Ulises Armand Sanabria

Ulises Armand Sanabria (September 5, 1906 - January 30, 1969) was born in southern Chicago of Spanish and French-American parents.

Mr. Sanabria was the builder and engineer of WCFL, the first mechanical television station in Chicago on June 12, 1928. By sending the sound signal to station WIBO and the picture on WCFL, he was the first to transmit sound and picture simultaneously on the same wave band on May 19, 1929.

When he was 15 years old, he told his one and only girlfriend of high school days, that he was going to invent television. Two years later, he figured out how to do it. Two more years later, at the age of 19, he demonstrated the first television in Chicago. This was only four months after the first demonstration in history by Charles Francis Jenkins. (Note, Mr. Sanabria's work was independent of Jenkins.) Sanabria was always very proud of the fact that he was one of the first three to invent television.

The "grand opening" of television Station W9XAP took place in the evening of August 27, 1930. A number of receivers had been distributed to homes and stores in the Chicago area. Sears Roebuck had advertised extensively and crowds had assembled to see and hear. Bill Hay was the announcer and several other WMAQ artists performed. The signal was strong and the program good, but ghost images were terrific and the results disappointing. Apparently the nice crystal-steady signal from W9XAP made the ghost images distinct and objectionable, whereas the self-excited oscillator of W9XAO seemed to make them less distinct and quite tolerable.

Trivia

* He married his High School sweetheart and had one son Peter Sanabria born in Chicago.

External Link

* [http://www.earlytelevision.com/yanczer_sanab.html Ulises Armand Sanabria at Early Television website]