Cleveland Abbe
In order to compile his information, Abbe required a time-keeping system that was consistent among the stations. To accomplish this he divided the United States into four standard time zones. He published, in 1879, a paper titled "Report on Standard Time". In 1883, he convinced North American railroad companies to adopt his time-zone system. In 1884, Britain, which had already adopted its own standard time system for England, Scotland, and Wales, helped gather international consent for global time. In time, the American government, influenced in part by his 1879 paper, adopted the time-zone system.
Eastern Time Zone
Five states are partly in the Eastern Time Zone, with the remaining portions in the Central Time Zone. They are:
Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a "de facto" official time for all of the United States because it includes the capital city (Washington D.C.), the most populous city (New York City), and half of the country's population. For this reason, media organizations will often report when events happened or are scheduled to happen in Eastern Time even if they occurred in another time zone, and TV schedules are also almost always posted in Eastern Time. In the United States, all nationally televised morning programs (except "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" which some ABC affiliates on the east coast air on a tape-delay), some daytime talk shows, evening newscasts, most talent and awards shows, and any other nationally televised event that airs live on American television during prime time and on the weekends (such as sports television) are broadcast live in the Eastern Time Zone. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, even if both teams are from the same time zone, outside of Eastern Time. For example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time (for example, one may see "Seattle at Los Angeles" with "10:00 p.m." posted as the start time for the game, often without even clarifying the time is posted in Eastern time).