May 19, 1945…Dumont’s W3XYT Signs On In Washington DC
May 19, 1945…Dumont’s W3XYT Signs On In Washington DC
With NBC/RCA having come to DC in 1939 with W3XNB, Dumont was the second experimental station in the capitol. In 1947, this became WTTG, and was named after Thomas T. Goldsmith, Dumont’s chief of engineering. Dumont’s first “network” consisted of a linkage from their WABD in New York, to WTTG in Washington.
In ’45, Dumont was still using the Iconoscope cameras, but the big difference between their camera, and RCA’s version of the Iconoscope, was the electronic viewfinder. RCA used a ground glass optical system, which was hard for the cameramen, but at least it streamlined the operation.
As you can see, the Dumont version required both a power supply, and a camera control unit with the camera, which was an awfully bulky situation. Even after the Dumont 134B Image Orthicon camera came about, all three elements were still required to be part of the camera unit, which is the reason for the “milk wagon” pedestal from Dumont. -Bobby Ellerbee
One tiny lens???
I remember our first TV was a Dumont.
From the Harrington Hotel ballroom as I recall. Les Arries, longtime GM at a Buffalo station, started as a kid there. His Dad was CE in the early years.
Fast forward 50 years and us locals called it “The Whore-ingrown Hotel”.
For some reason, European DC visitors love it.
The founder spelled his last last with a capital M – DuMont.
The Dumont Iconoscope cameras with the side-mounted viewfinders seemed to be very popular with stations in California in the 1930s. Did RCA simply not sell to local stations at that time?
WTTG-TV on air I.D.
I remember watching “Captain Video” on WTTG when I was in grade school in the 1950s.