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October 10, 1949…The First Ever Network Color Broadcast Airs
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The cameras you see here are what RCA referred to (this first color camera design) as the Princeton Cameras, as they were designed and built at the RCA Laboratory in Princeton NJ. In the rare photo above, we see singer Gladys Swarthout, performing for the dignitaries during the color test, just before “KFO” was…
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‘Hour Glass’…A Television First
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This show was network television’s first rehearsed, non-reality program. It was a one hour variety/sketch comedy show hosted by Helen Parrish. Parrish had been a child film star and she became the first popular TV star. With the lessons learned and a new host and sponsor, NBC would bring this show back in 1948…
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My Conversation with CBS VP Technology, Joe Flaherty…RARE HISTORY!
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Dr. Joe Flaherty was the Senior Vice President of Technology at CBS and at the bottom of my story is an article with industry colleagues sharing their memories of the icon of television innovation. There are few that have seen more television history than Joe Flaherty. There are fewer still that have made as…
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FIRST EVER VIDEO RECORDING…September 20, 1927? YES!
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FIRST EVER VIDEO RECORDING…September 20, 1927? YES! Until yesterday, I had never heard of this and found it hard to believe, but here is the amazing proof laid out, fittingly…in 3 video reports. In the 1996 report (top video), a single disc of the John Logie Baird video record or Phonovision had just been…
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NBC’s Legendary Technical Director…Heino Ripp
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FIRST, Don’t miss this! The Television Legends Interview Series taped six half hour segments with Mr. Ripp and the first of the series is linked below. https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/heino-ripp?clip=102062#interview-clips In the photo above, we see Heino starting his career in Studio 3H behind an RCA A500 Iconoscope camera. Below, he is literally the “right hand man”…
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Amazing New Berlin Olympics Television Information
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If you are lucky, you learn something new every day, and today, we are all lucky! I had no idea that what you are about to read and see here ever happened, but thanks to yesterday’s post on the first mobile units, we have fascinating new images and video to share. Thanks to David…
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April 17, 1967…50 Years Ago, “The Joey Bishop Show” Debuted
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http://www.emmytvlegends.org/news/april-17-1967-fifty-years-ago-today-the-joey-bishop-show-debuted-on-abc Here is the story I wrote for the Archive Of American Television site…home of the Emmy TV Legends video collection and histories. Enjoy and share! It’s quite an interesting story! -Bobby Ellerbee
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April 14, 1956…Videotape Recording Debuts; Ampex VR-1000 Unveiled
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On April 14,1956, this prototype Ampex VTR called “Mark IV” started a whole new era in television. In the photo, you see the Ampex Videotape Team…the men who created the VR-1000 and revolutionized broadcasting. Pictured with this six man team is the unit Ampex took to Chicago for the legendary demonstration at the 1956…
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April 10, 1985…Inside CBS News Studio 33 With Dan Rather
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This is a rare look inside CBS Studio 33, or what many call The Cronkite Newsroom. Although Dan Rather was now the anchor, Studio 33 is where Walter Cronkite first reported from, when they moved to the Broadcast Center in 1964. Prior to the move, the newsroom and set was on the 23rd floor…
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NBC Universal Orlando…New Home To My Pat Weaver RCA TK30
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This week, “The Tonight Show Experience” will open at Universal Studios Orlando, with Jimmy Fallon and company on hand all week for the grand opening. Among the stars in the first floor “Tonight” museum, are rare artifacts from all the “Tonight” show’s hosts and a very special item from “Tonight” creator, Pat Weaver.…
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March 27, 1955…NBC Burbank Dedication And Color Kickoff
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It was on this day in 1955 NBC Burbank was dedicated…two and a half years after it opened October 4, 1952. Why the long wait? It was all about color. The new NBC black and white facilities at Burbank were Studios 1 and 3 and were in heavy use from the start, but until…
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NBC New York Studios History….Volumes 1 & 2
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In case you have never seen my ebooks on the NBC, CBS and ABC network studios in both New York and Hollywood, start here! There are over 700 pages of rare history, photos and first hand accounts and…the only timelines ever created for these studios. These reports are also the only research papers ever…
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Did You Know Pat Weaver Saved “Meet The Press” On His First Day At NBC?
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On October 5, 1945, “Meet the Press” debuted on The Mutual Radio Network, hosted by it’s creator Martha Roundtree. On November 6, 1947, “‘Meet The Press” debuted on NBC Television as a half hour, Saturday night current affairs show hosted by Roundtree. It was a “sustaining” program, which meant there was not a sponsor. In June…
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2 Color Rarities From “The Colgate Comedy Hour” + Jerry Lewis Interview
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Here, we will see very rare color home movie footage of Colgate hosts Martin & Lewis, Abbott & Costello and Eddie Cantor all arriving at The El Capitan Theater, also a rare color rehearsal shot of Dean and Jerry – plus kinescope footage of the sketch that night. But that’s not all! Let’s start…
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March 22, 1929…RCA Begins First Nightly Experimental Broadcasts
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With the recent receipt of new images and data, this story has been revised and updated June 27, 2021. This is a combination of some newly discovered details with a few very rare and little known places and events that no one that I know of has ever woven together to tell this historic…
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How Television Made Basketball Fans Mad About March!
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How Television Made Basketball Fans Mad About March! It’s “that time again”, when back to back college basketball games are center stage for a few weeks, but without Eddie Einhorn, March Madness, the way we know it, may have never happened. Before we get to how all this happened, here is an interesting footnote.…
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March 19, 1953…The First Televised Academy Awards Ceremony
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March 19, 1953…The First Televised Academy Awards Ceremony Although we have an interesting video, let’s start with the pictures. That first shot of the NBC cameraman on the crane with an umbrella is taking the first shot we see in the first video as it was rainy night at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.…
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March 19, 1953 and March 19, 1954…Red Letter Days For Compatible Color
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March 19, 1953 and March 19, 1954…Red Letter Days For Compatible Color On March 19, 1953 RCA and NBC’s new multimillion dollar, experimental color facility at The Colonial Theater went online. Work began in the fall of 1952 with some stage renovation and then the installation of the new control and equipment rooms. The…
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How The First Music Video Package Helped Create “American Bandstand”
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How The First Music Video Package Helped Create “American Bandstand” The Snader Telescriptions were not only the first ever music videos…these classic music shorts also played a direct role in the creation of “American Bandstand”! We’ll get to the Bandstand part after this short fact packed video on the history of the Snader project.…
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The Human Test Patterns Who First Calibrated Color TV
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A Wonderful Primer On Early Color Television… From the Eyes Of A Generation’s archives, here a well done “Atlantic Magazine” story on the ladies that were both known as “Miss Color TV”, NBC’s Marie McNamara, and CBS’s Patty Painter. This also covers the progressions and setbacks encountered by both networks, in their race to…
