Everything that starts with R ... > Reviews (408)

Ah, the Coolsters at it again, this time with a great article on the history of that box we all marvel at in google eyed wonder, colour telly - not boring old black and white, but full, living, fantasmagorical (anyone care to tell me what it means please) colour. In fact we take colour TV for granted so much these days that we struggle to remember the fact we all had an old monochrome set. I'll bet there's not many Ciaoers under 30 who will even remember their parents having a Black and white box. (I find Black and white EVER so boring don't you?) If you thought colour TV was a recent invention, think again, colour Savalas (and if that's Greek to you I mean Telly - as in Kojak, geddit? No they don't make cameras) was actually invented before the first regular Black and white services were broadcast. And all you old Crossroads fans (I mean from when Amy Turtle was in it, not the recent remake) are in for a surprise. And if you know the Coolster by now, yes, this one's long. Very Long. I feel must give thanks to Martin ellen of the 'On Air' website ( http://homepage.ntlworld.com/martin.elle​n/oa/Early%20colour%20TV.htm ) for an article on the BBc's 1950's trials of colour TV for which I'm very much indebted.

In fact Even Logie Baird didn't really invent television, he was the first person to display a working camera and receiver. In fact a rudimentary system was built by George Carey as far back as 1880 with light cells, whilst in 1894 German Paul Nipkow took out a patent on his spinning disc system in 1894. In 1895, Marconi invented wireless, which meant that there was now an available means by which to transmit signals. If we leap forward to Russia in 1904 Boris Rosing combined the Nipkow spinning disc system with a cathode ray tube, creating the worlds first working television system. A year later he transmitted still sillouhette shapes, which was arguably the worlds first display of TV, whist in 1908 Scots engineer A.A. Cambell-Swinton pioneered proposals for electronic television.

But TV proper didn't come in to being until the third decade of the twentienth century, and it was another Russian Vladimar Zworykin who took the credit. In 1923 he patented the 'Iconoscope' camera tube, and by the end of the year had produced the 'Kinescope' which was an early TV receiver tube. It was not until the following year that moving images were initially transmitted, and this time it was a British inventor, known as 'The father of television' John Logie Baird who was responsible, using a mechanical system based on the Nipkow system. (and before you say it its Nina Myshkow not Nipkow who's the TV critic, so don't think the two are related).

Zworykin was a Zworried man (joke), not, and in 1925 Patented the system for COLOUR television. (Ironically it was a further 26 years before Colour TV was first commercially broadcast) It was Baird however, who was the first to successfully broadcast a mechanical TV system in 1926. Two Years later, in 1928, he scored another first with the first public display of colour TV.

The idea was simple. If you spun a disc of red blue and green in front of an ordinary TV camera you got a colour picture. To decode it as colour the receiver also had a similar spinning disc inside, and he first colour sets to be sold were based on monochrome tubes with a spinning wheel in front of them. The colour system was modelled by a young girl wearing different hats. The young lady modelling them at the time, later went on to become a household name on TV, Noelle Gordon, or Nolly as her close friends called her. So now you know. A year later he opened the first TV studio, but its images were crude and jerky. Ironically, RCA founded the first TV station a year earlier in New York.

The 30's saw the introduction of commercial TV services around the world, with the BBC beginning broadcasts at the start of the decade. It was Baird who made the first sets, but other companies joined the bandwagon, mainly those who made radios like Murphy or Bush. But colour hadn't been forgotten. Although Baird had successfully pioneered the introduction of what was then a high definition system in 1936, he was preoccupied with developing a colour system, and in 1940 demonstrated this. But it was far from perfect. The same year CBS in New York displayed its 'Field Sequential' system which utilised spinning tri-colour discs in front of the camera. Round about the same time the rival NBC network (owned by RCA who made most of the TV cameras and sets) trialed its own system.

Baird was preoccupied with colour TV, but the Second World War had made it impossible to pursue. But he still carried on his experiments with the medium, despite the devastation, moving several times. By 1946, he had just about perfected the system, and many people believe he was ready to start mass production of sets, but unfortunately, a year later he died. A colour photographic still from one of his experiments that year still survives, and the colour reproduction is remarkable for the time, though skin tones were pinkish. I've seen the still on a web site and it's breathtaking.

That same year, both CBS and NBC trialed their rival for the US government in a hope to be accepted as the TV standard. The NTSC standard of 525 lines had been accepted in the early 40's by the government as the standard. Interestingly, the early development was possible because America was then not at war, and colour development only really started again post war. However the American government wanted the adopted colour system to be a compatible system, i.e. That both colour and monochrome sets could pick up both signals. This led to a government commission being founded in 1948 to look into the mater. Both CBS and NBC were promoting their systems. CBS claimed that their system using spinning wheels was better because you could use monochrome tubes with spinning wheels inside to reduce costs. RCA had developed a colour CRT tube in 1946, and claimed this was better. Both companies trotted out successful displays to the committee between 1948 and 1950, yet the commission was loathe to commit itself to a standard.

However, NBC had set up a studio with colour cameras in 1949. That year on 10th October, the 'Kukla, Fran, and Ollie' Show was broadcast to the NBC network using RCA color cameras, presumably to show the FCC commission that ordinary b/w receivers could receive their colour signals.

But America was unhappy with the long wait to settle on a standard. CBS obviously had more clout because in 1951 it was given permission to start broadcasting using it's field sequential system. It had originally announced a start date of about a year earlier (In research I saw a copy of an TV magazine advert trumpeting a 1950 start date, but whether the FCC commission stopped this, or the colour sets themselves were problematic I do not Know). Its early 1940 tests used 343 lines, but this had now been improved to 405. CBS trumpeted this with an hour long 'All Star' special 'Colorcast' (colour broadcast) on 25th June of that year entitled 'Premiere', with regular programming beginning two days later on the 27th with Ivan t. Sanderson's 'The World Is yours' the world's first colour TV series. CBS must have had greater clout, because it's system had a fatal flaw, despite the governments insistences, it wasn't compatible. Yup you've guessed it, the millions of monochrome receivers went blank with a colour broadcast, whilst the handful of colour sets in existence (rumoured to be about 400 in the whole country) had black screens throughout the glut of black and white programming on offer. Colour output then was only broadcast in the early evening between 5 and 7pm. Obviously no one wanted to buy a set that couldn't receive most of the programmes broadcast, even if it was in glorious innovative colour. The broadcasts were a flop. Sets had been priced at just $499, half the cost of the first compatible colour sets just over two years later. Officially, the US government called a halt to programming, giving the excuse that the materials used in production of the colour sets were urgently needed for the Korean war effort. Thus in October that year, CBS' last colour broadcast was of a college football game featuring the North Carolina-Maryland football game on October 20th, 1951. Although other programmes were scheduled for colour broadcast that week, the football was the last broadcast. CBS refunded purchasers money, and destroyed all the sets, though two actually survive in an American university collection. It was rumoured that the Governments decision was actually to let CBS off the hook. This was fuelled when the launch of 'Compatible Colour' in 1953 went ahead despite the war. In fact the War finished in December of that year, and the FCC committee had given approval some months prior to that .

RCA had all but perfected it's system, and two years later in 1953 after petitioning the Fcc commission, the RCA/NBC system was adopted. As soon as it was, production of cameras and sets began. RCA built the cameras and sets, and RCA owned NBC broadcast the pictures. On 30th August of that year, the first publicly announced colour broadcast had been 'St.

George and the Dragon' a segment of the aforementioned Kukla, Fran and Ollie show.
NBC also experimented with a colour broadcast of the opera 'Carmen' on October31st , and although they were only an in house broadcast, with the nation only able to receive b/w images. CBS had actually broadcast in colour that month, with a programme called 'Eye opener' on the 11th. The first official NTSC colour broadcast was on the 22nd of that month of 'The Colgate Comedy Hour' and special permission was gained for the colorcast.

So why broadcast in colour if there were no available? There were two reasons. Firstly, the FCC hadn't actually de committed themselves from the CBS system. As the NTSC standard hadn't formally been accepted, these were trial broadcasts to show the compatibility of the system. Secondly, it was a great way of introducing colour TV in the American media.
The first Compatible colour set to be sold however wasn't an RCA model, the 1954 Admiral model was released for sale on the 30th of December 1953 at $1,175. Only one of these is known to exist.

The nations first receivable Compatible color(broad)cast was of the Rose day parade on Friday 1st January 1954, from Pasedena, and CBS broadcast in colour the same weekend, although the FCC had actually designated a mid January start date. The following day CBS broadcast 'The New Review" and although this used much cheaper cameras, the colour was almost as good as NBC's pervious day's output, NBC had the first NTSC colour series that year with 'The Marriage' and several shows experimented with colour. Studio shows were broadcast live as no commercial Videotaping equipment was available until 1956, though a few shows that were shot on film did film one off Technicolor versions. One such show was dragnet, and a single colour episode 'The big little Jesus' from December 1953 is still broadcast today, making it the worlds oldest surviving colour TV programme, and it was the first colour filmed piece of television broadcast. Colour output was by and large early evening/teatime, but this increased. The first colour set to sell in volume was the RCA 100 at S1,000, and though most of these were sold after its price halved. RCA claimed to have sold 5'000 of them, though many it is believed were sold to employees at a huge discount.

As more and more shows were broadcast in colour, set sales increased. Popular shows like, Milton Berle, Perry Como, and kids favourite' Howdy Doody' (the latter going colour in 1955) were broadcast live in colour, though many were not recorded as there was no available equipment to do so. (B/w film copies do exist though). Early Technicolor shows on film include 'Superman' and 'Davy Crockett' (both 1956) and Bonanza in 1959 was TV's first colour western series (over 200 TV western series were made). In 1956, the Ampex corporation introduced VTR machines. It's believed that the oldest surviving Colour VTR tape is of the 1958 'CBS Chrysler Fred Astaire Spectacular' though rumours abound of an earlier show in existence.

In 1958 sales of colour sets rocketed and the following year the whole country was able to receive colour TV. By 1962 colour sets were ousting monochrome models, and by 1966 NBC had started broadcasting 100% of its output in colour.

Over here it was a different story. It took 13 years for the first proper public broadcast in colour, although rumours exist that the queens coronation was broadcast in colour for employees of the Baird company, in 1952, this is unclear. Although things seemed much slower over here, they initially weren't. We also had our own committee similar to the USA, the Television Advisory Committee. Towards the end of 1953 the BBC Research Department began development of adapting the NTSC standard to a 405 line UK system. As with America, the need for a compatible colour system was deemed necessary. .Trial NTSC colour broadcasts began from 7th October 1954 onwards at the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios in London. Although the BBC had experimented with mechanical systems with wheels for separating the colours since the end of the war, this was the first compatible test. There. There was only one colour 'Receiver' for this broadcast (using an American RCA 21 inch tube), yet there was a fair size audience unwittingly viewing the proceedings on their monochrome sets. and only colour slides and 16mm motion pictures were broadcast were in 405 lines and later in the 60's in 625 lines. There were no cameras for the broadcast. It was a joint effort between the BBC's engineering division and Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd. It was noted that there now proved a system that gave Excellent colour pictures and good compatible ones

On the 10th Oct the following year a regular series of test broadcasts were made using the Alexandra palace transmitter, from Alexandra Palace. Initially only slides and films were broadcast. By the following year, Studio A there had been equipped with a single 3 tube colour camera from a Marconi design but made by the BBC as had all the colour studio equipment. This was fist used on 3rd, 4th, and 5th April 1956 for a special visiting delegation of the CCIR who were visiting Britain as Part of a world wide assessment on the state of colour television. This was also the first broadcast of a UK TV studio in colour.

By the autumn of that year a second colour camera had been installed in studio A. Pye had manufactured some experimental colour sets to be installed in the homes of BBC engineers to test them and the system, as well as being observed on a large number of monochrome ones for compatibility. On 30th and 31st January 1957 there were two special broadcasts for members of the House of Commons and the House Of Lords on 6 special receivers in a room in the House of Lords. By the following autumn, another series of experimental broadcasts took place, and was seen by a rather bigger audience than the tests of 1956/7. After the tests finished in 1958, the studio was dismantled, with the colour cameras being installed in an Outside Broadcast van, whilst the slide and film scanning equipment was moved to Lime grove studios, where regular experimental broadcasts continued outside of normal service hours.

The O/B van ended up being used by a company called Intertel, for the simultaneous recording of some UK TV shows in colour for sale to America. I currently do not have any details on this, but will update you as soon as I have news of this. I believe I once read that the latter series of 'Oh Boy!' Was recorded this way, with the performers miming to what had been broadcast live in monochrome, just for the colour cameras, although I have not been able to verify this. Experimental broadcasts were also made between Paris and London, and France's own SECAM (SEquential Coloure Avec Memoire -with Memory) was also tested this way. It is not known if any were recorded.

But why did the introduction of colour TV in the UK take so long to begin? There were three reasons. Firstly the Marconi cameras ran hot and were prone to colour temperature changes. Secondly, there were two new rival systems to the NTSC one, German developed Pal on 625 lines (or 405 lines VHF), and France's 819 line SECAM system. But the biggest reason for the delay was purely down to economics. In 1952, the Coronation had been the first broadcast to generate a bigger television audience than it's radio counterpart, and many working class families had bought a set especially for the occasion. Indeed, the 1950's (as opposed to the late 40's in America) was the decade that television made it into most British peoples living rooms. It was felt in government circles of the mid 50's that as several million monochrome sets had recently been purchased, and that although monochrome TV was popular, the public wouldn't be able to afford the burden of paying for new colour sets on credit, as well as the problem of what to do with the no longer needed b/w tellies. (Obviously no one had thought of putting an extension cable for the aerial in the bedroom to watch TV in bed).

The first public demonstration of colour TV was in 1961 at the Earls Court National Radio Show. Live transmissions came from a glass sided studio, as well as films and slides. There were 6 21 inch colour monitors on display, each being shown alongside a b/w monitor to highlight the superiority of the system. Prior to this, very few members of the public had actually seen the earlier demonstrations. Both the viewing public at the exhibition as well as the dealers were reported to have been suitably impressed. The satellite Telstar, also broadcast in colour from London specially for the US in 1962.

Europe itself was slow in deciding which system to adopt, and how many lines it needed. In the UK, the first TV show to be made (on film) in colour was Stingray in 1962, followed by Thunderbirds in 1964. These were so the US would buy the series (note the heavy use of US accents). They were commissioned by Lew Grade who from 1966 (the year the USA went 100% colour) had switched all of his ITC company's productions to colour for both the US market and anticipation of more reruns when the UK went colour.

In 1964 BBC2 launched transmitting in 625 lines of UHF frequency.

The BBC had realised the need for a better standard than 405 line B/W and had been experimenting with the previous year with 625 line NTSC colour (whereas the us only used 525 lines) as well as PAL and SECAM colour systems. The 1964 state opening of parliament was an experimental recording by the BBC that still exists, as was the 3 nations Rugby in 1965 from Twickenham. These were transmitted from the Crystal Palace transmitter, which had taken over experimental colour transmission duties from Alexandra Palace on it's colour Decommission in 1958. In 1966 the BBC broadcast the UK general Election in colour to the USA. That same year the UK officially adopted the PAL system as its TV standard and by 1967 most of Europe had decided to adopt that system. Indeed today most of the world outside north America uses it, with France being the only other notable exception, using it's own SECAM standard.

In the weeks before BBC2 went into colour the following summer there were a series of test broadcasts of established shows. (This is similar to the 1953 us launch) The first of these was probably 'Late night line up'. Finally on June 1st 1967, under the auspice of the now knighted David Attenborough as channel boss, BBC2 officially became colour, with a live outside broadcast of Wimbledon tennis (BBC1's Wimbledon team used 405 line B/W cameras even when covering the same match. Oddly only highlights of the men's singles final remain in the colour archives). The colour broadcasts were also simultaneously transferred to 405 line monochrome for black and white viewers. Other Colour shows that week were western 'The Virginian' , A documentary 'One pair of eyes' a play in the 'Impact' series, and 'Late night line up'. As BBC2 was only broadcasting colour from selected transmitters (and the signal was not as strong as B/W) a lot of the country was unable to receive it, especially the whole of Scotland and Wales.

The BBC at the time relied mainly on outside broadcasts or programmes on film in colour, because it had no proper colour studios. The BBC worked flat out to turn studios 6 and 8 into colour studios. On December 2nd of that year the BBC increased the channels output to 80% colour following the completion of studios 6 and 8. Amongst the increased output was Britain's first Colour period drama, Thackeray's Vanity Fayre. Only the news, a few regional programmes, and unsurprisingly 'Play School' (weren't us kids always kept away from 'Adult' things?), though the following year BBC2 news did eventually go colour.

The broadcasting Authority had given a date of Saturday November 15th 1969, as the official date when BBC1 And ITV could go colour. As with the US, and BBC2, unofficial 'Trial' broadcasts were made by both channels and these were picked up by the colour sets already in use during October and early November of that year. The BBC's unofficial colour output included such stalwarts as Dads Army, Play School (at last!), Not in front of the Children, Harry Secombe and Andy Williams shows, as well as the Moon landings the day before the official Launch.

At midnight Fri. 14th/Sat 15th, the BBC burst into colour with a spectacular Petula Clark concert live from the Royal Albert Hall. ITV's colour output began at 9-30 the Next morning with 'Road Report' followed by 'The growing summer' The mornings first BBC's programmes were monochrome language programmes from 10 until 11. At 11 am Thunderbirds became the first British show to feature a colour advert, for 'Birds eye peas (I can imagine that lovely green colour). In fact all of LWT's output that day was in colour, though some regions had their own b/w programmes. Shows included World of sport with Dickie Davies, Bonanza, a police show called Parkin's patch, Please Sir!, Frost on Saturday and the long running All our yesterdays, whilst Auntie Beeb had Grandstand (still running), Star Trek, Dixon of Dock Green, Harry Secombe, Match of the day, and the first colour weather forecast. (A year later in the Steptoe and Son episode 'The Colour Problem, - my favourite Steptoe sadly now only surviving in b/w, after Harold is forced to buy his old man a colour set after taking his car back for a refund Albert remarks 'Ooh, it's the weather, In colour.')

Sadly, colour TV sales were not as brisk as was hoped. The colour sets initially cost around the £400 mark, and as such were expensive. But that was not the reason. According to my brother (who worked in a TV shop at the time), there was a 6 months waiting list for a colour set. Another factor (though not much of one) is typified by the following example phone call.
'ITV Service Line. What's the problem Sir'
'I can't get colour on me set mate.'
'Has Sir turned up the colour knob on the set? If its down it will be Black and white'
'Colour knob? What's one'o'them?'
'I take it you've not bought a new colour television then sir?'
'I don't need to, do I?'
'I'm afraid one does, Sir!'
Yes, many of the public were under the impression that their monochrome sets would automatically display pictures in colour.

Most UK adverts were in colour from day one, whilst about ¾ of programmes were in colour, which is a stark contrast to America's gradual Roll out of colour. Also sales of sets were slow, with colour TV's only really taking off in 1973. In fact the first year that more colour licenses were sold than black and white ones was in 1976, 9 years after the first broadcasts. (Ironically we in the UK mirrored the yanks as it took them 9 years before more colour sets than b/w were sold, and sales had taken off in 1958, 5 years after start up where we had took 6 years).

So there you have it, the history of Colour TV. British TV broadcasts still use 625 lines, and the US 525, which makes our pictures quality better. The debate about digital TV which people think will mean them buying a new Digital set will be short-lived however. Already Japan has pioneered High Definition TV broadcasts, and Just like they did in the 50's, the US is slowly introducing the new format. The debate over there is how long will it be before they go fully HDTV, meaning new sets or adapter boxes all round. Whilst we are worried about the UK governments plans for an all digital service from 1997, we are ignorant of HDTV's impending arrival, which means yet more expense for us consumers. So Hadn't the Broadcasters better get plans ready for a simultaneous digital/HDTV launch in Europe as well?