After CBS' color system lost to NBC/RCA's system, did any of the CBS O&O's convert quickly to color using the RCA system? If so, how much, if any, color-casting did they do?
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EARLY CBS COLOR QUESTION
- Thread starter Al Timiter
- Start date
B
Bob1370
Guest
WCBS-TV installed color cameras in at least a few of their NYC studios rather quickly after the NTSC system was authorized at the end of 1953, and installed color film chains as well. So did KNXT in Los Angeles. (I don't know about WBBM in Chicago, or WCAU in Philly, which were the other CBS O&Os then...KMOX-TV in St. Louis didn't come along until 1958.) Thing is, color studios were pricier to operate and hardly anyone got color receivers for 10 years after the NTSC system was authorized, so after about 1955 very few programs were transmitted in color until the mid-1960s except by NBC and its O&Os--which were being used partly as promotional vehicles for selling parent company RCA's color sets.
Neither CBS nor ABC had much reason to do a lot of colorcasting until set sales reached a critical mass, since they weren't selling sets. CBS did a few programs a week for the first couple of years, and after that, did almost no colorcasting to speak of until about 1965 unless a sponsor asked for it.
Neither CBS nor ABC had much reason to do a lot of colorcasting until set sales reached a critical mass, since they weren't selling sets. CBS did a few programs a week for the first couple of years, and after that, did almost no colorcasting to speak of until about 1965 unless a sponsor asked for it.
...now that you mention it, I have to wonder if CBS ever put color cameras in at WXIX/19 Milwaukee. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that CBS bought the former WOKY-TV and the physical plant of WCAN-TV merely to maintain a more stable presence in Milwaukee until a third commercial VHF station came on line there that they could affiliate with (which they eventually did with WITI/6)...Bob1370 said:
...CBS indeed had a television set manufacturing wing; in fact, at one point they were a primary sponsor on CBS Radio's Amos 'n Andy broadcasts. Whether that branch manufactured NTSC color sets, or even survived long enough to see the FCC issue that NTSC decision, I don't know...
CBS did indeed build NTSC color TVs. Here is a 1954 model
http://www.tvhistory.tv/CBS360b.jpg
http://www.tvhistory.tv/CBS360a.jpg
http://www.tvhistory.tv/CBS360b.jpg
http://www.tvhistory.tv/CBS360a.jpg
Here's documentation of how early CBS color experiments went in Cleveland in September 1951..
http://clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-29-1951advertisement-for.html
Then-CBS affiliate WEWS-TV 5 basically said that while they were participating in the experiment, don't expect full color anytime soon..They were'nt going to put money into color cameras, etc. for so few sets..
As it was, WEWS eventually went color for the Tonight Show and ABC shows such as The Flintstones and Jetsons, but didnt go full color till early 1967..
http://clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-29-1951advertisement-for.html
Then-CBS affiliate WEWS-TV 5 basically said that while they were participating in the experiment, don't expect full color anytime soon..They were'nt going to put money into color cameras, etc. for so few sets..
As it was, WEWS eventually went color for the Tonight Show and ABC shows such as The Flintstones and Jetsons, but didnt go full color till early 1967..
Bob1370 said:
I read some time ago (in the '80s, maybe from Broadcasting/Cable's yearbook) where CBS didn't acquire the WCAU's until 1958, either, when the Eye bought them from the long departed Phila. Evening and Sunday Bulletin (our household subscribed to The Sunday Bulletin in the mid-70s; the paper folded in 1982).
ixnay
Something else I did not know...one would guess that when RCA's electronic color system was adopted over the initial
mechanical CBS system,..that CBS would simply source tricolor picture tubes from RCA. But CBS actually developed a 19 inch color tube when RCA had only a 15 inch tube in their first color sets. And RCA had to license CBS patents for their own 21 inch round tube.
http://www.earlytelevision.org/technician_articles2.html#colortron
(Notice the late 1954 CBS color programs -- Art Linkletter, Arthur Godrey, Studio One, Burns and Allen, December Bride)
mechanical CBS system,..that CBS would simply source tricolor picture tubes from RCA. But CBS actually developed a 19 inch color tube when RCA had only a 15 inch tube in their first color sets. And RCA had to license CBS patents for their own 21 inch round tube.
http://www.earlytelevision.org/technician_articles2.html#colortron
(Notice the late 1954 CBS color programs -- Art Linkletter, Arthur Godrey, Studio One, Burns and Allen, December Bride)
Al Timiter said:
CBS broadcast at least 100 episodes of the Red Skelton Show from 1955-60 live and in color from Television City in Hollywood. These exist only on B&W kinescopes, but you can hear the proof on this 1958 show...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAkZSiBI1LM
Frank Provasek said:
Meaning they did the show at 6:30 PT to be live at 9:30/8:30 in ET/CT. Did it air live on
the left coast--in order to be seen live and in color--or in normal "in pattern" at 9:30 PT?
Did the PT zone have to put up with B&W kinnies, until CBS went to tape for left coast
delays? Even after tape came in, in late '56, it could only play back in B&W.
ixnay said:
Not really.Once WEWS became full ABC in 1955, they only did "Tonight" from 1957-early 1966 (KYW-Westinghouse refused to carry it..)And Huntley Brinkley in 1959-60. For some reason they carried My Sister Eileen from CBS and The Bill Dana Show from NBC for a short time in 1964.
WXEL was considered primary DuMont secondary ABC but carried a generous number of CBS Shows in the early years before switching with WEWS in 1955..
Ultimajock said:
Yes, CBS had the Hytron brand that really didn't do very well. The sets were not known to be very dependable. I only knew one family that had a CBS-Hytron set, most had RCA, Zenith, Sylvania, or Magnavox.
In terms of color set ownership reaching "critical mass," remember that very few people could afford them in the early years. I grew up middle-class in a middle class neighborhood, and only one or two of my friends had color TV at home. I've heard that the sets intially cost around $800. According to the online inflation calculator, that equals over $5,000 today.
My parents did get color TV until 1969, a few years after the major networks and local stations in my area (LA) had gone full-color.
My parents did get color TV until 1969, a few years after the major networks and local stations in my area (LA) had gone full-color.
...my father didn't get a colour set until 1972. We were living in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the time...Lkeller said:
A few thoughts dredged up by this thread...
Our first color was a 73 Zenith Chromacolor II tube/transistor and it picked up lots of dx.
I remember a mild illness in 1966-7 one day when I got to go to my Grandparents house in Gary In, and spent the day in bed watching Uncle Richard's "new" RCA 25" color. There was intensity, tint, and HUE. I saw Bozo's circus in color.
It was a big deal. The soap operas were color, too, if I recall.
We had bought his old Motorola 19" black-and-white with remote control in the summer of 63.
I remember bringing it home from Gary, and remember the seeing the JFK assassination announcement on that set
after we had it in Hobart, In. I was 2 years old.
I have a number of devices with one or two Hytron tubes, still working just fine.
No idea whose tubes CBS bought and branded as Hytron.
The Christmas of '68 season was a Color TV extravaganza for manufacturers and marketers.
It was the first year that a considerable portion of programming was in color across all networks,
and the costs had dropped a bit with printed circuits.
I remember huge areas of department stores having expansive displays of sets on shag carpet stages and dramatic lighting.
There were many people watching whole shows in the department stores.
I don't recall anything like the stories of the 50s where neighbors came over, but there were some visits at the
homes of relatives that were extended to watch Disney, Bonanza, or Star Trek in color.
Our first color was a 73 Zenith Chromacolor II tube/transistor and it picked up lots of dx.
I remember a mild illness in 1966-7 one day when I got to go to my Grandparents house in Gary In, and spent the day in bed watching Uncle Richard's "new" RCA 25" color. There was intensity, tint, and HUE. I saw Bozo's circus in color.
It was a big deal. The soap operas were color, too, if I recall.
We had bought his old Motorola 19" black-and-white with remote control in the summer of 63.
I remember bringing it home from Gary, and remember the seeing the JFK assassination announcement on that set
after we had it in Hobart, In. I was 2 years old.
I have a number of devices with one or two Hytron tubes, still working just fine.
No idea whose tubes CBS bought and branded as Hytron.
The Christmas of '68 season was a Color TV extravaganza for manufacturers and marketers.
It was the first year that a considerable portion of programming was in color across all networks,
and the costs had dropped a bit with printed circuits.
I remember huge areas of department stores having expansive displays of sets on shag carpet stages and dramatic lighting.
There were many people watching whole shows in the department stores.
I don't recall anything like the stories of the 50s where neighbors came over, but there were some visits at the
homes of relatives that were extended to watch Disney, Bonanza, or Star Trek in color.
Ultimajock said:
We didn't get one until 1972 - it was my grandparents old 1963 RCA floor model with the round picture tube. Before that I remember going over to their house in the early 70s (they lived about 4 blocks from us) to watch Speed Racer and Kimba the White Lion in color. They replaced the RCA with a smaller Sony Trinatron that my grandfather had up until a few years ago. He passed away recently at the age of 96, having not embraced the HDTV age!
The first color set my dad bought was a top of the line Magnavox (metal cabinet, not a console) around 1969. It had a sonic remote control with 8 buttons - aside from power, volume and channel, you could adjust the color level and tint remotely. (Previously we had a 19" Zenith B&W set with a white plastic cabinet and a carry handle. Dad also had one of the first Sony mini TVs with a 5 inch screen.) After a few years the motor that turned the tuner burned out so Dad made me change the channel as before! We didn't get another set till 1979, a Quasar console model. It also had a sonic remote, with fewer buttons. Funny thing about sonic remotes... you could accidentally change the channel by dropping coins or silverware on the floor. I never saw IR remotes till the 80s.
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