During the 1960s, when television networks began broadcasting in color, viewers were surprised to see their favorite news anchors wearing pastel blue shirts instead of white ones. For years, viewers had been accustomed to seeing their anchors in what appeared to be a crisp white shirt. It was common practice for men who were dressed in formal work clothes to wear a crisp white shirt at the time.
Turns out the problem was with the black and white studio camera. The main camera tube…the one that generated the picture..was an IO ( Image Orthicon) and it didn’t like bright white. It would bloom out and cause a ghostly glow in the anchorman’s face details. Tests discovered that a pastel color would solve the problem but only the blue would appear as crisp white. Modern color cameras don’t have that problem so a white shirt is possible these days. -dm-