October 1950…FCC Approves CBS Color System, RCA Goes To Court
On October 9, 2016
- TV History
October 1950…FCC Approves CBS Color System, RCA Goes To Court
At the link below is the October 14, 1950 Billboard Magazine, which is a fantastic walk down memory lane, but notice the two stories at that bottom of page 3. This is where the color feud between CBS and NBC/RCA started. It was one of many feuds between the two.
This is one of 4 retro-fitted RCA TK30 black and white cameras CBS used in their Field Sequential color process. Notice the spinning color wheel behind the lens turret. -Bobby Ellerbee
I’m amazed there was any controversy at all. “Duuuhhhh, do we want a compact electronic system, or a clunky spinning disc on every camera, and another clunky spinning disc on every receiver? Duuuuhhhhh … Gee, what should we do?”
Wow! I could read that Billboard all day. 1950 now seems an incredibly long time ago. The mention on the front page of a State Fair remind me of looking at Variety’s from the 1910s that would report on the goings on among all the different tiers of the vaudeville system. I’ve never heard of most of the pop songs high on the charts. I just YouTubed some of those Perry Como songs and please, I don’t get it. His voice doesn’t even carry much emotion, let alone depth of talent. No highs, no low, I guess he ‘wore well’ as they say. Anyone notice Alan Lomax getting a co-songwriting credit for Goodnight, Irene? Payola? What’s the deal? Leadbelly fashioned the song from a long ago tune. It looks like Lomax had as much to do with Irene as Alan Freed did with Chuck Berry’s Maybellene.
Great link. Fascinating stories. It seems page 9, where the stories conclude was not in the pdf scan.