Television’s Oldest Surviving Color Videotape…May 22, 1958

On May 22, 2016 - TV History, Viewseum

Television’s Oldest Surviving Color Videotape…May 22, 1958

This is the dedication of NBC’s new studios for WRC Radio and TV, it’s owned and operated station in Washington DC. President Eisenhower is on hand for the occasion, as are David and Robert Sarnoff, and many distinguished guests.

NBC’s David Brinkley narrates much of the opening minutes which gives us a good look at Studio A, while Eisenhower is getting a tour of the engineering facilities from Sarnoff.

As you’ll see, mostly from 4:28 – 6:00 and again from 9:30 – 10:30, there are black and white cameras in the studio alongside two new RCA TK41s. Their four black and white cameras are in use mostly to cover the arrival and dignitaries, but when the speakers start, their job is done and the TK41s take over.

At 14:50, Robert Sarnoff pushes a big button to make the switch from b/w to color, which is when the color burst is added to the signal. This rare Quad tape restoration to D-2 digital tape was done by Ed Reitan, Don Kent, and Dan Einstein in July of 2006.

For the behind the scenes story on the restoration and some interesting photos, go to this link…
http://www.quadvideotapegroup.com/EiesnhowerQuadRestoration.htm

Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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7 Comments

  1. Richard Alejandro May 22, 2016

    I was 16 years old. . . influential?

  2. Robert Barker May 22, 2016

    I’ve only seen a portion of this before, so the rest of it was fascinating to me. It’s like the 50s don’t come to life until this moment. I wonder if the inventors of videotape were shocked by the life-like-look they achieved over film. This also made me think of Kennedy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen JFK portrayed on color videotape. Does anyone know if such an artifact exists?

  3. Harold Ballard May 22, 2016

    NBC 4 before Jim Vance.

  4. Gary Donahue May 22, 2016

    That was an amazing video from a technical standpoint, but it struck me odd that it was mentioned that DDE had given “permission” to be quoted directly by the press. Why would the permission of any president prior or since have been necessary in a country with a supposedly free press?

  5. Marc Wielage May 22, 2016

    The video is here, courtesy of Kris Trexler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vBEMGTdDYc

  6. Terry Ricketts May 22, 2016

    1958 colour! Amazing pictures from RCA TK21 cameras with 3, 3 inch Image Orthicon tubes.

  7. Bobby Reyes May 22, 2016

    … don’t you just love listening to David Brinkley commentate ?