October 2025

Bulova Watch aired the first TV commercial, a ten- second “Bulova Watch Time” announcement on WBNT-NY (today’s WNBC) on July 1, 1941. The spot cost all of nine dollars and was available to the about four thousand television sets in the New York area at that time.

The word “squirrel” comes from the Greek skiourous, meaning “shadow tailed,” because they use their tails to keep warm or shade themselves from the sun.

A Russian scientist –Constantin Perskyi –first coined the word “television” at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, when referring to the transmission of still photographs through electrical wires.

According to a TV Guide report, the best viewing distance from the TV depends on the size of the screen. The industry claims that for the sharpest picture people should sit at a distance of between four and eight times the height of the TV screen.

Lucille Ball has been on more TV Guide covers than anyone, and the magazine reports the her face has been seen by more people than anyone else’s in history.

Redd Foxx’s given name was John Elroy Sanford. His brother’s name was Fred Sanford, which he used for the sitcom Sanford and Son. He was called Redd because of his reddish hair and  complexion.

The actors who did the voices on The Simpsons were paid $400,000 per episode.

Borrowed by Daheap from The Essential Book of Useless Information; Din Vorhees