Through The Eye Of A TK42
On the left is a shot of the RCA TK42 viewfinder framing a weather board at WOC. Between 1965 and 69, RCA sold 375 of these cameras and 93 TK43 models that had the external lens. Today, only 19 are known to have survived in the hands of collectors.
1952…First Nation Wide Political Convention TV Coverage Here’s an artists animation of the NBC set up. CBS and NBC went all out to televise the Democratic and Republican National Conventions which both came from The International Amphitheater in Chicago. The new transcontinental coaxial and microwave system was completed in 1951 and this would be the […]
History With A Twist…Dick Clark Debuts A Landmark Song This video opens with Dick doing the intro in front of an RCA TK10 at ABC New York. This is August 6, 1960 and this is the first time ‘The Twist’ was performed on television, but this is not ‘American Bandstand’. It’s ‘Dick Clark’s Saturday Beechnut […]
A Tribute To ‘Captain Kangaroo’ You’ll Want To Read, HEAR And Share! Today is the first time I ever knew the name of this show’s famous theme song, much less, heard the full 2:43 version of “Puffin Billy”. At this link is the original full version. The ‘Captain Kangaroo’ theme we heard on television was […]
The first TK 42s that brought color to WSB-TV in Atlanta ended up being given to UGA/Journalism for our first color cameras. These are long since gone. They replaced the original B&W TK-15s that were put in about 1964.
We had these in the color studio at Temple University in the 1970’s. Beasts. Loved ’em.
The first color camera I saw, and was very impressed in 1967 at Expo 67 in Montreal…
Yeah we had them too when I started my studies in TV production too… Heavy you say ? !!!
In my opinion, one of the worst looking cameras ever. One I/O tube for mono and three color vids, right? Sucked up light.
In the “old building” there was a studio with two TK15s (B&W) with three lens turrets that got moved to the “new building” in 69.
Here’s a blow-by-blow article about the 1966 transition to color at WTVT, Tampa. http://www.big13.com/Facilities/facilities_black_and_white_to_co.htm
My first job in tv was at WOC-TV Davenport Iowa as a camera operator from 1974-1976. I got to operate the 42 before they were replaced by the TK-45. What a tank this camera was!