large number of people gave up their past entertainment life and chose cheaper ways to spend their time.

Radio programs emerged under this premise. According to statistics, after the Great Depression, more than 40% of American households owned radios.

The number of television stations available for listening has also increased from 500 in 1924 to 1,200.

Nowadays, it is the golden age of radio's booming development. Major radio stations have also developed rapidly with the popularity of radio and replaced newspapers and books as an emerging entertainment industry. Under such circumstances, it is unrealistic for radio stations to abandon radio programs that tell the story of development and invest in the television industry whose prospects are not yet clear.

The rise of radio was due to the turmoil of the Great Depression, an opportunity shaped by history.

If television wants to replace radio, the first thing to be solved is its high price. This is a fact determined by the production cost, which even Colin cannot change. The cost of materials required to assemble a television in a factory is much more expensive than that of a radio.

Before the real prosperity of the television industry, radio stations are destined not to invest too much cost in it.

Even if CBS only regards television as a development direction, most of the focus of radio stations is still on radio programs.

The development from radio to television will eventually require a long transition.

Even if Colin is behind it, it will take at least two or three years to build a complete television system research.

This is also one of the reasons why Colin did not stop the American Radio Corporation from stealing patents to produce televisions. He needs the American Radio Corporation to help him promote the maturity of the television system.

With the influence of the American Radio Corporation in the radio field, it can at least push the development of the television market forward.

...

In addition to promoting the improvement of the television industry.

Colin has not forgotten the serialization of "Superman" in the newspaper. As the most popular superhero on the market, each issue of "The Courier World" can help him gain a certain degree of "faith".

This is also the most stable source of "faith" in Colin's hands, so he will not give up easily.

The latest issue of "Superman" was published after the news of Roosevelt's visit to the Courier TV factory. The content of the story also returned to the earth from the previous Superman's universe wandering. After the incident of Mongo's "wandering star", after sensing the threat of the universe, Superman returned to the earth to protect the world again. The plot of the comics also returned to Superman's daily stories from the thrilling universe battles in the past.

The first short story mainly tells a story of "The Girl Who Doesn't Believe in Superman".

The "Courier Daily" held a children's cover selection competition, and the winner was a girl named Alice.

However, when Superman and Lois went to her house to deliver the prize, they found that Alice's eyes were blind.

From the conversation with the girl's parents, they learned that Alice was not blind, but became blind because of a car accident a few years ago. However, the girl's stubborn nature has not changed at all, and what is even more surprising is that Alice does not believe in the existence of Superman.

Alice: "No, I don't think there is a Superman in this world. It's just an urban legend. Maybe it's just an actor wearing special costumes."

Superman: "What?!"

Faced with the little girl's stubborn view, Superman was a little surprised. He was clearly standing in front of Alice, but she insisted that she did not believe that there was a Superman in the world.

If seeing is believing, how can a blind person believe that he is real?

Alice's statement aroused Superman's desire to win, but no matter how Superman tried, Alice always felt that it was a trick.

In the comics, Superman took the girl to the sky, but Alice thought that the other party had prepared a helicopter in advance. Superman told the story behind the door, but Alice thought it was the result of sneaking a peek in advance. When Superman twisted the iron dog out of shape, Alice thought it was a substitution.

For a time, Superman's proud superpowers became insignificant in front of Alice.

Superman: "Maybe, I shouldn't just think about proving myself, I should use super vision to see the condition of Alice's eyes."

Although the girl always denied it, Superman was not discouraged. On the contrary, he put aside his desire to win and used super vision to find out the reason for Alice's blindness. It was because the optic nerve was injured by glass fragments in the car accident that year, so he immediately sent her to the hospital, but the medical equipment of this era could not even locate where the glass fragments were, not to mention such a difficult operation, which was impossible to complete at that time.

Doctor: "No, we can't do it. No one can complete such a difficult operation."

Superman: "Then I will do it."

Faced with the doctors' rejection, Superman did not give up. On the contrary, he immersed himself in the hospital library and studied medicine. If super strength, flight, and perspective were useless at this time, then let the super brain power and tenacious willpower play a role; relying on the ability of super brain power, Superman learned medical books that ordinary people need more than ten or twenty years to read in just one day.

Superman went to the operating table and successfully performed the operation. After the operation, Alice regained her sight. She saw the sky, the sun, the world, and Superman...

And Superman took Alice to the sky again, so that Alice, who saw the light again, could see the real sky and Superman.

Although the content of "The Girl Who Doesn't Believe in Superman" is short, the core of the story is unexpectedly profound.

Therefore, the comic has been widely discussed since it was serialized. Readers expressed various different views on the doubts mentioned by Colin in the story about whether you will still believe in the truth of your belief when Superman becomes an urban legend.

And when the object becomes a blind person, how can it be proved?

In this story, Colin deliberately weakened the image of Superman as omnipotent in the past, thus highlighting the warm core of Superman. The charm of Superman does not lie in his use of superpowers to express himself, but in helping every ordinary and weak person, striving to create miracles, and letting those who have lost faith regain hope.

At the same time, throughout the story, Colin did not weaken Superman's superpowers, but only made them invisible to the little girl. At the end of the story, Superman still solved the problem with his super brain power.

A person who has the ability to defeat others is not considered powerful, but a person who helps a child regain his dreams is a truly shining Superman at that moment.

It can be said that through the story of "The Girl Who Doesn't Believe in Superman", Colin added some humanized symbols to Superman's omnipotent image, making this character closer to the existence of the savior in people's minds.

Of course, in addition to this, he also successfully unlocked [Super Brain Power] to the [Silver] level with the serialization of this comic.

[Ability - Super Brain Power (Silver)]

[Ability Description: Superman has incredible intelligence and amazing computing and learning ability. Superman can read all published medical books in one day and master the knowledge that ordinary people need to spend 10 years to learn. 】

This issue of Le Monde Courier contains two short comic strips related to Superman. In addition to "The Girl Who Doesn't Believe in Superman", the other one describes Superman's travel around the world to take photos.

The plot roughly describes the story of Superman, at the request of the editor-in-chief of the Le Monde Courier, going to five countries in just one day to perform stunts in front of the media.

In the comic, Superman first came to Paris. In order to show his shocking power, he easily lifted the Eiffel Tower and turned it upside down in front of the Parisian media. However, after the performance, Superman opened the newspaper of the day and found that the newspaper did not mention that he lifted the Eiffel Tower.

Although Superman was puzzled, his tight schedule did not allow him to think about the reason behind it. Then he went to Italy and subdued the lion with his bare hands in the Colosseum in Rome and pulled a carriage with one hand, but even so, the local newspaper still did not report his news.

This time, Superman went to the media in Rome, and the reason given by the local screenwriter made Superman a little helpless. It turned out that there were too many local news and there was no section reporting Superman news.

Next, Superman went to various countries and tried hard to show his abilities, but the local media in each country did not report any news related to Superman.

Such a result made Superman a little discouraged.

After finishing the last country, Superman returned to Metropolis, and at the editorial meeting the next day, Superman learned the truth from the editor-in-chief of the "Messenger Daily". It turned out that all these were surprises prepared by editors from various countries for Superman. They collected what Superman did in various countries and gave it to Superman as a gift for him to protect the earth.

Although the story of "Superman Around the World" is not as brilliant as "The Girl Who Doesn't Believe in Superman", the description of Superman flying around the earth in just one day also makes readers feel interesting.

At the same time, with the publication of this comic, Colin also took the opportunity to upgrade the ability of [Super Speed] to the same level as [Super Brainpower].