Television Tape, they called it

[Andrew Smith]

Well, I guess they have to call it something. It's just neat to hear the name they had chosen for it when they first brought it to market.

This is some sort of sales / demo video for the product.

KTTV - Television Tape - Early TV effects demo - YouTube

Andrew

[Andrew Smith]

Some more correct info:

"The show’s title relates to those two competing manufacturers – Ampex, which first brought video recording technology to market, had registered the term “video tape”, and RCA was left without a way to describe its own tape products; thus, “television tape” became the RCA moniker for pictures etched on iron oxide."

Read all about it at https://web.archive.org/web/20150523....tv/Story.html

Andrew

[Doug Jensen]

They should have called it "TV Film".

[Boyd Ostroff]

Whatever they called it, the term "tape" seems like it will never die. Hard to watch a news program where somebody doesn't say they've "got it on tape". ;-)

[Doug Jensen]

On a similar note, I've given up on my refusal to use the word "filming" when shooting video. I held out as long as I could, but I've had to capitulate and start using it in some circumstances. They've broken me.

[Allan Black]

That’s correct Andrew. In 1962 at NBN Channel 3 in Newcastle just north of Sydney, we had the first RCA Television Tape recorder outside all the metropolitan TV stations in Australia. It was part of a complete RCA television station package bought by owners of NBN. Everything, from the mics to the transmitter.

And as the U.S. was now mainly in colour, RCA had to find older TV techs to come out and install our black and white gear. From Sydney I was the first audio guy there and trained the locals some of whom 62yrs later I still talk with.

Here’s our RCA recorder, to get a program to air, it had a 10-1 countdown leader, during which you faded the station program to black, press the switch to lock the RCA to the station sync, then fade up the RCA program. We always held our breath but it never failed.

Exciting times in Newcastle I was 19, the parties with the Ncle hospital nurses were great, I nearly got engaged. Cheers.

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Whatever they called it, the term "tape" seems like it will never die. Hard to watch a news program where somebody doesn't say they've "got it on tape". ;-)

We jokingly used to call it rusty "Magnetic Sellotape".

Chris Young

[Paul R Johnson]

When i was teaching in college (16-18) i made a throw away comment about video tape being sellotape covered in rust, and one student said could we see if that really works. We spent an hour with iron oxide powder and a reel of sellotape. We carefully put it into an old vhs cassette. Press record and did ten seconds. Rewound and had a recognisable picture for about 5 seconds, until the heads wore away, but it worked!

[Christopher Young]

Wow! Someone actually tried the idea. Well done. 👋👌😆

Chris Young

[Paul R Johnson]

Well it worked for a few seconds and wrote off the machine (which was old, in fairness) - as an educational experience, all the people will remember it. In honesty, I was sceptical it would work. The difficulty was making a sort of production line - pulling off a couple of feet, dusting it with the oxide powder, smoothing it out, then with an artist brush removing the surplus, then spooling onto the hub, repeat and repeat. Oddly. once all the adhesive was covered, sellotape behaves just like thick ordinary tape!

[Andrew Smith]

Surely you became the stuff of legend after that one!

Andrew

[Christopher Young]

😁👍

Chris Young

[Allan Black]

At NBN Channel 3 in Newcastle, here’s the graphic we telecast all day on Sunday the 4th March 1962. At 6pm our 30min opening program was on our RCA Television Tape recorder and it worked great. The following Monday at 12noon we went live for the first time, but RCA never sent any Cannon connectors on our studio mic cables. So using matches with the heads shaved off, we jammed the 3 mic cable leads into the studio wall connectors. We eventually got some from RCA after finding out in the US, they didn’t know what our earth lead was, so they were leaving it to us to wire them up .. but no one told me. Live television, it’s just the biggest adrenalin rush, there’s nothing like it eh guys.

Exactly fifty years later the current management held an anniversary party and invited everyone who ever worked at the station. There must have been 2500 in the big hall, they came from all over the world combining it with a holiday and everyone got a souvenir Champagne glass …

[Paul R Johnson]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

Surely you became the stuff of legend after that one!

Andrew

Ha! I did far more legend-ish things. Like safety. Putting a volunteer is a harness, hanging them from the roof steelwork, taking the ladder away and then getting the group to rescue them, WITH the county fire and rescue officer in the room. Mentioning, once dangling, that 15 minutes is the time before serious injury can set in galvanises the rest into action. Probably a good thing i stopped teaching really, but many of those 18 year olds have had great careers through, i hope, being prepared.

I even got mentioned in the UK education watchdog government report for having an excellent approach to learning during a session involving lowering an occupied coffin into the ground. Thats another story.

[Andrew Smith]

Do. Tell.

Andrew