The World’s First All-Color Television Station
The NBC 5 Chicago/WMAQ television station in Chicago has a long history of invention. At WMAQ-TV, April 15, 1956, will always be known as "C-Day". It was dubbed "a brave breakthrough through the black-and-white curtain" by Broadcasting-Telecasting magazine. A new age in television began at 4:15 PM when Robert W. Sarnoff, then-President of NBC, pressed a button. As "Wide, Wide Planet" broadcast the event to 110 NBC-TV affiliated stations across the nation, Channel 5 became the first all-color TV station in the history of the world.
All male journalists who attended the Sarnoff news conference were given light blue shirts by WMAQ-TV. White shirts or blouses in the early days of color generated a "flaring" that communicated to the picture tube and distorted the color image when strong lights were utilized. But the light blue shirts appeared white.
It took five months of laborious work to convert the colors. Howard C. Luttgens, who was the project's chief engineer at the time, and his assistant W. C. "Bud" Prather, who eventually took over as station manager of WMAQ-TV, were in charge of overall management. A special task force of 40 technicians was put through a "color college" by Luttgens, which involved round-the-clock specialized training.
