Before a small crowd of scientists in 1926, John Logie Baird gave the first demonstration of a newfangled machine called "The Televisor." Eighty-three years later, millions of people around the globe clicked on their computers to watch the historic inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama. Between those two broadcasting milestones, the sitcom and the soap opera were born, and the Zenith Space Command, the first remote control, became a mainstay gadget.

Here is a timeline of notable broadcasting events from 1926 to 2009.

Drag the sliders at the bottom of the timeline to zoom in on a specific decade and click on the information window for a larger photo and summary of each event.