(1/3) RARE 1949 NBC TV 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL - WNBT Channel 4 New York (WNBC)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มี.ค. 2010
- Part 1 of 3. Now this is a piece of television history. A rarely seen complete half hour as broadcast live on Channel 4 New York, then known as WNBT (now WNBC) on April 30, 1949 (aired 8-8:30 p.m. ET): the WNBT 10th Anniversary Show hosted by Ben Grauer. Ben Grauer is seen outside sutdio 3H where he says the first WNBT-TV show was broadcast 10 years ago from experimental station W2XBS. Scenes from the 1939 World's Fair include: The GM Building, the Trylon & Perisphere, Avenue of Nations, and RCA Building. Exteriors of the Empire State Building and RCA Building at Rockefeller Center are shown. Earl Wrightson sings "There's a Great Day Coming". Kyle MacDonnell & Wrightson sing "The Alphabet Song" accompanied by The Norman Paris Trio. See signs on floor of 1944 Democratic Convention in Chicago and results come in to the NBC Studios on Election Night. Ben Grauer gives on-air election results. Later see early video footage off a WWII aircraft carrier. More music and song with The Three Flames.
This is a kinescope recording from a very early CRT monitor. You can see how good the original video probably was even so early in TV history.
Enjoy some TV over 60 years old! - บันเทิง
My deceased friend was the first TV news cameraman for WSM-TV.
Wow, what a find that you have in your collection! Live programming on TV from the 1940's is rare to find. Thank you for posting this.
Amazing how NBC can do an anniversary show...in 1949! At a time when the history of television had not yet been written (with maybe "The Texaco Star Theater" with Milton Berle and "The Ed Sullivan Show"-then "Toast of the Town"-as the first few pages).
Basically 10 years of programming that vanished once the programs ended, live and transitory, like a show at a club.
They celebrated 10 years of television when half the world lived in a medieval setting...
Wow! This is really TV history that you got here! Thanks for posting this!! It's exciting to see TV history like this!!
RCA was considered the Cadillac of TV sets. And WNBT was considered as the Oldsmobile of the time as it was the first regular full time TV network. Oldsmobile was the first car company to make exclusively cars for the public in 1897. Ford and Cadillac came later.
Thanks for posting this gem. I'm really glad that they were able to save it for posterity.
This is just great! These two were so talented.
When NBC aired this, in the Nashville, TN market, there were no TV Stations on the air. NBC affiliate WSM-TV (now WSMV) signed on in September of 1950, and was this markets first TV Station.
I would've thought WSM-TV went on the air earlier than 1950 seeing WSM-AM was put on the air in 1925 to broadcast the Grand Ole Opry.
@@ApartmentKing66 At that time it was only a radio station.
As others have pointed out, there was no way of copying or preserving TV broadcasts in 1939, so the footage shown here is just regular 16mm movie film of the New York World's Fair, and the Empire State Building, and isn't actual TV transmissions from that year.
Not to downplay the historic importance of this 1949 show, of course. That this survives is pretty amazing.
The appearance of singer Earl Wrightson was a pleasant surprise.
this is wonderful thanks so much!
Wow! I wish we could see some TV kinescope examples like this from 1939 to 1947, but they didn't invent the kinescope process (filming direct from a TV monitor as this show was) until late '47, I think. Would have been cool to see Roosevelt on TV from The World's Fair, and the 1940 Republican convention from Philadelphia which went live to NY and Schenectady. But only still pictures exist.
They do have some silent experimental kinescopes from 1939-1946 in the LoC, but nothing with sound until June of 1947. A lot of audio survives of TV programs from 1939-1946 on 16 inch transcription discs, so maybe the audio could be synchronized to the silent kinescopes if they correspond with each other. I know that silent kinescopes exist from President Roosevelt’s TV appearances, several newscasts with Lowell Thomas and Ray Forrest, the first big budget variety show Hourglass, and several other programs.
For those that turn this video on should realise that if you watch the entire thing you will get ot hear Earl Wrightson singing
Fascinating thanks for posting
in my country they started TV broadcasting in 1958, 20 years later.
Good old Flushing Meadow Park! 1939, 1940 World's Fair. 1964, 1965 World's Fair. Which I and my little brother and our mother traveled to on a World's Fair special LIRR train from Jamaica to Woodside and went backwards to switch tracks to the 1964 Fair which still had the 1939 Fair station on the Port Washington branch.Went several times with my uncle's family too by car via theban Wyck Expressway. In Queens NYC.
Th earliest known existing footage of anything telecast on "experimental station" W2XBS {it became WNBT in July 1941} is about 11 minutes of silent 16mm footage, filmed from a monitor, from an August 31, 1939 telecast of "THE THURSDAY NIGHT PROGRAM", which featured a melodrama, "The Streets Of New York", with Norman Lloyd and George Coulouris in the cast.
That first part of the musical intro was ahead of its time: 0:06 - 0:13! Jazz/Fusion in 1949?
Fantastic!
A new ahhhht of television viewing!
It's funny seeing a 10th anniversary show from a time when most people didn't have tv yet.
I've seen Ben Grauer before on Carson's show from New Year's Eve 1965-66. He was in Times Square on B&W tv while Carson's show was in color in the studio.
Loved it.
That opening music sounds like Pac Man!
@TheDoddio His voice spoke "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC"?
I was ordering a sandwich in a deli and Ben Grauer was a customer in line before me. The clerk was giving him a hard time. "See here young man you don't know who I am!" said Grauer. The young clerk didn't know but I did. "I know who you are Mr. Grauer," said I "It's a pleasure to meet you." With a tear in his eye he said, "Why thank you sir!" and Mr. Grauer quickly walked out.
+George Strum
In 2009, I was walking past the NBC building in NYC and spotted Gabe Pressman approaching. I said "hello Mr. Pressman", and he stopped and greeted me in return. He asked my name and we had a brief conversation. As I turned to leave, he said my recognition of him made his day. I told him his stopping to talk with me made mine.
To the clerk, he was just another crabby old coot.
@@enricosanchez894 Sounds like the clerk's customer service skills need some work.
@@ApartmentKing66 Maybe so, but if the old newsman was demanding special treatment based on celebrity status, then I would disagree. Using the "Do you know who I am" line usually is indicative of that.
I'm sure many have no idea who, these people were. Ben Grauer was a staff announcer for the NBC network and for WNBT(later WNBC) NYC. Earl Wrightson was a prominent Broadway baritone then, specializing in operettas.
Mr. Bailey: You're right about your dates. WSM-TV received their network signal from an inter-city microwave relay from Louisville via WHAS-TV. This show was seen in Louisville on WAVE-TV, which signed on November 1948.
My father worked as a writer at WAVE as soon as they signed on in 1948.
Incredible and genius!
Earl Wrightson gives Ben Grauer the finger at 4:38!
By the way, Studio 3-H (known as "3-K" when "HOWDY DOODY" began daily color telecasts from that studio in September 1955) is currently used for WNBC's local newscasts {as "3-C"}.
oh my.
Good old Ben Grauer.
"Our call letters was W2XBS, The X for experimental, and the BS for......... Well you know!"
+Billy Paul broadcasting system
@@theneocubeguide303 Bullshit
WNBC-TV is a better name for the TV station we know today!!
Stephen Chase - never knew if it was the broadcasters or the FCC that didn't allow WNBC and WCBS to use the 'casters full names for the stations (other stations further licensed didn't had that problem, like WRGB, the longest continuous used call sign in US TV history).
Just discovered parts 2 and 3 of this treasure from WNBT.
Radio 1926, TV 1939.
We need more Earl Wrightson on You t ube
I remember all three call letters, and don't figure out my age, LOLOLOLOLOL.
thanks for posting this incredibly rare piece of TV history! A real treat! Was WNBT (later WNBC) the first station in the US &/or world?
truebluefrog - yes, I know it is a reply to a 10+ y/o post, but it seems nobody set you straight...
W2XBS (RCA's experimental predecessor to WNBC) wasn't the first experimental station in US or the World (it seems GE's own W2XCW, predecessor of Albany, NY Metro WRGB [CBS 6 nowadays] can claim SOME of the fame as it debuted January 13, 1928).
As for the first LICENSED TV station in the World the title "may" fall into (3rd Reich) Germany as they had the Paul Nipkow (sp?) Station in Berlin in 1935, even before BBC1 (1936 on mechanical TV).
WNBT "can" claim the 1st US LICENSED TV STATION title by 30 MINUTES, as the FCC wanted both WNBT and WCBW (WCBS today) to start SIMULTANEOUSLY on July 1st, 1941 (WPTZ, today's KYW CBS 3 in Philadelphia, PA got the license that day, but had to wait 2 months to go on the air, becoming LICENSE # 3). Allegedly, WNBT squeaked right in at 1:30pm (before anyone noticed) before WCBW's 2:00pm official start.
After those, aforementioned WRGB got LICENSE # 4 on February 26, 1942 And WABD (today's WNYW Fox5 in NYC) got LICENSE # 5 to start on May 2nd, 1944. Those were the ONLY 5 TV LICENSES the US Government gave before the end of WWII, all other stations back then being still experimental (and most / all of them paralyzed by the War).
The only title WNBT / WNBC seem to got (besides the ones for particular programs or happenings inside of them) is the FIRST US TV STATION airing CONTINUOUS SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING since April 30th, 1939 (still as W2XBS, as the commercial license was still over 2 years away).
Hope this got straight(er)...
syxepop Thank you for the history lesson. 📺 😎
Interesting that NBC celebrates their 10th anniversary, yet WNBT wasn't quite 8 years old here. Apparently, W2XBS began airing regularly scheduled programming 2 years before its commercial WNBT license was issued.
InvestorGuy66 - FCC didn't gave the COMMERCIAL LICENSE to ANYONE until 1941 (WNBC and WCBS today) and only 3 OTHER LICENSES were given before WWII's end (today's call signs are [3] KYW in PHL, [4] WRGB near ALB and [5] WNYW in NYC).
@@syxepop Yes, I knew that. WNYW was originally WABD, put on the air by Allen B. DuMont (thus, the letters ABD).
Was this where the "The History Of Television" Special aired on,this date?
NBC was The first television network and NBC started in 1925 or 1926
CWA - another late reply...
NBC (Red Network) Radio started in 1926, RCA's W2XBS / WNBT / WRCA / WNBC started in 1928 (months after GE's W2XB / WRGB near Albany, NY) and OFFICIALLY DuMont (based on today's WNYW and KDKA) started Network TV in 1946 months before NBC or CBS (ABC would join a couple of years later).
WNBT aired for the first time as an FCC COMMERCIALLY LICENSED STATION (# 1) only on July 1st, 1941 at 1:30pm EDT. Licenses # 3 and 4 (order of first 5 licenses is in another reply in this thread) were given to stations broadcasting NBC product, but neither is an affiliate nowadays, as both are owned by ViacomCBS.
Ever hear the expression "pot calling the kettle black"? Look it up.
I was 9 years away from being born, so I don't remember this too well. :)
Old shows creep me out
@Greg98233 am i not the only one who read the prehistory of television book by michael ritchie? its strange how ritchie's work isn't associated with television AT ALL as he has been a film director.....
Now it's 80th. April 30th, 1939 was the first TV broadcast. The war then interrupted things, so didn't catch on until afterwards.
u wot meme 2004 - Paul Nipkow Station (sp?) in 3rd Reich Germany was 1 year earlier than BBC1 and 4 years before W2XBS continuous schedule (6 years before WNBT commercially)...
S. Adam Bernstein - W2XBS had been broadcasting for OVER A DECADE by the 1939 World's Fair telecast, which started SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING.
WWII did stopped COMMERCIAL TV for a few months in 1942 (AFAIK, except for WRGB, which was kept going by the US Gov't). Later in 1942 all COMMERCIAL STATIONS licensed back then (4 and later 5 total) were allowed CIVIL DEFENSE programs + a few other hours for the Wounded Military in hospitals in NYC and PHL (wonder what's the excuse in ALB's case).
IOW, US-DoW(ar) allowed commercial broadcasters a VERY LIMITED SCHEDULE through WWII.
OTOH, EXPERIMENTAL broadcasters in Chicago, LA and some other places were "stopped for The Duration"...
Alguien sabe si existe alguna grabacion de televisión mas antigua que esta actualmente en youtube?
Pedro Per - va a ser difícil, ya que la videocinta se inventó a mediados de los 1950's... La única forma de obtener video anterior era que grabaran en PELÍCULA lo que pasasen en el monitor del estudio o dónde grabasen.
Existen pedazos aquí y allá^. La colección más grande es de la Alemania del 3er Reich, ya que insistían en filmar mucho contenido*, pero mucho se perdió y otro tanto aún tiene restricciones por YT, particularmente en Alemania.
* según tengo entendido la primera emisora allá fue en 1935 bajo SISTEMA MECÁNICO.
^ existe un episodio de THE ODDITY ARCHIVE en Inglés (Pre-Históric Television), que muestra parte de ese legado.
It will turns 70 this year. In my country, the television broadcasting will turns 70 years next year, television came in Brazil in 1950.
Paulo Alves - nobody seem to care for Tupi, right? 2nd Oldest network in Latin America, after Televisa's Cinco (5) Network weeks earlier...
Just turning 70, SBT* should go right ahead and buy the rights to the name and copyright, so they could make a "Retro TV network" on the .2's of every SBT affiliate...
* what became SBT bought the São Paulo allocation and studios after Tupi went silent In the 1980's
cool.
I'll be honest the movie white Christmas brought me here. Was curious where WNBT was. Never new it was WNBC later. Interesting trivia. Now the call letters WNBT are for an FM station out of Wellsboro, PA. Imagine that.
WNBC was radio, so WNBT (T for Television). Around1954, "Channel 4" became WRCA AM-FM-TV... so that 'opened up' WNBT for anyone ellse... Same thing for famous callsigns like WJZ which was Channel 7 in NY, later becoming WABC with WJZ moving to Baltimore....
@@musicom67 Except WNBC didn't exist until 1947. In 1941, NBC's flagship station at 660 AM was WEAF. Do you know why CBS's TV station's first call letters were WCBW?
Notice how he keeps looking down at his script - idiot cards didn't exist yet - and nobody could deal with the camera as they were used to just sitting there in a studio.
He couldn’t adlib to save his life. Lots of bloviating.
@@jimamato456 He was still better than what passes as talent today
@@jimamato456 Well, this was over 70 years ago. If you were in his shoes and didn't have a standard or model to follow because the medium itself was in its infancy, you'd doubtless do your share of bloviating too.
@@ApartmentKing66 Well, if you watch the reporting he did on New Year's Eve 1965 for The Tonight Show, it didn't get much better. You'd think there would be some improvement in 16 years.
huh, when the year this aired our local NBC affiliate which also was the first station in our area WKTV 12(later reassigned to channel 2) signed on for the first time. of course back then they were a NBC, CBS, ABC and Dumont network affiliate and were the only station in town till 1970 when what became our ABC affiliate WUTR came on the air and then WFXV in 83 or 84, which was independent till it became a FOX affiliate which was originally operating out of a garage before being forced to move to I kid you not a old landfill a few towns over where they stayed till the 2000's when they were moved into WUTRs station during a consolidation effort(WUTR, WFXV and WPNY were all merged into one building on Smith hill) from the then owners
Source please
1926.
Turn on Closed Captioning. Funny.
8:30 When you actually listen to the words of this song, it's really a downer!
txvoltaire Finnegan's Rainbow. A very upbeat movie. I liked When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich.
Video games are a different medium entirely. Weather crawls are annoying, but they do not stay on all the time on every show every day. Again, I would like to know why you feel I am wrong to criticize logos that stay onscreen all the time- you seem like you would be very upset if they were to go away. You seem to be more upset about my complaining than I am about the thing I am complaining about! (And this will be my LAST attempt to converse intelligently with you.)
Yes, this is being preserved, 'ohbutyes'- but only a few know of its existance.
I doubt any of the people in this video are still alive
If its on youtube, its not rare, lol