The Early Days
Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the late 1940's. During this time, there were only a few television stations, located mostly in larger cities like Philadelphia. People who didn't live in a city, or in a location where signals could be received easily, were unable to see television. John Walson, an appliance store owner in the small town of Mahanoy City, had difficulty selling television sets to local residents because reception in the area was so poor. The problem seemed to be the location of the town: in a valley and nearly 90 air miles from the Philadelphia television transmitters. Naturally, the signals could not pass through the mountain, and clear reception was virtually impossible, except on the ridges outside of town.
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