158 | Mass Media and Historical Change
prestige stations in the capital cities. Even in South Africa television did not go
on the air until 1976 because the regime feared that the medium would help
to strengthen the anti-apartheid movement. To the present day, exceedingly
low television density is characteristic of Africa, as is the widespread presence
of foreign programmes that are also aired in the national languages. Radio
continues to be the most important medium and connects people via regional
networks.
In contrast to most other media innovations, television was a national
medium from its inception and rapidly developed into a ‘national socialis-
ing entity’ (Fickers 2009: 401). High-frequency broadcasting limited interna-
tional transmission range, and the live nature of early programming prevented
the type of international exchange that had occurred in the early days of film.
The fact that everyone watched programmes like the daily news reports did
however structure a nationwide rhythm of life and experience, and provided
food for discussion.
Furthermore, it is probable that nationwide broadcasting has contributed
to the lessening significance of European dialects since the 1950s. Conversely,
in countries with more than one television language (e.g. Belgium, Switzer-
land) separate channels tended to cement cultural differences, whereas the
same-language television in different states provided a national bond – like the
one between the Federal Republic and the GDR. Even the GDR was able to
instil a certain degree of viewer identification with the ‘homeland’ through its
own television programming, at least during the Honecker era of the 1970s
and 1980s (Palmowski 2009: 81–89, 120–28). And although American series
were internationally successful in the post-1960s, they nevertheless tended to
highlight cultural ‘otherness’.
From its inception, television has been considered a ‘window to the world’.
In actual fact, 1950s television presented primarily the world of television
studios: game and quiz shows comprised a large segment of the programming,
with the addition of informational formats, sports and, to a lesser extent,
feature films. A more exact study of early programme content is only pos-
sible within certain limits; since very little programming material has been
preserved in television archives, researchers have had to rely on programme
manuscripts and television guides. It was only at the end of the 1950s that
television developed its own independent profile: what had been compila-
tions of newsreel reports now became regular evening news programmes, with
newsreaders and documentation; television plays that had resembled stage per-
formances gave way to series and made-for-television movies. Nevertheless,
Germany and France still had reservations about these formats because they
were considered American and trivial, but sportscasts played an important role
in both Western and Socialist countries. An educational programming niche
was developed for children, but as with radio, adolescents had to wait until the