NBC Network Promo - The Full Color Network 1967

[Rickat1964]

I love the color on that clip! Amaaaaazzzzzinggggggggg!

[Idoljunky32]

Ok I got a funny story. About 25 years ago my niece asked my mom the funniest question, she walked up to her and said "Grandma, when you were little like me, was the world in black and white or color?" At first my mom looked at her a little strange then she laughed and said, "What do you think." My niece said "Well everything had to be in black and white because once TV came along, the whole world got color. " My mom laughed and told her that the world has been in color since time began!! LOL!!

[gaipontiff2]

@Idoljunky32 I asked my mother the same thing when I was about 6. "Mom when did the world become color?" She looked at me like, What in the world are you talking about? I so I can definitely relate to your story. Thank you

[sneezyize]

@gaipontiff2 Well, when I was younger (I was 2 years old when the first color broadcast were generally available back in 1966 and my family didn't get a color TV-set until 1972 when I was 8 years old) I thought if we drove far enough surely the rest of the world and us would end up being in black & white! LOL! I was always telling my mom and dad not to drive too far away, I didn't want to be in black & white. -:)

[saml760]

THE FULL COLOR NETWORK!

[fromthesidelines]

Not NBC, 'Joe'. CBS did on their daytime schedule (as "ANDY OF MAYBERRY") until they started adding the color episodes from 1965-'66 in the fall of '66.

[fromthesidelines]

Keep in mind, 'someguy', that at the time this promo aired in the spring and summer of 1966, NBC was scheduling about 95% color programming in prime-time {"I DREAM OF JEANNIE", and some of the network's movies on Tuesday and Saturday nights being the exception}; therefore, it earned the right to bill itself as "The Full Color Network".

[fromthesidelines]

Yes, Fred Collins was based in New York, 'wm', ever since he was a staff announcer for NBC radio in the late '40s [among his first assignments was the 1949-'50 season of "RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE"]- eventually, he became known as the "voice" of "X MINUS ONE" (1955-'58).

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

And back in those days, they had the huge (and sometimes cantankerous!)Quadruplex VTR's in those trucks. I wonder why they didn't show those 2-inch tape machines in this video.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I wonder how many NBC technicians ended up sore from setting up those huge TK-41 cameras, after a major sports event.

I like seeing the old TV Broadcast technology at work, and the crews that pioneered color TV technology and broadcasting.

I'm not sure I would have wanted to be working in the NBC truck during the "Heidi Game"..terrible blunder on NBC's part.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I wonder what happens to these old broadcast trucks, are they all turned into scrap once a network is through with them?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I'd love to see the inside of one of those big TV broadcast trucks. Especially one of NEP's high-def SuperShooter trucks.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I'm not surprised that people have gotten those old TK-41 color cameras working and have them in collections. I think it's a testament to how well RCA built those cameras in the first place, and how much work those collectors are willing to do to 'resurrect' and keep those pieces of broadcast history alive. I hope down the road the same will be done with today's High-Definition equipment.

[ZIPPTPH77]

I remember when we got our first color TV in 68. The cartoons were amazing to watch after having black and white previously..

[markojameow]

My folks didn't have a color TV until 1972, but I didn't make a big hulabaloo about it - TV was good in those days, whether it was seen in black and white or in color. TV started to get crappy around the late 1980s, and it largely sucks now, except for a handful of TV shows.

[guimbadriver]

hey where i found the tk 41 service manual? i bought 4 cameras and CCU and i want to make they work....

[dandydonaldo]

Good glimpse of Harry Coyle, legendary NBC Sports director. It's said he came up with the idea of the centerfield camera during baseball telecasts. He directed many memorable NBC World Series telecasts, including Game Six of Reds-Red Sox in 1975, which ended with Carlton Fisk's homer.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Is Coyle the guy who says 'Peacock time' aka beginning the telecast? How do the guys in the truck know when to 'go live', go to the network for commercials, etc?

[dandydonaldo]

Yes, Coyle is the guy in the cap.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Those mobile trucks with the Peacock painted on them must have attracted attention everywhere they went. Too bad NBC did not contract with either a model or toy company to make collectible replicas of these trucks from the 60's. There are replicas of the NBC Sports trucks from the 1980's.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I would love to see this ad in better quality.

And I also wonder who some of the NBC techs are in this video, and whether some of these 'pioneers' are still around.

[fromthesidelines]

When CBS retired its daytime repeats of "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" in 1969, THAT'S when network daytime television was finally "converted" to an "all-color" schedule!

[Joe49er1964]

they still showed reruns of The Andy Griffith show in Black and White

[fromthesidelines]

Fred Collins was a veteran New York NBC radio/TV announcer, from the late '40s until the mid-'80s, when he joined ABC. He's retired now.

[wmbrown6]

Just curious . . . I have a memory of his voice (probably from other ads like Zenith), but which shows did he do over the years (that I can't recall), and did he ever do any local (WNBC) promos, I.D.'s, bumpers et al.?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I have to wonder exactly HOW those NBC Sports crews got those 300 lb. TK-41's up on those platforms. People can bicker all they want, BUT NBC WAS THE FIRST to do a lot of things, technical and programming-wise, with color. David Sarnoff got some of the best and brightest engineers and technical people for RCA and NBC, which is one reason that during the 1950's and 60's, NBC was IMO 'the best'.

[wmbrown6]

And the TK-41's performance was generally superior to even the TK-42's and 43's, which was why NBC didn't get around to replacing the ol' reliables until after 1969, when the TK-44A was already on the market. And as NBC was an RCA subsidiary, only RCA cameras would do (though a remote unit did have some Norelco PC-70's at hand).

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I don't know if anyone here has gone on 'kingoftheroad' Kris Trexler's website, but he has a lot of stuff about the TK-41 and color TV history.

A guy named Chuck Pharis has a TV tech website too with pictures of the cameras in his collection.

[steadfastcoward]

Looks like the Muntz has a bad tube.

[dnm728]

Looking at this vintage NBC clip, I've noticed the colors are a bit faded - at the end the Peacock almost looks monochrome.

[parkman35]

You gotta admitt NBC The National Broadcasting Company was THE Pioneer in television broadcasting advancements.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

TV tech has changed a lot since 1966. Those mobile units have been replaced by high-tech mobile units with HD video and multichannel audio..even the cameras are smaller than those huge TK-41's in this promo.

[fromthesidelines]

Actually, this promo dates from the spring of 1966, with veteran NBC announcer Fred Collins narrating. Another "Full Color" promo from this period showed some behind the scenes work on one of Perry Como's "KRAFT MUSUIC HALL" specials staged at the network's Brooklyn facilities.

[someguy23475]

If that's the case, NBC is lying, because Concentration and I Dream of Jeannie were still in monochrome. I have heard that NBC did call itself the "Full Color Network" back in '66, but it's false advertising if you ask me.

[schpitf]

Correct. NBC didn't air its last B&W program until 11/4/66, which was the last day for Concentration in B&W. If TV Guide is correct, the 2nd-to-last NBC program to switch to color was The Doctors, which went to color on 10/17/66, which was also the premiere date of The Hollywood Squares.

[someguy23475]

Second to last is either The Doctors, Another World, or I Dream of Jeannie. It's one of those three.

[schpitf]

Another World switched to color, again according to TV Guide, on 6/20/66, and I Dream of Jeannie switched to color with its 2nd season premiere, 9/12/66. NBC was still by far the first all-color network, as CBS didn't switch its last B&W program, The Secret Storm to color until 9/4/67, and ABC didn't completely end B&W programming until its daytime game show Everybody's Talking aired its last broadcast on 1/5/68.

[wmbrown6]

Just curious . . . where was Fred Collins based, New York or Burbank?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I also am fascinated by the color cameras NBC used back then..they are TK-41's, made by RCA(Who, at that time, owned NBC.)

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Hi.

Yep, I remember that promo. Saw it when it was originally broadcast. NBC was 'all color' before both CBS and ABC. And I still remember the day my family got our first color set. Now everything's changing as the TV standard here in the States is officially changing from NTSC to ATSC pretty soon. Technology has certainly come a long way from 1967....

[dnm728]

This was a behind-the-scenes look at an NBC Full Color broadcast of 40 years ago. If I'm not mistaken, they were preparing to show coverage of a golf tournament.

[TruSlack]

Was that Chet Forte?