TV History

STOP THE PRESSES! WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? A UNICORN? Now THIS, is INTERESTING! Behind RCA’s Dr. Paul Weimer, with his Tri-Color camera (foreground), there is something behind him I have never seen before. UPDATE: January 2021, new photos shed new light on this camera at this link https://eyesofageneration.com/a-primer-on-rcas-earliest-compatable-color-cameras/ It is similar to the…

August 11, 2009…72 Year Run Of “The Guiding Light” Ends The Guiding Light is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television history, running from 1952 until 2009, preceded by a 15-year broadcast on the radio. First broadcast five days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second inauguration,…

August 10, 1948…WJZ-TV (WABC) Signs On In New York New York’s Channel 7 came to life 68 years ago today, so Happy Birthday! Below are articles from “Billboard” and “Broadcasting” that describe the gala night. Since a lot of us are a bit rusty on ABC television’s owned & operated roots, here’s a short…

August 9, 1936…Jesse Owens Won His 4th Gold Medal In Berlin The first live television coverage of a sports event in world history occurred during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. These games were televised by two German firms, Telefunken and Fernseh. Telefunken’s two large stationary cameras were based on RCA technology and…

August 9, 1957…”Home” With Arlene Francis Ends Three Year Run NBC’s “Home” show debuted March 1, 1954 at 11 AM from their 67th Street Studios which were built just a few years earlier by WOR. The concept came from a show NBC President Pat Weaver had originally titled “Shopping”, and was designed for the…

August 6, 1956…The DuMont Network Goes Dark In furthering television on a technical basis, DuMont brought a lot to the game, but financially, it had always been an uphill battle. Their deal with Paramount was always a problem, and without radio properties, they had no leverage with AT&T. At the link is the story…

On this date in 1957, American Bandstand debuted on the ABC Television Network. Many tell of Dick Clark going to ABC with the show, but…according to Leonard Goldenson, it didn’t happen that way. Mr. Goldenson is the titan that built the network into the one we know today, and this narrative is based on…

Ultra Rare New Photo…The Very First Color Mobile Unit This is the first, and only photo of the first color unit I have ever seen. Not much is known about this first RCA/NBC color mobile unit, but this rare new photo helps a lot in fleshing out the backstory. The top photo shows the…

How Peter Pan Flew…On Broadway And In The TV Classic Peter Foy was the man responsible for the “flying” effect that all of us, of a certain age, remember with great fondness. Flying one person gracefully is an art…flying four at a time is magic! Thanks to Terry Wilkie, the TD at Caesar’s Entertainment…

Happy 90th Birthday! Tony Bennett…Born August 3, 1926 Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born in Astoria, Queens, New York 90 years ago today. In a nutshell, here’s how Mr. Bennett’s career began. In 1949, Pearl Bailey, who had seen him in a club, asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village. She had invited…

August 3, 1944…One Of CBS Television’s First Game Show Debuts Pictured here is John Reed King hosting “Missus Goes A Shopping”, which debuted on August 3, 1944, This is inside CBS Studio 42 at Grand Central Terminal. I will reveal the surprise of who the woman in the hat is a few paragraphs down.…

August 2, 1942…”Here’s Looking At You Kid” Is Immortalized On Film 74 years ago today, the final scene of “Casablanca” was filmed on Stage 21 at Warner Brothers. They also shot on Stage 04, Stage 05, Stage 06, Stage 07, Stage 08, Stage 09, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 14, Stage 17, Stage 18,…

August 1, 1981…MTV Debuts The day that video killed the radio star On August 1, 1981, MTV was born, starting its very first ever broadcast with the appropriate 1979 hit “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Source

August 1, 1949…The First Made For TV Cartoon Debuts “Crusader Rabbit” was the first animated series produced specifically for television. The limited animation concept was test marketed in 1948, while the initial episode (below), aired on KNBH (now KNBC) in Los Angeles on August 1, 1949. “Crusader Rabbit” was the brainchild of Alex Anderson,…

Camerus Giganticus Maximus! Except for cameras shooting through a telescope, this is the biggest rig I have ever seen! Attached to the front of this RCA TK41 is a giant Fujinon 200 MM zoom lens. Although it being photographed on the set of “Concentration”, I would find it hard to believe that it was…

July 31, 1995…The Circuit Is Reversed As Disney Buys ABC Did you know that in the beginning, ABC invested in Disney? In the early 1950’s, Walt Disney sought corporate sponsorship for his Mickey Mouse themed amusement park. Desperate for quality programing, the new CEO of the American Broadcasting Company, Leonard Goldenson, lead ABC to…

July 31, 1970…Huntley-Brinkley Say Goodnight For The Last Time The final minutes of the last broadcast, and more, were captured on this work tape (link below) from my friend Bob Maher. Here, we see rare video of not only Chet’s NBC sign off, but also…Walter Cronkite’s tip of the hat, with A VERY SPECIAL…

Surprise! MSNBC Primetime Convention Coverage Was From NYC! Who knew? I watched MSNBC a lot, and it was just like Brian Williams and Rachel Maddow were there in the hall. Actually, they were in MSNBC Studio 3A, in a the space usually occupied by the “Morning Joe” set. The seamless blending was made possible…

THANK YOU…AGAIN From Eyes Of A Generation! Yesterday, this page hit a new all-time-high weekly Post Reach of 420,277! That is nearly double the number in Wednesday’s thank you post, for the new 225,061 threshold, achieved then. We’ve also had 361 page likes this week which gives us 9,077 members who have made “The…