AS RARE AS IT GETS! The State Of Color 1966…ABC, CBS, NBC
AS RARE AS IT GETS! The State Of Color 1966…ABC, CBS, NBC
Copy And Save This Link! This is the most detailed and in depth report on the start of colorizing that you will ever see. These four pages from a Broadcasting Magazine special report from January 1966 lay out exactly who had what, where!
At the time, ABC had a total of 10 TK41s and was adding color telecine and tape.
CBS had a total of 18 color cameras…split evenly between the Broadcast Center and Television city were 6 RCA TK41s and 12 Norelco PC 60s. They had placed an order for 50 cameras with Norelco in 1964 and those were coming in with no problem. The real problem was a “reel” problem…getting color tape machines and telecine. RCA could have helped, but as we all know, CBS would rather take a sharp stick in their “eye” than buy from them.
It’s interesting to note that at the CBS Broadcast Center, which opened in November of 64, Studios 41 and 46 were color capable. Although equipped with black and white Marconi Mark IV cameras, the other studios were designed for color and the lights were already there and were just basically waiting to be upgraded. Television City had two color studios as well…33 and 41 and both TVC and BC had a third color capable studio.
It’s no surprise that NBC lead the way in color. By the time this story was published, the only black and white show in prime time was ‘I Dream Of Jeannie’ which colorized the next season.
Between New York and Burbank, NBC had 47 TK41s in use with 8 more inbound to 30 Rock and 5 more headed for a third new mobile unit. 6 more TK41s were headed to Washington for a total of 10 there.
Thanks to this article, we now know that NBC’s 8H was colorized in June of 1963. These were the cameras that were used on ‘The Perry Como Show’ from the Zeigfeld Theater, which tells us when Perry’s show moved to Brooklyn.
NBC 8G and 3A were colorized by the summer of 1966. Here’s a surprise…NBC’s Studios 3K, the first color studio in the building, shared 4 cameras with 6A until the summer of ’66.
There is a lot more very interesting information here, so please read this, share this and SAVE this!
Why did CBS elect to buy RCA cameras for O&O WCAU in Philadelphia?
LOVE. THIS!
The article and your comments are great! Recently, I was watching on my Smartphone, Crackle, and had seen the first OTA episodes of both I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched, and they are in color. Yes, both the networks and later, syndication had them in b&w, but the original film prints are not, FYI.