The Little Known Story Of Nautilus Television
On September 24, 2014
- TV History
The Little Known Story Of Nautilus Television…
This topic came up in one of the posts yesterday, so here’s the very odd story of Arthur Jones and his 35 RCA cameras and 95 video tape machines.
This will start at the 4:56 mark where the television facility is described. As the creator of the line of Nautilus Fitness Equipment, Jones is a multi millionaire, but a very opinionated and cantankerous character. This all happened in the early 80s in a tiny town in Florida and it all went away almost as quickly as it was created. By the way, the studio cameras are RCA TK46s. I think they also had some RCA TKP 45 and 46 portable cameras. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
What happened to the facility and all the gear?
I got to spend an afternoon in his presence and that was enough for me. As far as I was concerned, I would not want to work for him. Watched him belittle an employee in front of 2 major sports superstars for a half hour. They didn’t seem impressed by his actions either. I had installed some audio equipment and he made me watch all this before I could get him to pay me. He showed me his pet alligator too. You get a good view of his attitude in this video.
This is the first time I have heard this story… I wonder what ever became of the original facility? What did it become? Is it still going?
he had G. Gordon Liddy as a close friend..and wanted him to host a show on the “network” nothing ever came of the “network” and as Bobby said it all went away…it was in Lake Helen, FL which is no where…except that it is 1/2 mile from Cassadaga which is a 119 year old community and is known as the Psychic capital of the world, so if you want a “reading” in a beautiful tiny out of the way of the back road town…go see for your self !
I was at WFTV in Orlando at the time. Lots of hushed rumors about what might have been going on over there. Don’t think I ever saw any programming, though.
Back in the early 1980s I was working at a tv station in Gaineville, Florida up the road.One of the engineers I worked with at the ABC station said he worked there quite a while as an engineer.