NBC Archives - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Jun152018 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Vintage NBC Promo Slides

Many, many years ago, when television technology was still somewhat crude, stations used still images to promote upcoming shows or events. Often they used slides that were simply projected to the screen. Of course, the need for these slides is long past but they remain a fascinating reminder of a simpler TV age. And so I was thrilled to come across a series of them for sale on eBay recently. According to the seller of these slides, they were used by NBC affiliate WRC-TV Channel 4, and were shown thanks to a piece of technology called a film chain. The film chain allows a station to convert a slide into an electronic signal and project it to a TV camera for broadcast. I'm not certain of the dates on these, but I suspect many of them are from the 1950s and '60s. I know the 1960s are in...

Sep202016 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

TV Listings Flashback: NBC Prime Time, September 21, 1973

TV & Radio

Rather than share the entire prime time schedule as I've done before, I want to share this fantastic, large newspaper ad touting NBC's prime time television lineup from the evening of September 21, 1973. This is the ad as printed in The Cincinnati Enquirer. Click on the ad for a larger version, and then let's talk about this greatness. Remember that visiting any of the Amazon show title links below will help me in keeping this site running! OK, first things first. I had never seen that NBC 73 logo before and it is glorious. If anyone has a color specimen please let me know. Now let's look at that lineup: 7:00 To Tell the Truth 7:30 The New Dating Game 8:00 Sanford and Son 8:30 The Girl with Something Extra 9:00 Needles and Pins 9:30 The Brian Keith Show

Jun302016 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

TV Listings Flashback: July 3, 1970

TV & Radio

Here are the evening/prime time network TV listings for the Newburgh, NY market on Friday, July 3, 1970, as published by the The Evening News. As you might expect, the schedule was full of reruns on the eve of the July 4th holiday. Remember that visiting any of the Amazon show title links below will help me in keeping this site running! Channel 2 (CBS) 7:30 Get Smart - Smart and 99 mistaken for doctor and his nurse by hoodlums. (R) 8:00 He & She - Hollisters celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary by being remarried in gala fashion. (R) 8:30 Hogan's Heroes - Hogan and cronies staggered by urgent order from London. (R) 9:00 Ten Little Indians, Hugh O'Brian, Shirley Eaton (1964), suspense thriller Channel 4 (NBC) 7:30 The High Chaparral - Buck and Mano

Jun72016 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

TV Listings Flashback: June 9, 1980

TV & Radio

Here are the evening and prime time network TV listings for the Pittsburgh, PA market on Monday, June 9, 1980, as published by the Beaver County Times. As you might expect, the schedule was full of reruns, with a scheduled baseball game being one of the few pieces of original programming. Remember that visiting any of the Amazon show title links below will help me in keeping this site running! Channel 2 (CBS) 8:00 WKRP in Cincinnati - Everyone at the station is convinced Johnny has gone mad when he claims God talked to him. (R) 8:30 Channel to Pittsburgh - Host Marlynn Singleton 9:00 M*A*S*H - A critically injured patient faces permanent paralysis or death unless he is operated on within 20 minutes at the poorly equipped 4077th. (R) 9:30 House Calls - Amos arrange

Nov52013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Film at 11: A Gallery of Vintage TV News Program Ads

Ephemera, TV & Radio

Sometimes I know that a post I'm putting together is destined to get 20 views if I'm lucky. But I have to follow my muse wherever she may lead me, and today she leads me to TV newsrooms across the country. I can't say exactly why, but I find these old advertisements for network TV news programs to be just so... quaint? Charming? I don't quite know how to put it. I just love how much these ads convey what it must have been like to watch the news back in the day -- not slick in the least. Just a bunch of square white men (and sometimes white women) reading the day's events. And now the news of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s...

Jun192013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Auction Finds: Vintage Cragstan RCA-NBC Mobile Color TV Truck

Auction Finds, Games & Toys

I would so love to own one of these vintage tin beauties -- it's a battery-powered RCA-NBC Mobile Color TV Truck from Cragstan. I've included multiple shots here because there's a lot of great detail here. Based on the NBC logo used, I'd date this at around the late 1950s. Here's a few pics with the original box. Love the vintage '50s color scheme. Great detail on the cameraman, and of course there's the classic RCA "His Master's Voice" logo on the side. On the right side we have the original peacock logo, circa late '50s. I wonder what's going on behind the blinds? For more auction finds, click here.

Jun142013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Very Cool “Visitors” Poster from V: The Final Battle (1984)

Auction Finds, TV & Radio

Courtesy the glory of the internet, here's an original prop poster from the V: The Final Battle NBC mini-series (1984). It's a propaganda poster showing how the visitors are in fact our friends. Looks legit. Click for a larger version. Because you know you want to see those space lizard goggles in their full glory. For more auction finds, click here.

Mar52013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Vintage Daytime Soap Opera Promotional Artwork (1981)

TV & Radio

I don't even like soap operas, especially the daytime variety, but this 1981 promotional image from Procter & Gamble Productions was too cool not to share. It features six P&G soap opera title cards from the 1981-82 television season, which aired on the three major broadcast networks. They are Search for Tomorrow, Another World, Texas, The Edge of Night, As the World Turns, and Guiding Light. A few of these I had never heard of, and now I know why. Texas only aired from 1980 to 1982, while The Edge of Night went off the air in 1984. Only As the World Turns and Guiding Light lasted into the 21st century. Speaking of that last one, my buddy Jeff Giles from Popdose is working on what is sure to be a great book for GL fans, called Llanview in the Afternoon: An Oral History of

Feb282013 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

Cool Stuff: Name That Tune Control Box from NBC

Auction Finds

Here's a really cool piece of vintage TV technology I came across. It's the control box from the NBC game show Name That Tune, which aired on the network from 1952-1954, 1974-75, and 1977. The auction for this box claims it's from the '50s version of the show, which I suppose is possible, except for one thing that contradicts that. See if you can guess what it is. This certainly looks simple enough to be from the 1950s, but a few things make me think it's from the '70s. The first is the faux wood grain DYMO label tape, which I don't think was around in the '50s. But mostly, that NBC logo on the "Made by NBC Electric Shop" label looks newer. Unless this was used internally for a few decades before the public saw it, it's most definitely from the '70s. In fact, that trapezoid N rol

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