July 23, 1962...First World Wide Television Broadcast Via Telstar - Eyes Of A Generation...Television's Living History (original) (raw)
On July 23, 2016 - TV History
On a Monday afternoon on this date in 1962, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite entered NBC’s studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to co-host this historic broadcast with NBC’s Chet Huntley. ABC’s Howard K. Smith was at the UN Building. The twenty minute broadcast from the US to Europe was slated to start at 3 PM eastern, but the Telstar signal was acquired a few minutes early so they started then.
Aside from the historic transmission event, the sight of Cronkite and Hunley working together is nothing less than extraordinary.
As you will see, there are shots fed into NBC from all across the country including Cubs baseball from Chicago, President Kennedy in Washington, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Mt. Rushmore, the Statue Of Liberty, buffalos on the planes, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir from Utah and much more.
In Europe and Canada, 100 million viewers tuned in and it seems that the baseball game was their favorite part. A few hours later, the tables would turn and Europe would broadcast live to the US with Howard K. Smith joining Cronkite and Huntley at NBC, and all three networks would air this live, simultaneously. -Bobby Ellerbee