veryone has a television moment he or she will never forget.

For some it's a somber one: For 86-year-old Sydney Richards -- and many of her generation -- it is the 1963 assassination of JFK and the subsequent shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald.

"I was glued to the television," said Richards of Cape Girardeau. "Everyone was. We were afraid to look away. It was a terrible time."

For others, those moments are more light-hearted.

"Rams winning the Super Bowl, that's a great one," said Thor Welker, 25, of Fruitland, Mo. "The Cardinals winning the World Series. Jordan's dunk from the free-throw line. I'm a sports freak, so for me, TV's always been about sports."

Television, which will celebrate its 75th year in existence later this week, can be described many ways -- entertaining, informative, even destructive.

But no matter how people feel about the device that had its first successful transmission in 1927, none can deny the profound impact that it has had on American culture and consciousness.

When Sept. 11 happened, classes stopped, said Dr. Jim Dufek, a mass communications professor who teaches television courses at Southeast Missouri State University. "We brought TVs in and watched. How could you not? You cannot deny TV has framed the way we see history."

The invention of television generally is attributed to Philo T. Farnsworth. After years of working on the idea -- others were, too -- on Sept. 7, 1927, Farnsworth painted a square of glass black and scratched a straight line on the center.

In another room, his brother-in-law dropped the slide between a camera tube that Farnsworth had invented earlier that year called the "image dissector" and a hot, bright, carbon arc lamp.

Farnsworth, his wife and one of the investors watched the receiver. They saw the straight-line image and then, as his brother-in-law turned the slide 90 degrees, they saw it move -- in other words, they saw the first all-electronic television picture.

TV in Cape

Television didn't make it to Cape Girardeau for another 27 years, when KFVS-TV, previously a radio station, went on the air Oct. 3, 1954.

For the lucky few in the area who owned televisions, the first face they ever saw on Channel 12 was Don McNeely's. He introduced the owners of the television station to Cape Girardeau's first television viewers.

They then got to watch a religious program, Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny and "Father Knows Best," as well as the 15-minute-long 10 o'clock news. Back then, KFVS was only on the air in the evening and signed off at 11:15 p.m.

While it's a monumental memory for many in Cape Girardeau, McNeely said he didn't know how big television was going to get.

"We were just so busy trying to get on the air, that we really had no concept of the history of it," said McNeely, who spent more than 40 years on the air for the CBS affiliate. "Things were so hectic, we didn't have time to meditate."

McNeely said there was a good deal of buzz before the station went on, and some had trouble figuring out what it would be like.

"One lady asked me if it was going to be of me sitting there playing records," said McNeely, who had started with the KFVS radio station. "She just couldn't visualize it."

For years, McNeely filled several jobs, including news director, commercials, chief announcer and program director. Later he settled in and became best known as the KFVS weatherman.

McNeely -- without question the man most identified as a television personality in this area -- says television immediately became successful.

"In the very early days, when relatively few people had TV sets, they would visit their neighbors because they had a set," he said. "When Shivelbine's put a television in its window, people gathered around the window and watched it."

If McNeely didn't recognize the significance of television at first, he has since.

"It certainly is an immense cultural force," he said. "People seem to have a lot of memories about television."

Unforgettable images

Karen Stephens of Advance, Mo., said she never will forget images of the 1997 Paris crash of Princess Diana and her funeral. She also was mesmerized by the flickering images on TV after John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane went down.

"I could not make myself turn the television off," she said. "I was just waiting for the details. Those two events in particular really imprinted on my mind."

Wade Cardwell, 35, of Jackson, Mo., said his first memory is the most lasting -- when he watched the moon landing.

"It made an impact on me," he said. "There was all that debate whether they were really there and not just in the desert."

Ron Edwards, 37, of Cape Girardeau said TV's defining moment came for him on Jan. 28, 1986. He stared at his television, along with millions of others, in disbelief as the Challenger exploded with six astronauts and 37-year-old school teacher Christa McAuliffe on board.

"For me that always comes to mind," he said. "That was one of the big impacts I can remember."

Happier TV memories for Edwards include "Happy Days," "MASH," "Three's Company" and "Mork and Mindy."

Those who grew up with radio recall how the transition between mediums changed them.

"Radio was the only thing we had until we got television," said Margaret Moore, 80. "It was a big deal when we got the television. I thought it was ideal."

Mary Lynch, 72, of Cape Girardeau, said she used to sit around and read books before television.

"It wasn't so bad," she said. "It would do people some good these days to do a little more reading and not watch so much TV."

President Kennedy's funeral was etched into her memory by television. She remembers 3-year-old JFK Jr. saluting as his father's casket rolled by.

"I cried every time I saw that," Lynch said.

Theodora Kanaday, 76, of Cape Girardeau said when her family got its television, it was "quite the thing."

She quickly became a fan of "I Love Lucy," "Gunsmoke" and "The Honeymooners." She's no fan of programs today.

"I don't care for these shows," she said. "There's no story to them."

Kanaday also thinks that television drives families apart. There are more than three televisions in American households, meaning that children often are watching their own television apart from their parents.

"We had closer-knit families," she said. "We did more with our family. When TV came out, people just wanted to sit in front of it."

Accentuate the positive

Much is made of the bad effects of television, but Dufek said he believes television gets a bad rap.

"People blame everything on TV, but it's only as bad as we make it," he said. "It's a tool that we use."

Having said that, Dufek said he's no apologist for television, and he understands it has a dark side.

"It can be addictive," he said. "It does just the opposite of what it's supposed to -- it separates families instead of bringing them together. If you watch the wrong stuff, you don't even have to think."

Farnsworth, the widely acknowledged inventor of television, had his doubts too. Although the highly regarded mathematician was absorbed in his own work in the 1950s and '60s, he saw enough to be disappointed with broadcasting. He wondered aloud at times if the energy he spent on television was worthwhile.

But Dufek chooses to look at the positive, as Farnsworth eventually did.

"We saw a man walk on the moon," he said. "It's been said that Farnsworth watched that event with his wife and said to her, 'My work was well worth it.' I'd have to agree."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137