‘Howdy Doody’ Color Control Room…NBC Studio 3K, 1955
This is the only known photo of the control room for NBC’s first in-house color facility, Studio 3K, which went live the afternoon of September 12, 1955. The first colorcast from 3K was ‘The Howdy Doody Show’. NBC had color at The Colonial Theater and in Brooklyn, but this was the first color studio inside 30 Rock.
Studio 3K was created by combining television’s first working studio, 3H with radio studio 3F. Although the studio was bigger, the control room stayed the same size and as you can see, was packed full of gear. These days, 3K is one of two third floor studios occupied by MSNBC. The other is 3A. Thanks to our friend Gady Reinhold for this rarity. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
This is me kissing the floor in the Studio 3H area of what is now Studio 3K. As you read above, 3H was television’s first ever working studio and was created in 1935.
If I remember correctly, the control room was one floor up from 3K studio. Years later, 3K was used for “live” commercials into the playback of Kraft Music Hall variety show. Doing those commercials was never a favorite for anyone. Rehearsals ALL day long with Kraft products. At air time for the Kraft Music Hall, I think at 10pm on Wednesdays……. the entire studio smelled from all the cheese products being under the lights for hours and hours !!!
Bobby !!!! Why would you kiss the floor? !!! Do you where that floor has been??? lol
So many 21CT55’s! I only have one…
Is that a vector scope hanging, and a waveform monitor in the right?
1955? I think those were waveform monitors, with chroma filters. For compatible color, they were concerned with luma. The vectorscope and other suitable monitoring was likely very limited in those days. Truthfully, I wouldn’t know for sure, because I was 5 years old at the time, and didn’t start doing video until 1971. B|
Thanks Bobby. I first started at NBC in Studio 3A when it was referred to as “local” or WNBC. They later added 3AN a small space for WNBC News.
And to think that in radio, one person can engineer a program (in some cases).
imagine keeping up with all that modern technology
I have a DVD from a 99-cent store in L.A. that has the first color Howdy Doody on it. No, not the final show that everyone has from 1960, but the actual show from what I assume is September 3, 1955. Buffalo Bob announces that it is their first show in color, and they have a new set. The rub of course is that the preserved show is not in color, because videotape was not in use yet, and it was a live broadcast. I don’t even think they had lenticular color kinescope at that point. A Technicolor David Hand cartoon, ‘Ginger Nut’s Christmas’ was shown on that broadcast, which made me wonder if it was the first cartoon broadcast in color, or at least RCA compatible color.
That is really neat. It looks like our control room at U of D… But we were still all black and white in the 1970s.