Setting the Stage: Introducing Pat WeaverWe take commercials for granted. Their often annoying, sometimes humorous, emotional or reasonable messages have become part of our modern world. In fact, such a part of our world that by the age of 65, the average American will view two million television commercials (Clark, 1988). It wasn't always this way and we have Pat Weaver to thank for that. And, he should be thanked...Really. Exploring Weaver's role in the growth of television will help us understand why. 
[Author's Note: Most of the following biographical information comes from Pat Weaver's memoir, The Best Seat in the House. Page numbers are given for direct quotes taken from the book. Information that is derived from other sources is so indicated.] Sylvester 'Pat' Weaver, the innovative visionary behind much of television's early success, was born in Southern California as the son of a wealthy businessman. Perhaps the course his life took came about because he was lucky enough to be born to such a father; his early life was certainly spent in an affluent environment created through the business of sales. Or, perhaps it was an intrinsic intuitive sense that was responsible for his becoming the dynamic change-agent that he was destined to become. Either way, the practical preparation he received didn't hurt. His father's bi-coastal roofing manufacturing company provided Weaver with first-hand experience as he spent time working in the sales office. The nation's dual personalities of Los Angeles and New York, and their roles as the anchors of U.S. cultural commerce, were unfolded to Weaver before he reached adulthood. Later, when it came time for him to stake his own way in his own career, this understanding would serve him well. Born Sylvester Laflin Weaver, Jr. in Los Angeles on December 21, 1908 (Kepley, 1990), the timing of Weaver's entrance into this world couldn't have been better considering the part he would play in the evolution of broadcast media. From the start, his maturation was concurrent with the maturations occurring in the broadcast sphere in the world of mass communication. In 1906, just two years before his birth the first radio transmission of the human voice was made using the "Audion" tube, which had been invented by Lee DeForest (Halper, 2001). He was three years old when radio truly became recognized as an instrument of communication when the details surrounding the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912, were broadcast live from the roof of the Wannamaker department store at Eighth and Broadway in lower Manhattan. In 1919, when Weaver was eleven years old, David Sarnoff started the Radio Corporation of American (RCA), the company that one day would own the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). By 1920 and Weaver's emerging adolescence, there were at least four radio stations on the air on a regular basis and technology had made it possible for radio to move from a scientific experiment to a home entertainment device. Weaver's college years can be likened to similar years of discovery for radio. As Weaver began finding his place in this world, so too did radio. In the early twenties, radio began its upward ascent toward its role as a centerpiece for American entertainment. It began to find its cultural stride at about the same time that Weaver was entering college to study the classical aspects of culture. In 1926, Weaver enrolled in Dartmouth and there became good friends with the future Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller. During his college years, his father took Weaver, his two sisters, and younger brother Winstead (who would someday be known as Doodles Weaver, the zany television comedian) on a trip to Europe. It was on this trip that Weaver began to realize that he had a passion for writing. Upon his 1930 college graduation, magna cum laude, yet another journey resulted in another great change in Weaver. Pat and a friend from school spent time traveling throughout the ancient world. Rome, Greece and Alexandria - all were destinations on his itinerary - and all contributed to his love for philosophy and ancient civilizations, his areas of study at Dartmouth. This pilgrimage left its impact on him as evident by his words in The Best Seat in the House: the "relics of a remote and storied era overwhelmed me. They enlarged my world view, my sense of the importance of history…" (p. 12). This realization never seemed to stray far and, perhaps, was, in part, the motivation for many of his actions in the early years of television. |
