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May 30, 1949…WFBM Signs On With 10 Camera Indy 500 Coverage

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

May 30, 1949…WFBM Signs On With 10 Camera Indy 500 Coverage

Operating now as WRTV, what is now Indiana’s oldest TV station, signed on the air on May 30, 1949 under the call sign WFBM-TV with a film documentary entitled “Crucible of Speed”, covering the history of the Indianapolis 500.

Here’s where it gets interesting…that documentary was followed by the inaugural live television broadcast of the now famous race, with the 10 custom cameras the WFBM engineers had built for the occasion. About half were later sold to area stations.

If anything is a 10 camera shoot, it’s the Indy 500! Kudos and congratulations to those engineering pioneers. -Bobby Ellerbee

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14 responses to “May 30, 1949…WFBM Signs On With 10 Camera Indy 500 Coverage”

  1. Ted Langdell

    The station has been through a number of ownership and network changes over the years.

    http://www.theindychannel.com/news/learn-more-about-the-history-of-wrtv

  2. John Leone

    I would like to own one of those gems!

  3. Richard Bauer

    Boy what a great way to sign on!

  4. Robert Barker

    I worked at WRTV (formerly WFBM) in the early 80s. Big sense of history there. Tom Carnegie worked there too, along with his side job of being the 500 Track announcer. It was a gas to work alongside him at the track every May, where Tom was treated like a dignitary. He called the race for 60 years, from 1947 through 2006.

  5. Jim Shaffer

    1949 at the 500

  6. Bobby Reyes

    …how interesting ..if any info on these cameras are available many of us would surely like to know !

  7. Maureen Carney

    An ad for the event from the Indianapolis Star

  8. Jeff Kreines

    Any more info on their home-brew cameras? How common was that in the early days?

  9. Bobby Reyes

    …are these DuMont’s ?

  10. Steve Dichter

    WFBM-TV I.D.

  11. Bruce Ferrell

    Live coverage at Indy…ironic, since the race was on same day tape delay for much of the 60s and 70s on ABC

  12. Bruce Ferrell

    OMG… somebody hose Jodie Peeler down its a room full of vintage cameras

  13. Jim Grey

    WFBM actually – “woof boom” as some liked to call it!

  14. Dennis Degan

    That’s quite an achievement for 1949 TV.

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