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Flying Blind…Can You Imagine?

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

Flying Blind…Can You Imagine?

This is the first ever televised Rose Parade on KTLA in Los Angeles. The date is January 1, 1947 and shows two, brand new RCA TK30s in use without their viewfinders and the RCA meatball logo… more on that below. By the way, notice the logo still says W6XYZ…22 days later, it became KTLA.

The TK30 (and TK10) had just become available in late 1946 and, except for those going to NBC, many TK30s were shipped without their viewfinders. I’m not sure of just what it was, but there was a shortage of some element used in the VF that was difficult to obtain for a few months due to the fact that the military had bought up all of whatever was missing. It was possibly the 7″ CRT tubes they needed for radar.

All the cameramen could do was watch a monitor and take cues from the TD on focus. The saving grace that there still were not many TV sets in use at the time. Within a few months, the VFs were available. Notice in this photo, the RCA logo has been removed…remember, KTLA was owned by Paramount who was also a partner with Dumont!

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5 responses to “Flying Blind…Can You Imagine?”

  1. Dennis Degan

    But Albert, it was set in Vermont and New York, so it’s accurate for there to be WNBT cameras in the film.

  2. David Zornig

    I shot a football game, the Chicago Classic at the old Soldier Field before the remodel. I lugged around a 30 year old camera then for our live feed. Municipal TV, brutal.

  3. Tom Jurek

    I remember when WCIU, added COLOR…but there was NOT a color monitor in the studio or the control room.. LOL

  4. Albert J. McGilvray

    And yet, in the movie “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, the TV cameras in the TV show scene were labeled “WNBT”, despite the fact the whole movie was filmed in LA.

  5. Grant Fletcher

    I once directed a High School football game and had a sideline reporter with no monitor so I described the replays via IFB and he called them with out seeing it. It was a very long game.

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