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Sports are among some of America’s favorite past times, following right on the heels of the invention of the radio was radio sports broadcasting, and of course when televisions’ began to be found with an ever increasing frequency in American households, TV sports broadcasting stations became a hit. Nowadays you can even watch some sports broadcasts online. Sports broadcasters are now often individuals that were actually involved in the particular sport they report on in a professional manner.
The very first major radio broadcast took place on August 5, 1921. It was a major league baseball game between the Pittsburgh pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies. For the firs time people all over the world were able to follow and enjoy the game via their radio. Soon thereafter more and more sporting events became available for radio broadcasting including boxing, soccer, tennis, and even the World Series.
TV sports broadcasting took a bit longer to hit mainstream. TV’s became relatively popular in American households in the mid to late 30′s. The first major broadcasts via TV occurred in 1931 for the Columbia vs. Princeton football game. This was a fantastic hit. So after necessary adjustments to lighting were made during events, more and more major sporting events became televised. In 1939 both Major League Baseball and the National Football League began to broadcast games on national television.
Cable- believe it or not began in the late 1940′s. It wasn’t widely popular then. But it didn’t really catch on among the general public until the early 1970′s. In relation to sports broadcasting ESPN was born in 1978, for the sole purpose of providing a 24-hour sports broadcasting network for the American public. ESPN covers all sports all day, basically increasing the American’s public access and a result their interests in all types of sports.