TV History

TeleTales #37…Three Strip Technicolor; How It Was Done http://www.digital-intermediate.co.uk/examples/3strip/technicolor.htm At the link is the best description and detail I have ever seen on this landmark color technology. It’s a well written article that’s not overly technical. “Gone With The Wind” and “The Wizard Of Oz” were some of the fist big films to use…

ABC Election Coverage, November 1980, Studio TV 2 New York Here are a dozen or so great pictures from John Schmidt of the election set. The candidates were incumbent Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Independent John Anderson. In some of these, you can see reporters Frank Reynolds, Ted Koppel, Max Robinson and Barbara Walters.…

TeleTales #35…Oldest Complete MLB Color Broadcast, 1967 Hopefully this will bring some warmth our friends in Boston! Above is the September 30, 1967 game between Boston and Minnesota at Fenway Park. This was one of the closest pennant races in the American League ever with the Twins one game ahead of Boston and Detroit…

TeleTales #34…Speaking Of CBS Studio 50 Earlier today, we saw this same stage in the story of Elvis Presley’s first network television appearance on this day in 1956. Here’s a great shot of Ed Sullivan in the theater now named after him. Behind him is a scaffold with a camera up top, but with…

TeleTales #33…A Stunning Piece Of Real Television History Stunning? How so? If you think back on all the years of color test broadcasts in the early 1950s, including NBC’s coast to coast colorcast of the Rose Parade on January 1, 1954, you suddenly realize that no one could see it! Well…all but a few.…

NBC Television Network: July 1, 1948 For a bit of perspective on how much things have changed, here is a map of NBC’s network in the middle of 1948. At the time, there were only seven stations, with nine to be added in 1949. Of course the NBC Radio network was much bigger and…

TeleTales #31…Covering Football In 1949 vs Now With the Super Bowl looming, take a look at the difference in camera placements with 53 cameras in use this year. Below you’ll see the placement of the 4 RCA TK30s ABC used to cover a game at The Los Angeles Coliseum in 1949. My how times…

January 28, 1956…Elvis Makes His First Network TV Appearance http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1956_january_28.html When Jackie Gleason brought his half hour, filmed version of “The Honeymooners” to CBS in the 1955-56 season, he decided to produce the half hour lead in show too. For that, he chose The Dorsey Brothers, Jimmy and Tommy, with their great bands, and…

TeleTales #30…1955 Prime Time Schedule In February of 1955, The Dumont Network ceased to exist and that left the Big Three…ABC, CBS and NBC. Here’s a look at what was on back then. Interesting that ABC and CBS ran their 15 minute network news shows at 7:15 while NBC stuck to it’s original 7:45…

TeleTales #29…The First Handheld Color Camera Use, ABC At the link is a clip from November 11, 1967 showing the camera in use by ABC at the UCLA – USC game in Los Angeles. ABC had modified the Ampex creation which, as seen below, was meant to include their portable VR 3000 video tape…

TeleTales #28…Speaking Of ABC News Here’s the an election set in Studio TV 2 at ABC New York with Peter Jennings down front. The evening news show comes from TV 3. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

TeleTales #27…Ted Koppel At ABC Washington Did you know he was born in England and was 13 when his family moved to the US? Koppel had a brief stint as a teacher before being hired as a copyboy at WMCA Radio in New York. In June 1963, he became the youngest correspondent ever hired…

The View From Walter Cronkite’s News Desk…Ultra Rare! By request, here is a shot you’ll only find here. Thanks to Glenn Mack, this is a look at what Walter Cronkite looked out on from behind his desk in what was then, CBS Studio 33. I think the engineers are removing older style prompters and…

A Rare Article On Leonard Goldneson…Driving Force At ABC You don’t hear much about this man, but to do what he did, you have to be a pretty sharp cookie. Here a three page look at his leadership of ABC from yesterday’s Investor’s Business Daily. -Bobby Ellerbee http://news.investors.com/management-leaders-in-success/012615-736262-leonard-goldenson-built-a-winner-at-abc.htm Leonard Goldenson Built Tiny ABC Into…

In the bottom photo, we see the back of the game board in NBC Studio 8G, which is game board unit C. I think there were at least three game boards, units A, B and C which were loaded before the show and wheeled into place as the show progressed. On the set there…

By Request…Game Show Pictures #2: “Jeopardy!” From it’s start in 1964 till 1973, the show came from NBC Studio 8G which is seen here. The last year of so of the show came from 6A as seen in today’s first post. Thanks to Glenn Mack for the photo. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee Source

“NBC Studio 1H”…Hurely’s Bar As you can see in the photo below, Hurley’s Bar (which opened in 1892) was just a half a block away from NBC’s studio entrance, making it the nearest watering hole for everyone from stars to stage hands. It became the favorite for radio, television, newspaper and sports celebrities as…

Just In! New Photo Of The Center Theater There are not many photos of Radio City Music Hall’s little sister, The Center Theater, so we are glad to have this. This photo was taken in February of 1946 and shows the last parts of the elevated train tracks being removed from 6th Avenue. The…

January 25, 1915…The First Transcontinental Phone Call Made 100 years ago today, Alexander Graham Bell (shown below) in New York placed a call to his long time assistant, Thomas Watson in San Francisco at 4 PM Eastern time. The second transcontinental call to San Francisco was made at 4:30 over an even greater distance…

January 25, 1961…The First Live Presidential Press Conference Instead of presenting the historical footage, I’ve included a short compilation that reminds us of JFK’s easy style in these press conferences. He was the first American president to really understand television and how to use it to his advantage, which started during the campaign. Fifty…