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January 1, 1954…A Day Of Color Firsts And, A Quandary

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

Something Borrowed and Something Blue, Red and Green

January 1, 1954 was the first time the new RCA/NBC color trucks were used. Unlike the black and white RCA Tele Mobile units from the ’30s, which had a camera/switching truck and a transmitter truck, both color trucks were camera trucks, with the signal feed handled by one of Ma Bell’s ever-present microwave trucks.

It was the first west-to-east color broadcast to be nationally televised and of course, it was the first color broadcast of The Rose Parade.

The two new color remote trucks were ready in early December of ’53 and each truck had two RCA TK40s, which presents a quandary. According to RCA historian Lytle Hoover’s great statistics, there is no record of any TK40s being built in Camden prior to March-April of ’54 when RCA began their first assembly line run of 25 cameras.

So, where can a network borrow 4 new color cameras?  Why, they were using the Colonial Theater TK40 prototypes, as they had been “borrowed” for field testing in New York on many occasions in 1953, using one of the old Tele Mobile units converted to color. Although this is the oldest known photo of the trucks, I am pretty sure this was taken in New York in April of 54 with the new TK40s. -Bobby Ellerbee

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9 responses to “January 1, 1954…A Day Of Color Firsts And, A Quandary”

  1. Rod Truszkowski

    Jim you have one in your garage right

  2. Jim Mac Donald

    NBC O&Os had these years later. They used 44s. One was given to U of Nebraska over the red and blue N flap. This one was last used when American flight 191 went down at Ohare.

  3. Tom Thornton

    Nothing like getting a 250+ lb camera head on the roof of a mobile unit! I hope it was re-stressed for the weight! 😀

  4. David Ricketts

    So where is the crane for putting the camera back on the truck. Had to be a heavy bastard. Studio cameras in the 80’s were still huge

  5. Matt Hankosky

    Some good info on here -> http://www.earlytelevision.org/Reitan/studios.html

  6. Gary Walters

    Great detective work Bobby!

  7. Dennis Degan

    It looks to me like this photo was taken LATER than the beginning of 1954. Most likely, the ‘borrowed’ TK-40 prototypes went back to the Colonial and new production cameras were installed in this truck. This photo may have been shot during the national tour designed to promote color TV production.

  8. Bill Bremer

    I would give a lot for one of the RCA logos on the side of that truck. I assume this vehicle is long gone.

  9. Eyesofageneration.com

    This is the RCA experimental color mobile unit with one of the Colonial TK40s in 1953.

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