Reading oil (back) into media history: The case of postwar television

This article extends recent research about the material impact of energy-consuming media technologies by describing role oil and its derivatives in production consumption television United States after Second World War. It starts exploring reasons why dimensions have received limited scholarly attention history. Then it examines how component parts a TV receiver—the cathode ray tube, chassis into which was set, cabinet housing chassis—incorporated elements made with oil. Finally, interpreting prior historiography through lens oil, describes these different components played conflicting discourses space home, especially living room, postwar America.