Breathtaking early color---missed by most people

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by Steve D.

This site covers the BBC TV coverage of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in June, 1953. 2 June 1953 - Coronation Dayhttp://www.apts.org.uk/coronation.htm

-Steve D.

There’s one thing I think the link left out. There’s a story going around that the 405-line broadcast was being monitored here in the hope that skip would bring live coverage to the U.S., albeit however fleeting. There was a 405 to 525-line converter in the loop on this side of the pond. I don’t recall what network anymore, but it must have been either CBS or NBC. Their live broadcast of the attempt delivered nothing but live snow/noise of the BBC TV channel frequency.

The story is more than just speculation. That June day I glued myself to the family’s 16-inch Silvertone to watch the attempt. All that you could see though was live snow/noise over the Philadelphia channel reporting on the attempt. As far as I could tell, they never picked up so much as a sync pulse that day, and certainly never a hint of BBC video. I don’t remember any state-side chatter that day about a color broadcast.