Hi all, it's been a long time since I've been here. I thought I'd throw my two cents in on this topic. According to Zenith in their Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 1953, they take credit for the first sale of an NTSC color television. Here's what the report says:

"Zenith made the first commercial sale of a compatible color television manufactured under the NTSC standards as approved by the FCC. This Zenith set was purchased by the Chicago Tribune's station, WGN-TV, in 1953. Production of similar sets will be limited, as explained in the President's message to stockholders."

"One of the primary reasons for building new color sets was Zenith's belief that they would be useful to help our distributor and sales organizations keep in step with the latest developments. They will also be of great value in the company’s program of training service personnel. This problem is national in scope and Zenith experts are preparing to handle it on a national basis.”

“Because it has been one of the pioneers in color TV, Zenith is in an especially advantageous position with regard to new developments. When a color receiver can be made with good picture size, simplified circuits, and popular prices, Zenith will be making that receiver. For the interim, no effort is being spared in the search for logical solutions to these problems.”

The set sold to WGN-TV was apparently one of the field-test prototypes, examples of which were present at all of the FCC tests of the NTSC system. A few of these sets have survived, one of which I own. Color broadcasts were being discretely transmitted for about three hours a week in Chicago throughout 1953, so Zenith could test their equipment and receivers in the field. I’ve been told that Zenith President McDonald wanted to beat RCA with the first NTSC color TV sold, and I guess technically he did, although it wasn’t a regular production model. Zenith didn’t market a color set until 1959.

I would like to thank Wayne Bretl for sending the Annual Report to me.
I just thought this might be of interest.
Mike