NBC Burbank, 1959: Video Tape Bay 3

On January 16, 2013 - TV History

NBC Burbank, 1959: Video Tape Bay 3

This is an early look at the video tape department in Burbank. There were three bays of RCA TRT 1 Cs with 4 machines in each bay. Machines 11 and 12 are seen on the back wall. Twelve machines were needed not only to record shows produced there, but to record and playback network feeds for time delay broadcasts. Photo from RCA Broadcast News, March, 1959.

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8 Comments

  1. David Shugarman March 5, 2014

    Bill Bryant was there !

  2. Mark Yancey March 5, 2014

    How about that Chuck, just think if video tape guys came to work with coats and ties on now a days… !

  3. Chuck Pharis March 4, 2014

    Coats and ties in Video Tape!

  4. David Crosthwait March 4, 2014

    ‘There were three bays of RCA TRT 1 Cs with 4 machines in each bay’. No, at that time, there were four TRT’s. The rest were Ampex VR 1000’s. If one looks closely at this shot, you will see at least 7 VR-1000 transports. The associated electronics contain Ampex gear but also RCA modulators/demodulators for “RCA Labs color”.

  5. David Crosthwait March 4, 2014

    Don Huth on the right.

  6. Dan Braun January 26, 2013

    …and we still do that today!

  7. Tom Coughlin January 18, 2013

    Same thing for shows originating on film.

  8. Dave Dillman January 16, 2013

    For those who came in late, the network standard was to record two copies and play them both back together.