TeleTales #33…A Stunning Piece Of Real Television History

Stunning? How so? If you think back on all the years of color test broadcasts in the early 1950s, including NBC’s coast to coast colorcast of the Rose Parade on January 1, 1954, you suddenly realize that no one could see it! Well…all but a few.

If you wonder why they did all that color testing without the public being able to see it, the reason lies in this term “compatible color”.
RCA and NBC had to make sure their Dot Sequential System of color was also sharp and clear in black and white, as well as color. It was also a test for the stations that had installed the color transmitters.

There is a most excellent timeline of NBC color history here at Ed Reitan’s great site. http://edreitan.com/rca-nbc_firsts.html

For the Rose Parade, RCA had built about 200 color receivers that were shipped to the 21 markets that had color capable stations for the broadcast. In each of the 21 markets, the receivers were on display at local dealers where large crowds came to watch.

By the way, when I say “color capable stations”, I mean they were only able to broadcast color programs that came in from NBC. The first shipments of live TK40 color cameras and studio equipment from RCA began on March 4, 1954, just 21 days before this announcement of the start of production on the granddaddy of color sets, the CT 100. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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