WGN new color studio - 1961

[old_tv_nut]

Broadcast News December 1961
WGN's new "Color House"
(8.6 MB pdf file)

http://www.bretl.com/tvarticles/bnde...wsdec61wgn.pdf

[Phil Nelson]

Get a load of Bozo. No wonder so many little kids are scared of clowns.

Phil Nelson

[W.B.]

Curious about a few things:
a) At what point did WGN replace its TK-41's with more modern TK-44A/B class cameras (and, later, TK-45A)?
b) How long did the TK-26 chains at WGN last, and what color chains (I presume TK-27 or 28) replaced them and when?

Contrast this with their New York sister station WPIX (Channel 11), which didn't go color until 1965 (the first New York indie commercial station to air anything in color - at first, solely via film and slides with RCA TK-26's - was WOR-TV [Channel 9], beginning in 1960; but that station was the last to have all local origination in color, in late 1967).

[drh4683]

Nice piece of history there. WGN is still operating out of that same studio at 2501 W Bradley Place.

[JB5pro]

Originally Posted by W.B.

Curious about a few things:
a) At what point did WGN replace its TK-41's with more modern TK-44A/B class cameras (and, later, TK-45A)?
b) How long did the TK-26 chains at WGN last, and what color chains (I presume TK-27 or 28) replaced them and when?

Contrast this with their New York sister station WPIX (Channel 11), which didn't go color until 1965 (the first New York indie commercial station to air anything in color - at first, solely via film and slides with RCA TK-26's - was WOR-TV [Channel 9], beginning in 1960; but that station was the last to have all local origination in color, in late 1967).

New York's channel 11 didn't get color til '65? I doubt that is true. Makes no sense unless I suppose it was not ABC, NBC or CBS?

[JB5pro]

I love the design of this building for being logical and pretty instead of the ornately garish stuff they glue on most modern stuff. The new buildings with purposeless stuff glued all over reminds me of those haunted looking buildings from the 1800's an up with gargoyles, etc only alot cheaper looking.
I was pleased to see the building looks exactly the same today. Logical beautiful buildings like that are against the law to preserve where I live... seems that way.

[oldtvman]

I remember watch Wgn channel 9, and although it took a big yagi antenna to pick them up in South Bend, the color was excellent

[vallieone]

WPIX and color in the fall of '65 seems right, since they were the latecomer in the NY market. I recall their first colorcasts were the syndicated Bozo show and the color episodes of Superman.

WNEW's first colorcasts were Tomato Juice commercials and The Virginian on Movie Greats around that time also.

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by vallieone

WPIX and color in the fall of '65 seems right, since they were the latecomer in the NY market. I recall their first colorcasts were the syndicated Bozo show and the color episodes of Superman.

WNEW's first colorcasts were Tomato Juice commercials and The Virginian on Movie Greats around that time also.

WPIX actually started limited colorcasting in the spring of 1965, but WNEW didn't follow until the fall (the latter was the last NY commercial indie VHF to go color, with public-TV's then-WNDT the last New York area VHF to colorcast in 1967).

Originally Posted by JB5pro

New York's channel 11 didn't get color til '65? I doubt that is true. Makes no sense unless I suppose it was not ABC, NBC or CBS?

Hard to believe, though it is true. Though WNEW was the last NY commercial indie VHF to go color, they were the first of the indies - in 1966 - to have 24/7 live color studio capacity, with their acquisition of Norelco PC-70's. WOR and WPIX, by contrast, didn't have all-color local-originated programming until the latter half of 1967 (WPIX's newscasts were B&W as late as summer 1967, if TV Guide listings are of any indication; and pre-1967, WOR only had live studio color on their programs in off-season when the Mets weren't playing; both stations, when they went all-color all the time, went with General Electric PE-250's, and when WOR moved its studios in 1968 to 1481 Broadway, they replaced their RCA TK-26 color film chains with TK-27's which were already in use at WNEW and WPIX).

[John Hafer]

Interesting that I did not see any mention of their video tape equipment. I see this was an RCA story on WGN. I wonder if WGN was using Ampex video tape equipment, hence the absence of any mention about their tape equipment.

[old_tv_nut]

A few notes:

The Chicago Symphony broadcasts were done as remotes from Medinah Temple.
The antenna mast on the Prudential building expanded on the sunny side and tilted away from the sun, gradually changing the radiation pattern during sunny days.
WGN had a history of producing car commercials, including even remotes (black and white) from a Ford dealer (Courtesy Motors). Hence the installation of a turntable to support their commercial production.

[3Guncolor]

I wondered the same about their video tape I bet you are correct they must have been an Ampex house.

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by John Hafer

Interesting that I did not see any mention of their video tape equipment. I see this was an RCA story on WGN. I wonder if WGN was using Ampex video tape equipment, hence the absence of any mention about their tape equipment.

It could be a possibility.

[JB5pro]

Seems logical assumption since they had to use videotape often and RCA prolly made them not mention it

[alespn]

The posts are correct... WGN had Ampex 2000's. (They also had an HS 200 for commercial production.)