It's been 75 years since the first commercial television broadcast in Minnesota. Here's how it all got started

CATHY WURZER: When television was a brand new technology, it's hard to explain the level of curiosity, skepticism, and excitement over the hazy black and white images in what was a very small screen. Television is simply part of the fabric of our lives today. But back in the 1940s, television was considered a novelty for most Americans. 75 years ago tomorrow, April 27, 1948, Twin Cities residents watched the first day of programming on KSTP-TV, Minnesota's first commercial television station.

There was a lot of buildup to that inaugural broadcast. And because it was such a pivotal chapter in Minnesota broadcast history, we wanted to talk more about it with Glenn Griffin. Glenn is the archivist for Hubbard Broadcasting in the Twin Cities. The Hubbard family owns KSTP-TV and other broadcast outlets. Well, my friend, welcome to the program. How are you?

GLENN GRIFFIN: I am well, Cathy. Thank you very much for having me on.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for being here. Stanley E. Hubbard, the founder of KSTP, was an industry pioneer. No doubt about that. He was one of the first to get into radio. He could have stayed there, but he bought one of the first television cameras ever made and began experimenting. What did he say about his plans at the time?

GLENN GRIFFIN: Well, it's hard to know exactly what he said. But as an enterprising young man that he was at the time, I think he saw television more as not a gamble but an inevitability and of what the futures of technologies would bring. And he wanted to be there on the ground floor, and he wanted to do public service. That's been at the core of his existence his entire life.

CATHY WURZER: I'm assuming World War II interrupted any broadcaster's plans for TV.

GLENN GRIFFIN: Yes, it did, because they'd been doing experimental television stuff since about the mid 1920s. And then in 1938, he'd gotten a hold of a camera from RCA and did some demonstrations with that. And in 1939-- but then World War II kind of interrupted plans, and the government kind of put a hold or a stay on the entire industry until all the dust settled from that. And it really wasn't picked up again until around 1944, '45.

CATHY WURZER: At your fingertips you've got tons of photos and various news articles and obviously a lot of film from that day. I'm curious. Did you find out-- were there any dry runs prior to the April 10th inaugural broadcast? You mentioned they were experimenting.

GLENN GRIFFIN: Oh, yes. Well, I think each one of those experiments was considered a dry run. If you look in any of the old newspapers of the day, I think it becomes evident and very clear that there were a lot of tests and test patterns aired. If listeners want to look at The Star Tribune from March 31, 1948, for example, George Grim had an entire column dedicated to television preview.

It's good if it behaves, he said. So there were all kinds of things going on, and they were adjusting and checking. And of course, they were still building, too, the television tower that we have here on University Avenue-- was is still under consideration and was trying to get built and finished up in time for the inaugural broadcasting.

CATHY WURZER: Really? And of course, that thing is huge. I can only imagine the work that took.

GLENN GRIFFIN: Well, yeah. Like everything in life, it's a matter of perspective. 534 feet if you want to go with the structure height, or if you want to go with 594 feet-- that's the overall height above the ground. It was considered one of the largest towers at the time, certainly in the Midwest region of the United States.

CATHY WURZER: So that first day broadcast, Glenn, what did it include?

GLENN GRIFFIN: Well, the Minneapolis Millers baseball game was the main thing, and then I think they ran a few films. Schedules are very hard to come by to see exactly what they had done. Everybody remembers things a little bit differently, but I know that the Minneapolis Millers baseball game was definitely the key event for that day.

CATHY WURZER: As a matter of fact, we're going to play a little audio right now. Jack Horner would become the station's premier sportscaster. This is a little bit of audio of Jack explaining how they put together the broadcast of that baseball game.

JACK HORNER: When the ballplayers were down right in front of us, they looked very big. When they got down to the far end, we didn't have zoom lenses or anything like that, and so they were a little tiny people running around on the field. And we had a hard time identifying them.

CATHY WURZER: Because I think they had three cameras out there. Can you imagine these huge cameras, too, right? I mean, those were not portable cameras.

GLENN GRIFFIN: No, they were not. They were rather big behemoths as we would call them in the day, and it usually took three good people to haul those things around and up and down and hoist them over walls and so forth. It's astounding to think about what they went through and the hurdles they overcame to bring what they did to the television public.

CATHY WURZER: I know. Oh my gosh. Do we have any record of what the public reaction was after that first day of broadcasting?

GLENN GRIFFIN: Well, I don't know that there's any straightforward reaction, but certainly another column on another day in the newspaper-- the day after one of the Trib writers said that everybody was astounded and amazed at the baseball footage that they saw because some of the televisions were perfect and they were crystal clear while others were a little fuzzy.

But they were at a bar, so let's think about, OK. What time of day did they ask them? Was this before or after happy hour? But no, I think it was met overall with great excitement, and people were thrilled, the ones that could see it. And it just continued from there.

CATHY WURZER: And of course, we should say, too-- I mean, we're talking about 1948. There weren't that many people who had TV sets. I mean, I think it was only, what? Maybe a couple from what I understand and some of the archival things that I've read?

GLENN GRIFFIN: Yes, at most. But mainly, the television sets were spread throughout all the hotels they could find and a lot of bars and taverns and just trying to get everything tweaked to get people excited about it. Like any new business venture, you've got to have an audience, so that's what they were trying to do.

And they spent weeks and months before that time trying to get things sold and out there and distributed. But it's hard to sell somebody on a dream when they can't even realize what that dream really means. Like could you have imagined the internet 25, 30 years ago the way it is today? It's just hard to fathom sometimes.

CATHY WURZER: So after this first broadcast, after it made air in 1948 75 years ago, we should say that Hubbard Broadcasting and KSTP has led to a host of other technological innovations.

GLENN GRIFFIN: Well, his son a few years later was one of the first to dabble in direct broadcast satellite, and he was-- again, like his father-- was laughed and scoffed at when he talked about television. He talked about and created satellite television, which again now is pretty much ubiquitous as we rely on them daily for communications around the globe.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Well, it's always fun talking. Of course, I love history, and it's fun to talk with you-- you who spent a lot of your career being the archivist for Hubbard Broadcasting, and some of the things you've uncovered over the years has been really terrific. And I'm so glad that it's been saved as well-- really important. Glenn, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

GLENN GRIFFIN: Thank you very much. Have a great day.

CATHY WURZER: You, too. Glenn Griffin has been with us by the way our colleague. Tom Hauser at KS did a series of nifty stories on the 75th anniversary of KSTP's first day on the air. You can see all of his stories by going to KSTP.com.