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September 15, 1938…NBC Debuts TV’s First Live Remote Show

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

September 15, 1938…NBC Debuts TV’s First Live Remote Show

On December 12, 1937, the world’s first electronic television remote units were delivered by RCA to NBC in New York City. The dual vehicle system, consisting two, 26 foot buses included one for production and one for transmission. The production bus provided two portable single-lens Iconoscope cameras and the support equipment. The transmission bus contained the 177 MHz transmitter with a 50 foot antenna which could relay a remote pickup to the Empire State Building from as far away as 25 miles.

The units were field tested for about six months before being returned to RCA’s Camden plant for modifications in the synchronizing equipment. Another modification was the installation of an coaxial feed out the transmitter truck, which allowed them to shoot at 30 Rock’s sunken ice skating rink.

The trucks came back in late August, and on September 15, 1938, W2XBS broadcast the first “Man On The Street” episode, by interviewing passers-by in Rockefeller Plaza (via the new coax). It is thought that the “Man On The Street” interviews were done once a week on W2XBS, up until the 1939 World’s Fair opened in New York.

In 1935, a “man on the street” show called “Vox Pop” came to NBC’s Blue radio network and is thought to be the inspiration for the W2XBS remotes. Although there were still very few sets in use, the 15 minute show was a good work out for the crews and trucks.

By the time the 1939 World’s Fair came to town, NBC had a lot of experience with the units and used them heavily at the Fair.

THE PHOTOS, up top is a shot taken just above the ice skating rink, an episode of the NBC/W2XBS “Man On The Street” series is done live with one camera on the ground, and the other on top of the truck. This photo is possibly the Sept 15, 1938 debut. Below is a photo of a monitor,  shows NBC head of programming Warren Wade on the left and is speaking with an RCA salesman about the future of television. Wade is the man who gave the OK to Howdy Doody. These two are in the photo up top, and this is possibly on the debut show.





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5 responses to “September 15, 1938…NBC Debuts TV’s First Live Remote Show”

  1. D. Sanders

    “177 Mhz would have straddled ch 7 and ch 8. I wonder if they did that so that it would be difficult for people to pick it up on their home TVs?”
    There were only 5 channels allocated before WWII (Channels 1-5). The higher channels were added at the end of the war.

  2. D. Sanders

    “And how many TVs were in existence at the time?”
    At that time, only a handful of prototypes and possibly a few DuMont 180s. However, as of May 1, 1939, RCA put four models on sale to the public in New York City at various department stores. By the time of Pearl Harbor and the halting of all consumer goods, there were an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 sets mostly in New York and a few in Philadelphia, Chicago, the Schenectady, NY area, and Los Angeles, the other pre-war TV cities.

  3. Bruce Hansen

    177 Mhz would have straddled ch 7 and ch 8. I wonder if they did that so that it would be difficult for people to pick it up on their home TVs?

  4. Robert Barker

    And how many TVs were in existence at the time? And did they all look like this?

  5. Preston Trusler

    Love that boxy camera.

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