(+1) 234 567 21

Stop The Presses! NBC/RCA TK43 History Rewrite!

•

Eyes Of A Generation.com

Stop The Presses! NBC/RCA TK43 History Rewrite!

Thanks to Martin Perry, here’s more on the mysterious appearance and disappearance of the RCA TK43s at NBC New York. The article is from “Broadcasting Magazine” dated November 21, 1966. This would be coverage of the Senate and House elections midway through LBJ’s first elected term.

I have heard several variations on the TK43s arrival and use that night and until now, had thought there were only two delivered but it seems there were six. I had heard that, over the objections of NBC Chief Video Engineer Fred Himelfarb, the cameras were delivered by RCA a couple of days before and he was instructed by management to use them in a conspicuous location where they could be seen in wide shots, complete with NBC logos.

I’ve also heard that the TK43 images were not actually used on the air. The set up process and time needed to tweak the pictures was notoriously long and I’ve heard that time ran out and the cameramen were just going through the motions with about six TK41s handling the coverage from the floor and the 9th floor balcony in 8H.

This was the first and only time TK43s were used at any US television network, and if what I’ve heard is true, their pictures never made it to air. I think RCA picked up five of the cameras and left one behind which NBC used in Studio 5H which was the always hot, breaking news studio and also an overnight update studio for WNBC.

Source

4 responses to “Stop The Presses! NBC/RCA TK43 History Rewrite!”

  1. Dennis Degan

    Bobby, I don’t know if the TK-43’s were ever used in Studio 5HN. When I first visited NBC on a special tour in 1976, there was one camera in that studio: a TK-44. In fact, the only camera I’ve ever seen in that studio was a TK-44. Obviously, it’s possible that a TK-43 preceded the TK-44 at some point, but I don’t know if it was there for very long if at all.

  2. John Schipp

    5A was Radio, I believe. 5HN was the emergency studio. I wonder if these cameras were used to shoot the tabulation boards and nothing more? Cameras were needed for each region and this could have been their role.

  3. Steve Finkelmeyer

    I have to wonder, since the article says 5A was to have two TK-43’s, and everything points to 5A only ever having one, if they didn’t put it in there next to a different camera. During the recordings from the Kennedy assassination, there’s clearly at least two cameras in use in 5A, and I doubt they’d come in a few years later and replace two cameras with one that was notoriously troublesome.

  4. Eyes Of A Generation.com

    This is NBC President Julian Goldman with one of the TK43s in Studio 8H that night. I think the orders came from Goldman who had received his own orders from David Sarnoff.

Leave a Reply