RCA TK-42/43 Cameras

[Mark N]

My first job after college was as a "technician" at WFMJ-TV, where the two studio cameras were both '42s (with a pair of '27s in the film & tape room, with two TR-70s). I was too low on the totem pole to be allowed to adjust anything, but those '42s seemed quite reliable and stable. The Chief tweaked things a couple times a week if he saw anything "out."

Once, something failed in one camera during an afternoon commercial taping, so the evening news aired on the remaining camera alone. The experienced techs and camera operators (same people) did a smooth job of transitioning between news, sports and weather, though viewers were treated to a rare wide angle whole-set view a couple times. There were no complaints that we heard of.

When I worked for RCA Broadcast in the camera group, we learned of "pot drift" - the tendency of some people to never let a camera control be left unadjusted. There was one manager who so frustrated the engineers by trying to "improve" a camera's setup that they disconnected the front panel pots on some modules and mounted the working controls inside!