NBC Studio Tour
story and photos by Kayte Deioma
For teens and adults who are fans of NBC late night or morning television, taking a guided tour of the NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center is an interesting way to spend an hour and ten minutes on a rainy day.
The tour starts with a short film giving a brief history of NBC from being the first permanent radio network in 1926, through the transition to television and the landmark programming through the years like Today, The Tonight Show, Bonanza, Cheers and Seinfeld.
The studios available to tour vary depending on what shows are in production and what time of day it is. Early in the day, you might get to visit Studio 6A, the set of Late Night with Conan O'Brian, and sit where the live studio audience sits during taping. Later in the day, if Conan is taping, you might see the Today Show or Dateline NBC set. On the 10:15 am tour, we got to sit in Conan's wooden audience seats and visit Studio 8G, where NBC Nightly News and NBC Sports are taped.
As someone who came of age with Saturday Night Live, the highlight was standing on the set of Studio 8H where comedians from John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and Steve Martin to Eddie Murphy, Janeane Garafalo, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock went from unknowns to household names during their time on SNL. A myriad of Fresnels and other light panels are suspended above. Blue and yellow clap seats circle the back of the studio. Since the show was in hiatus, we got to stand in front of the actual dual Grand Central Terminal sets that have been the primary backdrop of the show since 2003.
Between studios, you traverse halls lined with photos of well-known and lesser-known faces of NBC. After a quick stop in the Green Room to see where make-up magic is done, the final stop is a studio used just for tours. Each guest or group is photographed at a news desk with the New York skyline in the background. Two lucky volunteers also have the opportunity to be on the closed circuit TV. One gets to sit at the News Desk and read the news from a teleprompter. The other will report the weather from in front of a Green Screen, trying to keep track of which way to point his or her arm so it appears in the right place on the map.
Tickets for the NBC Studios Tour can be purchased in advance from www.nbcuniversalstore.com, or in person on the second level of the NBC Experience Store at Rockefeller Center. The NBC Studios Tour is also included in the New York Pass and New York City Explorer Pass discount cards.
TV Show Tickets at NBC
If you'd like to actually see a TV show taping at NBC in New York, free advance tickets for Late Night with Conan O'Brian are available by calling the ticket office at (212) 664-3056. Stand-by tickets are available at "no later than 9:00am on the morning of the taping under the "NBC Studios" marquee on the 49th street side of 30 Rockefeller Plaza." Saturday Night Live tickets are available by lottery, so you can't request a specific date. Stand-by tickets for SNL are distributed at 7 am on show dates at the same location. Stand-by tickets to either show do not guarantee a seat. Ticket Information.
NBC Studio Tour
NBC Experience Store
GE Building
30 Rockefeller Plaza (corner of 49th St. Between 5th and 6th Ave.)
New York, NY
(212)664-7174
www.nbcuniversalstore.com