Was Contact accurate about the broadcast of Hitler opening the 1936 Olympics being the first Earth TV signal extraterrestrials would encounter? There were TV broadcasts before 1936, were’t they powerful enough to reach deep space?
For some reason, I find the thought of aliens watching Hitler as their introduction to humanity delightfully funny…
Look, OK, admittedly, there are a few bad apples but… hey, did you get the SNL reruns? What, you didn’t like them either? Oh but you saw the ‘more cowbell’ skit didn’t you? You have to admit, that one was pretty good.
Don’t sweat it. '36 was a fairly active year for sunspots. The early, fairly weak television signals would have had trouble punching through the ionosphere, & probably got swamped in the Sun’s extra output.
Didn’t Contact also mention that there were a few powerful broadcasts before Hitler’s, that the aliens might as well have noticed?
If they are monitoring our TV signals they will be cutting a wide berth around us I think. I know I would.
The German broadcasts were not really the first ones in any reasonable sense. Some of the earlier broadcasts were in very low quality, in the beginning as low as 30 or 48 lines. Others were only limited demonstrations, sometimes even just still images. This way you can add additional requirements like “electronic regular scheduled more or less public broadcasts in a more or less acceptable resolution with sound” and move the goalposts until the German broadcasts are among the first, but it doesn’t really add up.
Look at the bright side. If the aliens show up, we can claim we’re the guys with Jesse Owens. It’s the Germans who’ll have some 'splaining to do.