Eye Witness was a half-hour documentary series broadcast by NBC between November of 1947 and April of 1948. How many stations the series aired on is unknown. It was seen in New York City over station WNBT and possibly over WRGB in Schenectady, WPTZ in Philadelphia and WNBW in Washington, D.C. According to a November 3rd, 1947 article in The New York Times, Eye Witness was intended to “promote video by explaining the medium” [1]. The premiere telecast was from the station’s transmitter at the top of the Empire State Building with Dr. C. B. Jolliffee (RCA Laboratories Executive Vice President) as guest.
The article noted that the November 13th broadcast would visit NBC’s Studio 3-H at the RCA Building and the November 20th broadcast would come from a mobile pick-up. Another broadcast, date unknown, was from the RCA Exhibition Hall. Ben Grauer was announcer and host for the series, which was directed by Garry Simpson. Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin was the guest on the February 25th, 1948 episode, which UCLA has in its collection. No other episodes are known to exist.
Scenes from the February 26th, 1948 broadcast with Dr. Zworykin were included in the third installment of “Television,” a 1988 documentary series shown on PBS. The installment, titled “The Race for Television,” can be viewed at the Museum of Broadcast Communications (registration required). Simply search for “race for television” in the Episode Title box. The Eye Witness segment runs from roughly 43:08 to 47:03. The episode can also be viewed at the The Paley Center for Media in New York City or Los Angeles.
Television listings in The New York Times indicate that 15 episodes were broadcast. However, information provided by director Garry Simpson (who also wrote and produced the series) to the Archive of American Television states there were 13 episodes. These 13 episodes are described below; the extra dates when The New York Times says an episode of Eye Witness was on the air are in bold.
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