Quote:
Originally Posted by old_tv_nut
Cinema treasure mentions a period of ABC use after NBC:
"RKO sold the theater to NBC in 1956,
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(1) Here's why I took umbrage with those two sources. I walked and drove past the Colonial Theater often in the early 1960s. In fact, in late 1962 I lived three blocks away on 65th street. Therefore, I feel a certain attachment to the subject.
(2) There are many references to four TK-40's at the Colonial Theater BEFORE the FCC approved color television on December 17, 1953. These references include dated photographs. But...
on March 18, 1953, a trip to the Colonial Theater was made by RCA Camden to measure the spectral response of the four TK-40 color cameras in use at the theater. My information comes from an original copy of the internal correspondence issued by RCA Camden on April 10, 1953 to Robert E. Shelby of NBC. Therefore, there's no doubt in my mind that NBC/RCA was in that theater long before 1956.
RCA was in the Colonial Theater in early 1953, and because of the lead time required to set up, from scratch, an NTSC television studio, it makes sense to believe it was sometime in 1951 that RCA gained access to the Colonial Theater.
Of course, it's always possible that RKO leased the theater to NBC/RCA for five years before selling it. But that seems to be a stretch.
Pete