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Comments on How did "listen to" TV become "watch"?

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How did "listen to" TV become "watch"?

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It seems that people used to say "listen to" and "hear" television, a holdover from radio, and that that gave way to "watch" and "see" over time. Has anyone any information on the timeline of this change? Especially interesting would be such information for specific dialects (or registers).

English historical-linguistics verbs
posted over 1 year ago
1y ago
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msh210‭
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2 comment threads

"Radio with pictures" (2 comments)
Examples wanted (1 comment)
"Radio with pictures"
gmcgath‭ wrote over 1 year ago
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I don't have any information on whether this actually happened, but it would fit with the common attitude toward early TV of "radio with pictures."

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2010/08/20/early-tv-was-like-radio-with-pictures/

In the technical sense, TV is and always has been radio with pictures, but the phrase captures the sense that the visual part was an enhancement rather than the main point. The earliest TV sets had small screens and poor resolution, and large numbers of people would gather around one receiver, so watching was difficult. The sound was the more useful part. Many early shows were talking heads, and even with a spectacular event like the 1937 coronation, the visual component was limited. So people may have thought of early TV as mostly something to listen to.

msh210‭ wrote over 1 year ago
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Fascinating. Thanks!