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December 15, 1965…WSB Atlanta Goes Color With First RCA TK42

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

December 15, 1965…WSB Atlanta Goes Color With First RCA TK42

http://insidebobforemansbrainpart2.blogspot.com/2013/10/ruth-kent-colorvised.html
At the link above is a story I just got from our friend Bob Foreman. The article he sent is from the Saturday paper, just after the Thursday surprise Atlanta viewers got when ‘Today In Georgia’ debuted in color, making WSB the first station in Georgia with live local color. They were also the first station here able to broadcast color and I think that ability goes back to around 1956. WSB was one of the original NBC affiliates on both the radio and television networks.

I’ve had this photo for a long time of that first “colorvised” show, but never had a firm date or back up to the fact that WSB got the very first TK42. The story was, that RCA wanted to field test the new camera on ‘The Popeye Club’. It was the country’s top local kids show and RCA thought the colorful clothing of the 30 or so “clubhouse gang” members for each show would be a good color test.

An RCA engineer came to Atlanta with the camera to set it up and tweak it, and was still doing that when the second one arrived in mid January. I think he stayed in Atlanta for about three months doing tests.

Georgia legend Ruth Kent who hosted ‘Today In Georgia’ is seen here on that first day with some of the WSB management and engineering people. Notice the cameraman is not using pan handles, but the built in D handles (zoom and focus) on the back of the camera. That’s what they were designed for, but the ergonomic idea by our friend Harry Wright, at RCA, turned at to be a not so good idea after all. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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17 responses to “December 15, 1965…WSB Atlanta Goes Color With First RCA TK42”

  1. John Leone

    Not a very good camera. G.E. would have been a better choice.

  2. Rusty Gordon

    Couldn’t they at least take a color photo to commemorate the day?

  3. Mark Gulbrandsen

    Yea, the first TK-42 and a half billion candle power of lighting!

  4. Marc Wielage

    Hey, I used those WEDU cameras briefly when I worked there in the summer of 1972, right after high school! Zoom controls sucked.

  5. Arnold Serafin

    thanks for the memories Al

  6. Thomas Dooley

    Remember the D handles well. How did that design ever get into production?

  7. Rick Bozeman

    Sorry, the IPad went nuts!

  8. Jeff Martin

    Whenever I see a color show from this period with really shaky zooms, I think, “TK-42”! Probably not the legacy they were going for. Good looking camera, at least.

  9. Rick Bozeman

    up the light.

  10. Rick Bozeman

    We had 3 of them at WEDU in Tampa. They also soaked

  11. Chuck Pharis

    What a terrible camera this was! Then came the TK-43. Then finally the TK-44,45,46,47!

  12. Joe Paolo

    I think those were the cameras KYW used for Mike Douglas in the early 70s.

  13. Russell Ross

    I agree….. At one time the RCA guys never wanted input from videomen or cameramen for some reason. Maybe they thought they were always right. That thinking eventually hurt them when NBC went over to Ikegami which were very good cameras.

  14. Steve Dichter

    Used these once at KTLA. We had to rent a color video truck for a football remote and it contained the TK-42’s. Must bulky & heavy cameras ever to muscle around. The camera operators hated the “D” handles as you pointed out.

  15. Craig Harper

    Welcome South Brother

  16. Russell Ross

    NBC N.Y, had a couple of these cameras in studio 5HN which was a small “break in” news studio in the late 60’s. That studio also did a short 1am news show.

  17. Mike Hemeon

    I remember seeing these in Boston. Channel 56 had a set in their remote truck.

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