WSB-TV: The Early Years
Here are about 16 images from Georgia’s first TV station, WSB-TV in Atlanta, showing their RCA TK30s at work. The station signed on September 29, 1948 and use the TK30 till around 1954, when a few TK11s were added. In the early ’60s, WSB went to the RCA TK60s, then got the first delivered TK42s. WSB has been on the air more than 68 years and is a favorite of mine as I grew up watching it, but it amazes me how few photos there are to document those years. Unfortunately, this is a common story with many legendary broadcasters.
Before the photos, here is a great save from the 1950s and early 60s…the WSB color booklet that guests received when visiting White Columns.
I was on this show to celebrate my seventh birthday. It was The Clubhouse Gang with Officer Don. It later became known as The Popeye Club with Officer Don, and was the biggest kids’ show in the country. That’s part of how WSB-TV became the first station in the country to get RCA TK42s, as RCA believed shows such as The Popeye Club would give the cameras an excellent testing ground before they were ready for general release.
This is Ray Moore, long-time WSB news anchor.
Before The Clubhouse Gang, there was The Woody Willow Show (above) with cartoons, and I watched it daily at 4pm as a 5-year old boy. Below are more photos of TK10s at work at WSB-TV Atlanta, which was the first TV station in the south, and began life as an NBC affiliate.
Looking for TV Folks that might remember my cousin Skip Thomas who worked in both radio and television production in the 1950s, 60’s and early 70’s. He started out at either WQXI or WPLO radio station, did some broadcast work at WAGA, went into free-lance production and used the studios at WSB-TV to produce a weekly local Talk, Interview and Performance show called “Two Bells TV Edition” for the Atlanta Transit Authority. I helped produce sets for the show.