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NBC Broadcast Operations, Program Schedule Sheets, 1951-58

screen-shot-2016-11-14-at-8-43-40-pmNBC broadcast schedules from 1951, 1952, 1954 and 1958. This is the best ever guide to see which studios were being used at a time when radio and TV were sharing space at 30 Rock, and looking for studio space around the city.

Here are some keys to the Abbreviations here, so you can better understand what is going on. First, the -L is for Local and -N is for Network. Studios A, B, C were live studios at NBC’s Uptown Studios at 106 Street and F was the film projection studio there. 3H, 3A, 3B, 6A, 6B, 8G and 8H are at 30 Rock. Intl = The international Theater, Cen = The Center Theater, Hud = The Hudson Theater. CHI means the show is being done at NBC in Chicago, same for Wash = Washington D.C. and PHIL = a feed from Philadelphia. Notice “Camel News Caravan”, and some others are (C & F) which means the show is live with some film inserts.

1967: First Anniversary Of NBC’s Full-Color Schedule

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NBC heralds the first anniversary of being a full-color network, which occurred November 7, 1966.

RCA/NBC Firsts In Television, 1923-1941

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RCA and NBC outline their early achievements in television. Notice that May 7, 1935 was the day that NBC Studio 3H at Rockefeller Plaza began it’s million dollar conversion to RCA Experimental Television Studio 3H. Read on…there is more treasure here for history buffs.

1951: CBS Television At 20

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CBS looks back on 20 years of television innovation in this 18 page review from July 1951…smack dab in the middle of the Color War with RCA/NBC.

1948: NBC Puts Kinescopes In Use

 

NBC announces the first use of kinescoped recording on its network, June 27, 1948.

1950: NBC Converts Studio 8H For Television

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NBC’s announcement that the RCA Building’s largest studio would be making the switch to a new medium. This August 11, 1950 memo also mentions that Studios 3A and 3B will have finished conversion by Labor Day of 1950.

1948: NBC Sums Up The Year

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NBC takes a look at the many big advances it made in 1948, like increasing the size of the TV network from 4 to 25 stations, introducing Kinescopes and much more.

CBS Television City Documents

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Press releases and news articles about the construction and expansion of CBS Television City.

CBS Color Studio 72

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A fascinating 27 page report on the CBS color facility in New York, Studio 72, from May of 1955.

1931: Constructing NBC’s 711 Fifth Avene Radio Studios

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A look at how NBC’s radio studios at 711 Fifth Avenue were designed and constructed. Before the move to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1933, NBC’s called 711 Fifth Avenue home for five years, although they had custom built this location only 5 years before. While still crowded into their first office and studio location at WEAF, in the AT&T Building on 19th Street, they were making big plans, and here they are.

Building NBC Studios 6A And 6B

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A 1942 RCA Review look at the design and construction of NBC’s brand new, twin sixth-floor studios at Radio City. Built for radio, but planned with an eye on the future of television.

1949: First West-East Kinescope

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A 1949 NBC press release notes the first transmission of a West Coast kinescope to the East Coast.

1949: KNBH Is On The Air

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A 1949 press release notes the debut of NBC’s Los Angeles station.

“The NBC Inhouse Mobile Units? YEP!”

NBC was televising shows from a few of their radio studios before they were converted to TV studios.

This photo was taken in Studio 6A on October 5, 1949 during a radio-TV simulcast of ‘Break The Bank’. There were four in house “mobile units”…the red, green, blue and yellow units, and each had three TK30s and a set of portable scoop lights.

The reason “mobile units” is in parentheses is because these were hybrid units that didn’t use a truck. Instead, the cameras were cabled to an existing TV control room there in 30 Rock.

At the time this photo was taken, only 3H, 8G and 6B had been converted from radio to television, and by that I mean those studios had their own control rooms, a new staging area with the floor seats removed and overhead light grids. But, 6A, 8H, 3A and 3B did have TV camera cable connectors and were used as television studios with the images routed to other existing control rooms.

With these four in house units, shows could be done from all over the building and remember, many of them were only 15 minutes, so that meant a lot of locations were necessary to go from one to the next. With a rehearsal, some of the units could move between studios and be ready to go on another show in about an hour.

At times, these units were actually in service with a truck doing broadcasts from some of the many NBC theater locations before they were converted to television studios.

Below, NBC veteran Frank Vierling looks back on the transformation of NBC Studio 3A from radio to television.

The Early History of WEAF…NBC Radio’s Flagship Station

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A rare document looks at the earliest days of the station that NBC bought from AT&T, which we now know WNBC. It was the flagship station in New York, on which the NBC Red Network was based, and later, the NBC Radio Network.

RARE! NBC Television Studio Technique, 1940

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As NBC continued to refine its efforts toward commercial broadcasting’s debut, here’s what its staff had distilled on the subject of studio technique. This was written by NBC’s first studio cameraman, Albert Protzman, and this gives us a first hand account of the lessons learned in NBC Studio 3H, the first home of electronic television.

NBC – Recent Television Developments, 1940

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From none other than Vladimir Zworykin, and R. E. Shelby, here is an engineer’s dream come true…a full report on the state of television in 1940. BUT…at the start is a very interesting historical look back on how they got there, which highlights things that Dr. Zworykin believes to be milestones…including the work or Filo T. Farnsworht!  Glad he gave credit, where credit is due.

 

NBC Television Lighting, 1940

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Fabled NBC Studio 3H proved not to be only a testing ground for the new electronic cameras, but a testing ground for all things television! From scenery to lighting, it all had to be worked out, and 3H was where it was done. Lighting directors had to know television shots, and the close up camera was at the same time, their best friend, and worst enemy. A fascinating read.

 

The Planning & Design of NBC Studio 3H…Home Of Electronic Television

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This is TV MEGA HISTORY! In 1935, RCA leaned forward into the development and testing of fully electronic television. The testing had to be done in a real TV studio, but since there were none…it was up to them to design and build the first ever television studio. From 1937, here is the detailed report on how it was done.

NBC Broadcast Operations, Program Schedule Sheets, 1949-51

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Four pages of Operations Sheets from NBC Television’s early days. This is the best ever guide to see which studios were being used at a time when radio and TV were sharing space at 30 Rock, and looking for studio space around the city.

Here are some keys to the Abbreviations here, so you can better understand what is going on. First, the -L is for Local and -N is for Network. Studios A, B, C were live studios at NBC’s Uptown Studios at 106 Street and F was the film projection studio there. 3H, 3A, 3B, 6A, 6B, 8G and 8H are at 30 Rock. Intl = The international Theater, Cen = The Center Theater, Hud = The Hudson Theater. CHI means the show is being done at NBC in Chicago, same for Wash = Washington D.C. and PHIL = a feed from Philadelphia. Notice “Camel News Caravan”, and some others are (C & F) which means the show is live with some film inserts.

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