Archives

At the link below are hundreds of photos, research papers and even two videos (NBC’s First 50 Years) that have been curated to the pages of The Hagley Digital Archives site. Most of what is here is from the David Sarnoff Library collection that no longer has a physical home, but does have a…

What does the Orson Wells classic radio drama “War Of The Worlds” have in common with Dr Peter Goldmark’s mechanical color tests? The answer is CBS Radio Studio 1 at their first headquarters building, 485 Madison Avenue. That was where Wells and company preformed their weekly “Mercury Theater of The Air”. Around the start…

THE RCA TK30 ERA: About the only way I could think of to present these 120+ images from one of television’s most storied shows, is to break the batches down based on the cameras in use. At the time this multi-decade epic began in 1948, the show was called TOAST OF THE TOWN and…

The RCA TK30 Era Extends to Studio 50: This second TK30 part is to commemorate the move from CBS Studio 51 (The Maxine Elliott Theater at 109 W. 39th Street) to CBS Studio 50 (at 1697 Broadway) in January of 1953. The cameras were still RCA TK30s but it was a much larger venue.…

The RCA TK31 Era: This third part features the RCA TK31 Studio Cameras that came out in May of 1952. These look like TK30s with chrome handles. Most of these images are dated 1958, but CBS was using the TK31s as early as 1953 at studio 50. NOTICE…the last 3 photos here show an…

The Marconi Mark IV Era: This is the largest section as it features the era of the Marconi Mark IV black and white cameras and The Beatles and begins in 1960. The BIG difference was the picture clarity as this new camera used a 4 1/2 inch Image Orthicon tube, where as all cameras…

The Norelco Era: Before we talk about the cameras, let’s talk about Ed’s “personal cameraman”, Mr. George Moses who whe see above shooting the boss with a new Norelco PC71. Stage Manager Eddie Brinkman was with Ed from the first show till the last one and George was there for 21 of the 23…

The Marconi Mark VII Era: In the summer of 1967, the Marconi Mark VII color cameras went into service at CBS Studio 50 and were the go to cameras for many years at the network. The color photo above the last color photo were taken by our friend and author Nick Van Hoogstraten in…

SPECIAL COLOR BONUS PAGE: Before October 31, 1965…the day CBS Studio 50 was color capable via their new Norelco PC71 cameras, Sullivan’s show had been broacast in color only a handful of times and all but one of those color shows had originated at CBS Television City in Hollywood. This is the one time…

This is an ongoing project, and from time to time, we will add audio interviews to this list, but here are the first of the series with a short, one line bio on each but their full story is in these hour long sessions. Enjoy! 1. George Sunga: Producer of Smothers Brothers, All In…

Below this 1953 SMPTE article written by Karl Freund is a copy of his biography by IMBD writer John Hopwood. In the article Freund tells how he shot I Love Lucy and describes how he overcame unique new problems. Karl Freund was born in Germany in 1890; by age 15 was working as a…

A trip down memory lane when 4 heads were better than one, and quad editing was just getting started. Here is the 83 page catalog with prices on the last few pages.

Going back to 1931, the names Farnsworth and Zworykin ring out as the editors of  BROADCASTING MAGAZINE present a special 320 page, 1981 edition that takes in an amazing array of “firsts” in broadcasting!

November 17, 1968…’Heidi’ Trumps The Jets – Raiders Finale On NBC Did you see this live? I did…I had just turned 18 and that Sunday night, I learned a new word from my dad, which I can’t repeat here. This was AN EVENT like no other in television sports and there are stories on…