TV History

In case you have never seen it, here is the very first sketch of the RCA TK42 camera, the successor to RCA’s TK41 line. This is a scan of the master drawing that I have. It was given to me by RCA’s Harry Wright who designed this, the TK44 and most of RCA’s Telecine…

The First Thomson Camera? Close but no cigar…this is the second Thomson camera. Sent to us from our French friend Jorge Delendatti, this is Thomson’s 819-line monochrome model from 1946. It was made for RTF Television Service (now TF1), and since we don’t have documentation on what kind of tube was used, two things…

This is a companion to the just posted GE PC 25 photo from Martin Perry, which you see just below this post. I thought you may be interested in seeing the difference between the two. Notice the lifting handles on this model are above the door. On the PC 25, the handles are at…

Unfortunately, there are none of these cameras left. The few that were ever made are long gone. This is the second model of GE’s color cameras from around 1965. This, like the it’s predecessor, the PC 15 was a three tube Image Orthicon camera based on the RCA TK41. These weighed in at “only”…

In the summer of 1974, before chroma key walls, virtual sets, or the sleek digital graphics we take for granted today, weather forecasting at WAGA Atlanta was a hands‑on craft — part science, part stagecraft, and part controlled chaos. The centerpiece of the WAGA weather set was a sprawling wall of oversized maps, each…

Thanks to Martin Perry for sharing this remarkable clip. It turns out KTVT in Fort Worth has a surprisingly deep lineage with GE broadcast cameras — and this promo shows it. Even the RARE PE 25! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx65a9ZAIFI Source

On January 23, 1948, from 2:00 to 3:00 PM, NBC carried out what became the first network television broadcast originating from Boston — a live three‑camera remote sponsored by the Massachusetts Fisheries Association and staged inside the bustling Boston Fish Market. One of the cameras was equipped with a 40‑inch Zoomar lens, an impressive…

Before she became the voice that generations would associate with Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, Mary Costa was a Knoxville girl with a remarkable gift. Her path led her to a celebrated opera career — but in 1952, long before the film ever reached theaters, she stepped into a recording booth and brought Princess Aurora to…

YES, because it is very early in the morning and the TODAY Show is starting and that makes for a very rare image! These four very familiar NBC talents work at different “ends of each day”, yet here they sit beneath the glow of studio lights: (l-r) Chet Huntley, Dave Garroway, Frank Blair, and…

These are Ikegami’s First Studio Color Cameras! Above is the Ikegami TK 301, the granddaddy of the color studio line from Ikegami that was built and delivered to Japan’s NHK Network in Tokyo in 1971. Only a few of these were made and they all went to Japan’s NHK Television for real world field…

The Overmyer—later United—Network remains one of television’s most fascinating near‑misses. The photo shared by Maureen Carney captures comedian Bill Dana, famous for his José Jiménez character, hosting the network’s flagship program The Las Vegas Show. Beginning May 1, 1967, the two‑hour late‑night broadcast originated from the Hotel Hacienda and aired on 106 stations across…

This one caught me off guard too. Before the world knew the Muppets as a global phenomenon, Jim Henson and his small crew were grinding away on a local kids’ show in Washington, D.C. From 1955 to 1961. They were on WRC‑TV, doing inventive, scrappy work that hinted at what was coming — but…

Just for fun… here’s the moment Superman literally took to the air for the very first time — as a magnetic radio wave! The Adventures of Superman debuted February 14, 1940, on WOR in “Gotham,” and if you’ve ever wondered what pieces of that radio world carried over into the TV series that arrived…

In 1956, Edward R. Murrow’s “eyes and ears” visited Hal March on Person to Person, then one of CBS’s most prestigious and widely watched programs. March was at the height of his fame as host of the smash‑hit quiz show The $64,000 Question, a ratings powerhouse for the network. Audiences already knew him from…

In 1963, KPRC‑TV in Houston deployed two advanced mobile television units that were custom-built for them by Southern Coach. Usually when stations in the west bought new GE cameras, the opted out of all the RCA equipment. Southern Coach became the logical next step for broadcasters who required expanded interiors, greater equipment capacity, and…

If you worked in local television in the late ’40s or early ’50s, chances are you remember these…the RCA TJ‑48. It wasn’t just another piece of gear — it was the moment local stations finally got a purpose‑built mobile unit instead of the homemade specials everyone had been cobbling together out of buses, bread…

If you want to understand where British television engineering stood in the early 1950s, the EMI C.P.S. Emitron is the camera that tells the story. This wasn’t just another post‑war studio box — it was the first generation of British cameras built around the C.P.S. (Cathode Potential Stabilised) Emitron tube, a major leap forward…

Roll Credits! This photo taken in Studio 45 shows the ’60 Minutes’ credit roll board around 1973. This is how it was done in “the old days”. Thanks to Glenn Mack for the photo.  

Up Close And Personal…The EMI 2001 Color Camera The only place most of us in the US have ever seen this camera was in the movie ‘Network’, but the BBC workhorse for many years beginning around 1966. Heres a close look thanks to Troy Walters in Australia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mnE10CnLF5E BBC Studio N, Manchester was the…