{"id":21363,"date":"2019-10-10T06:50:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/?p=21363"},"modified":"2026-05-30T13:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:57:46","slug":"october-10-1949-the-first-ever-network-color-broadcast-airs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/?p=21363","title":{"rendered":"October 10, 1949&#8230;The First Ever Network Color Broadcast Airs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>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. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the rare photo above, we see singer Gladys Swarthout, performing for the dignitaries during the color test, just before &#8220;KFO&#8221; was scheduled to air on October 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b><u>Below is the special half hour color presentation of the broadcast as captured on kinescope in New York. The notes on the video are good too if you click the watch on youtube button at the lower left corner.&nbsp;<\/u><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kukla, Fran and Ollie - First Color Television Broadcast (B&amp;W Kinescope) - October 10, 1949\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wmBKjL00BSA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">October 10, 1949, NBC broadcast &#8220;Kukla, Fran &amp; Ollie&#8221;, live and in color from their Washington DC studio at The Wardman Park Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 15 minute show was usually done in Chicago, and in black and white, but RCA had brought them to town for a week of experimental demonstrations to congress and the FCC. That week, each day was filled with short color demonstrations that included all kinds of on-camera talent in the closed circuit broadcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only people that would have been able to see it in color were there, and at RCA Princeton, but not a single comment was ever received from the viewing public about the color image broadcast to their home sets, which certainly goes a long way in proving the system&#8217;s &#8220;compatibility.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"786\" src=\"https:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-1024x786.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81609\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-1024x786.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-768x589.jpg 768w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-1536x1179.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-904x694.jpg 904w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I refer to the network broadcast, these are the cities that made up the NBC television network on this date in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"786\" src=\"https:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-1024x786.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81609\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-1024x786.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-768x589.jpg 768w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-1536x1179.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949-904x694.jpg 904w, https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nbcmap1949.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/189359747768249\/photos\/a.197108410326716.39183.189359747768249\/1105350852835796\/?type=3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/October-10-1949...The-First-Ever-Network-Color-Broadcast-Airs-On-this-day-in-1\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/189359747768249\/posts\/1105350852835796\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 &#8220;KFO&#8221; was scheduled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_popup_image":0,"_vp_format_audio_url":"","_vp_album_images":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail":0,"_vp_custom_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail_cover":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[683,724,782,787,680],"class_list":["post-21363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cameras","tag-cast","tag-nbc","tag-net","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21363"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81626,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363\/revisions\/81626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}