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TeleTales #5…Ultra Rare Photo of NBC Studio 5HN, Breaking News Desk

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

TeleTales #5…Ultra Rare Photo of NBC Studio 5HN, Breaking News Desk

On the day President Kennedy was killed, this was where Chet Huntley, Frank McGee and others broke the news. Then named 5H, this was a permanent news setup studio that could be used if news broke before the evening newscast set could be readied.

On that day, the cameras were not hot, or always on, but after that day there was always a live camera in 5HN ready to go. This is the only photo I have ever seen of the studio and I think this is from the mid 1970s. By 1969, most of the 30 Rock studios had RCA TK44s, but with plenty of TK41s in storage, they put one to good use here.

Sometime in the late 60s, WNBC began using this studio for it’s five minute overnight local news briefs and continued there until this studio was done away with. Behind one of these walls are windows that look out over 49th Street. In the comment section, you can see the space as it looks today as an editing area. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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13 responses to “TeleTales #5…Ultra Rare Photo of NBC Studio 5HN, Breaking News Desk”

  1. Kenneth Johannessen

    Did Frank Blair did his “Today” news reports from 5HN when the rest of the cast went out on remotes?

  2. Tim Gorry

    On my very first day at NBC, 6/28/1971 I was part of a group touring engineering facilities and we were in 5HN as they fired it up to cover the attempted murder of Mob Boss Joe Columbo who had been shot at an Italian Unity Day rally.

  3. Bill Parinello

    Spent many late night hours in 1967 and 68 pointing a tk 41 then a tk 43 in that closet, WNBC had a 5 min news after the Tonight show at 1255 AM . Vizmo had a rear screen for graphics.

  4. Bruce Shapiro

    That square gray thing is a light box which held registration and gray scale slides for camera setup

  5. Steve Dichter

    Could the gray square box be a teleprompter?

  6. Steve Phillips

    Quite an historic site! My mother had this tuned in when I got home from school that day. Professionalism, credibility, and integrity was un questioned. Too bad it’s not like this today!

  7. James Murphy Tinsley

    I worked with Bill Ryan at a public tv station in Morgantown, W.Va. He came out of retirement to do a talk show. He was the very definition of a professional broadcaster.

  8. John Holt

    The two mics in the right are BK-1As but the one in front of McGee is an old 88A. The the round grill on the front would eventually pull through the “nails” holding it o. And we’d all tape it on with electrical tape. You can see the tape on this one.

  9. Art Hackett

    What is the square gray thing on what appears to be a hand cranked pedestal?

  10. Gary Walters

    When Frank McGee was on the telephone with Robert McNeil, he did reference on the phone and on the air they were in 5HN. I think McGee did this, should the phone circuit had died, and McNeil had to call back.

  11. Glenn Mack

  12. Glenn Mack

    Here’s a photo I took in 1973. It’s not as good without the camera in the shot. But, check out the next one. I zoomed in on a sign on the right. It most definitely says 5HN.

  13. Eyes Of A Generation.com

    Here is this space today.

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