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 If ever there was a website that would likely
drag a radio and television broadcast historian down into the metaphorical
rabbit hole, "Eyes of a Generation... Television's Living
History" is it. Like Alice's experience in
Wonderland,
once you enter the homepage porthole and begin clicking on links, not only will
getting back out be difficult, but the journey will introduce you to many fantastic
experiences in TV broadcasting which you have never seen before. As the subtitle
says, "In essence, this is a Television history book with 5000 stories, 10,000 rare
photos and hundreds of one of a kind videos."
If you are old enough to remember way back to the 1980s and before, then you
will find interesting tidbits of insider and backstage anecdotes about all of the
popular television shows of the various eras - back to the very beginning. That
includes sitcom, variety, and news types. Included in the collection is a wealth
of photographs and videos, along with histories of the electronic equipment and
its inventors that made it all possible. You will also find never-seen-before film
footage of live taping sessions, TV show production, interviews, and documentaries.
Did you know that David
Letterman owned the entire "Late Night" franchise and leased broadcasting rights
to NBC? That and lots more about the original
American broadcast studios
- ABC, CBS, and NBC - is included in the form of lengthy PDF documents.
Hundreds of images and video documentaries about development of
kinescopes,
orthicons, and
iconoscopes; televisors,
camera dollies, color TV cameras and TV sets can be found. Many of the topics
here in RF Cafe's collection of vintage magazine articles documenting the evolution
of radio and television provide more detailed technical information that what is
found on "Eyes of a Generation," but the two resources compliment each other very
well - especially the video clips. An example is this 1996 BBC report on a newly
discovered (at the time) film reel of John Logie Baird's work on his
Phonovision recording system in 1927. A huge section on
cameras is available.
The "Viewseum" pages contain
a rare collection of moving images related to electronic video, including the first
coast-to-coast color TV broadcast of the
Rose
Bowl Parade in 1956. The "Archives"
is yet another huge collection on various subjects that don't necessarily fit into
one of the others.
On whichever page you land, be sure to scroll down to see
all it has to offer. There are usually multiple instances of a subject on each page,
and at the very bottom, buttons for progressing to other pages.
Posted April 18, 2022
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