Tour of WRET-TV, Charlotte, NC in 1977 Part 1

[AdairComaru]

Great video! It is nice to see this some Quads running (I love the sound of starting up).

I worked for RBS TV Network in Brazil, from 1979 to 1991, we had RCA Quad machines

like TR60, TR600 and even TCR-100 Quad automated advertisement exhibition machine.

See on my YouTube page, AVID 1 demonstration (by Bill Warner), and a tour of RBS TV and Atlantida FM (radio station in the same building). It is titled "Passeio pela RBS TV".

My best regards for all.



[JulianAlpsSLO]

Great clip. Did WRET produce any local news?

[DennisDegan]

Not when I worked there. But after I left, WRET began offering a quite respectable local newscast

[deafblackguy]

I remember WRET TV 36 Charlotte,NC was Independent tv station. Ted Turner owned WRET TV 36 Charlotte. Telecable of Spartanburg SC (Cable TV ) carried WRET TV 36 on cable tv 9 until 1978. they dropped WRET TV 36 . because WRET TV 36 was switch from Indpendent to NBC summer of 1978. WRET named Robert E Turner Ted Turner's dad name. WRET TV changed to WPCQ TV in 1980. because South Carolina ETV got WRET TV 49 Spartanburg SC in 1981.

[DennisDegan]

That's pretty close but actually, Turner sold the station to Westinghouse not long after it had become an NBC affiliate. It was Westinghouse that changed the calls to WPCQ. After that, the WRET call became available and I guess SCETV snagged it.

[deafblackguy]

yes SC ETV got WRET TV 49 in Spartanburg,SC. they was honor to Richard E Tukey. I can't remember his name.  WRET TV 49 studio locate USC Upstate in Sprtanburg,SC . WRET TV 49 Transmitter Tower locate Lake Johnson in Spartanburg,SC

[brithgob]

RET for Robert Edward Turner, right? Did Ted ever come by when you worked there?

[DennisDegan]

I never saw Turner at WRET, no.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Was that oipen-reel quad machine you were operating an Ampex VR-1100 or 1200? Just curious. Was all your videotape equipment Ampex?

[DennisDegan]

The 3 VTRs side-by-side were all VR-1200s.

[DennisDegan]

All the VTRs at WRET at the time were Ampex machines, yes.

[DennisDegan]

Like this? No.

[steelshot337]

I work Master Control and technical direct at a station in Louisiana. Some of the old timers have told me stories about a master control SWITCHER, 2-inch tape and the ACR 25. Now I dub things in from DVCPro decks into a Crispin Corp. playlist. We're digitally multiplexing three channels on one signal. This video was really neat. Do you have any more like this?

[bentleyfonzworth]

I currently work in Master Control at a station in Pennsylvania... I found this very interesting... thanks for posting!

We're still using a few Ikegami monitors from the late 70s... probably similar to the ones you had there at the station.

[DennisDegan]

Glad you liked it.

[jpvp2]

i really enjoyed seeing the old technology there, thanks- i collect this gear today

[DennisDegan]

Hey, jpv. What gear do you have? Don't tell me you own a Townsend UHF TV transmitter!

[iabhornc]

Is that 2" video?

[DennisDegan]

Yes.

[jcburns]

You should point out that this "portable" camera, the PCP-90, weighed, what, about 80 pounds?

[DennisDegan]

I think the camera head weighed about 45 pounds, but there was an additional backpack which probably weighed about the same. When we shot the WRET tour, we left the backpack in the control room and used a lengthy multipin cable to connect the camera to the backpack. There was no way we'd have carried the whole combo around that place; it was hard enough handling just the camera head!

[iabhornc]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting. I bet they no longer do it the way seen in this video at T.V. stations. We sure have come a long way from those huge things 30 years ago to the handheld cameras in one of today.

[DennisDegan]

Master Control has changed dramatically since this video was shot. Nobody runs film chains anymore. Most stations run programming, commercials and promos from video servers now; no tape at all. And yes, the cameras are much lighter, smaller, and better than they were 31 years ago.

[JoelFan]

Wow,

And to think everything now is all digital and server based.

[ljvideo]

I didn't see what you were all smoking.