Ultra Rare 1: ‘The Voice Of Firestone’, NBC Studio 8H, 1949

Believe it or not, what you’re looking at is technically a remote broadcast. At this moment in 1949, 30 Rockefeller Plaza had only two functioning television studios: 3H and 8G.

Studio 3H, converted from radio in 1935, was NBC’s original television home — the birthplace of nearly all early black‑and‑white programming and the network’s first color experiments. It remained NBC’s lone TV studio until 8G came online in 1948. Studio 8H, famous today as the home of Saturday Night Live, wouldn’t be converted for television until 1950.

So how does a show produced inside 30 Rock qualify as a remote? The answer is a surprise even to seasoned broadcast historians: NBC used its own in‑house mobile units. Yes — the same trucks normally dispatched to ballparks, parades, and special events were rolled inside the building for this production. The full story is in our companion article, “The NBC Inhouse Mobile Units? YEP!” – Eyes Of A Generation…Television’s Living History

A Pioneer in Both Radio and Television

The radio version of the program began in 1928 as “The Firestone Hour,” airing Monday nights at 8:30. Its television lineage is equally historic. This series may well have been the first regularly scheduled U.S. television program broadcast beyond New York. It debuted on WNBT‑TV on November 29, 1943 — a time when television sets were scarce — and joined the NBC television network in April 1944, continuing through January 1947.

When The Voice of Firestone returned to television in the fall of 1949, NBC simulcast the program on both radio and TV, making it one of the earliest shows to use that dual‑platform approach.

Inside Studio 8H

In the lower left of the photo, you can spot an RCA TK‑30 mounted on a Panoram dolly. Also note the remarkable ceiling height: Studio 8H is three stories tall, not two, with a roof garden directly above it — a feature that made it uniquely suited for large orchestras and ambitious productions.

Special thanks to Val Ginter for providing these two extraordinary images.