Television Academy history

The Academy was officially incorporated on January 28, 1948, its stated aim "to promote the cultural, educational and research aims of television."

The Best Kinescope Show of 1949 was Milton Berle's Texaco's Star Theater, produced in New York.

Because there would not be coast-to-coast transmissions via microwave until 1951, the fledgling networks had to rely on the kinescope process, which reproduced a program for later showing by filming directly off a television screen, then making prints.

The situation changed in 1955 when the television networks decided the Emmys were worth showing nationwide.

After the 1957 unification with the New York chapter, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences expanded regionally, with new chapters in major markets.

In 1965, the Television Academy staged its first morning nominations announcement event from the West Coast.

By 1968, the news winners were not invited to accept their Emmys on stage but rather were relegated to rising from their seats en masse and having the statuettes delivered to their tables.

NASTA's New York co-headquarters was shut down in 1970, and a year later the New York portion of the Emmy telecast was eliminated by NBC to save money.

The Emmy simulcast continued until 1971, becoming something of a tradition.

Finally, in May 1976, just after the Emmy Awards ceremony at the Schubert Theatre in Century City, the Los Angeles chapter filed a lawsuit to dissolve the organization.

Since 1977, the Television Academy Foundation has shepherded a large number of educational outreach programs, including a summer internship program through which students learn their craft from industry professionals.

In 1978, producers David Wolper and Stan Margulies were named chairmen of the Primetime Awards Committee, in which capacity they oversaw the reduction of overall Emmy Awards handed out each year from 83 to 57, and the number of awards handed out during the Emmy broadcast from 41 to 27.

1979 marked the launch of the Television Academy's official publication, emmy magazine, as a vehicle for the Academy to communicate with, and reach out to, its members, and to further establish a public presence for the Academy.

In 1980, then Television Academy president and former Screen Gems executive John Mitchell created the Television Academy Hall of Fame, into which major television figures are inducted each year.

In 1982, longtime PBS executive James Loper became executive director of the Television Academy, a job he would hold for almost two decades.

In 1986, NBC posted a 23.1 rating for the ceremony, but the first year on Fox that figure tumbled to an 8.8 rating.

The long-term practice of rotating the Emmy telecast between ABC, CBS, and NBC was disrupted in 1987 when the new FOX network sought to gain credibility by outbidding the established networks for the broadcast rights to the ceremony for the next three years.

In 1988, for the first time, cable programming was allowed to compete for Emmy Awards.

In May of 1991, the Television Academy moved into its new headquarters at the corner of Lankershim and Magnolia Boulevards, replete with an enormous fountain dominated by a 27-foot Emmy Award statue.

Through 1992, the final year of the Fox deal, Emmy ratings barely cracked double digits.

Once again, however, the rival networks were displeased. Thus, in 1993, ABC signed a four-year pact to broadcast the Emmys, for a fee of $2.5 million per year.

On January 11, 1994, Richard Frank, who was just beginning the second of his three terms as president, staged one of the most notable events in the Television Academy's history, a daylong conference at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus, titled "Information Superhighway Summit."

Valentine also drew inspiration from writer-producer Danny Arnold, who before his death in 1995 regaled Valentine with anecdotes from his career, which included such hit series as Bewitched and Barney Miller.

In 1996, inspired by the emotional force of Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation, which documents stories of the Holocaust through such storytelling methods as vocal histories, Valentine set out to establish something similar for television.

In 1997, production executive Meryl Marshall Daniels took over the reins of the Television Academy from Richard Frank, and pushed the organization even further into activist areas with seminars and outreach efforts devoted to everything from diversity to runaway production.

In 1999, James B. Chabin joined the Television Academy as president after having served as CEO of Promax, the trade association of marketers and promoters.

Television Academy founder Syd Cassyd passed away in 2000, and many tributes honored his legacy.

Due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Emmys were twice postponed.

For instance, in 2002 NATAS wanted to create a Latin Emmys for Spanish-language programming but needed ATAS to sign off on the idea.

Meanwhile, Tribune Entertainment president and CEO Dick Askin, who in October 2003 followed Zabel as chairman of the Television Academy, turned a focus on runaway production. "It's a topic that has significant emotional payoff for our membership," said Askin,

In 2005, Steve Mosko, Sony Pictures Television President, was named chairman of the Foundation, succeeding Tom Sarnoff who remains Chairman Emeritus.

As for the Television Academy itself, Askin, like Leavitt (who was succeeded in early 2006 by longtime television executive Alan Perris, who assumed the title of COO), noted that the organization's main efforts are devoted to protecting and reinforcing the Academy's brand.

Shaffner and Roth's endeavor began to take shape following a 2007 conversation with a longtime friend of the Television Academy, public relations executive Dick Lippin, who had just lost his beloved wife, Ronnie, to breast cancer.

Another inaugural event occurred with the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, held on September 21, 2008, which marked the first Emmys at the awards' new home, NOKIA Theatre LA LIVE in downtown Los Angeles.

Two years later, in 2010, Norma Provencio Pichardo succeeded Terri Clark as the Foundation's executive director.

These are the first Emmy nominations for Today in Georgia History since it began airing in September 2011.

The Emmys will be presented at the annual gala, Saturday, June 8, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, GA.

In May 2014, with work under way on several major initiatives, the Academy brought on Heather Cochran as its Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Operations.

In February 2015, Robert Cook, former longtime head of Twentieth Television, and founder and President of Consulting and Strategy firm MBN Inc., was elected Chairman of the Television Academy Foundation, the charitable arm of the Television Academy.

After more than two years of planning and construction, in June 2016, the Academy unveiled its new North Hollywood campus at an event celebrating the Academy's 70th anniversary.