WCVB-TV "The Other Side of the Wall" 1977

[theresachipinmydip]

8:40 - anyone hear "i haven't had this much fun since my kid died"?

[maheez]

vid rollers had whole rooms to themselves!

[maheez]

my god news is so much more simple now.

[wmbrown6]

Would 'tedwcvb' know which film chain/slide scanner model would have been used? (I seem to have read in Broadcast Engineering that they used a Norelco model, unlike the majority of TV stations which used RCA or GE chains, and a few which used Cohu Systems chains.) I seem to have spotted use of an RCA TP-7A slide projector.

[kresblain]

In case you're wondering, the theme music used here is a sped-up version of Johnny Pearson's "Orchestra in Motion" from KPM 1035 - Underscore.

[PlaneAndTVtechfan]

I remember that Ty-D-Bol commercial from my childhood.

[altfactor]

Although WCVB was the first Boston TV station to adopt (circa 1973) electronic newsgathering (ENG), I believe that as late as 1977, many stories on WCVB (as well as on WBZ and WNAC, both of which got their first ENG units in 1976) were still shot on film.

[mthivier]

Funny how much Nat looked like Mary Richards in those days. Same pants suit, same "career gal" hairdo, etc.

[chyrongeek]

This is an interesting piece, we take news for granted nowendays with ENG/digital newsgathering.

[chyrongeek]

Is that Chuck Kramer in the early part of the clip?

[sed1228]

@chyrongeek Yes indeed!

[gtownrus]

Did they have the "Tunison Squeeze" back then or was that invented much later?

[dirt031]

God was Natalie young then!!!

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

What network was WCVB affiliated with?

[wmbrown6]

From the time of its launch in 1972 to the present day, ABC.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Thanks

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Did WCVB use any RCA equipment, cameras or VTR's, ever? What kind of equipment do they use now?

[tedwcvb]

The only RCA equipment I remeber were tk_76's.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Yeah, I saw the AVR-1, and some other Ampex quad, looks like a VR2000.

[tedwcvb]

4 or 6 (I think it was just 4) AVR1s and two 1200's

[catholicpriest1]

What pressure! The control room would be a smoke-free zone today.

[videonut33]

Look at that NewsCenter5 set!!!

[Bootleg127]

What a great video. Thanks for sharing.

[NWvideocollector]

The live simul-roll was incredible! I thought making a package with two 3/4" machines was difficult.

[DuanePostum]

Yeah, that simul-roll with the live switching was very impressive. I remember being enormously entertained as a kid by the (rare) minor errors in timing that occasionally cropped up due to such things. Much more human-feeling than nowadays. But the directors were probably aghast then they happened!

[CasandroLion]

Wow, but why would anyone would want to make live news that fast you can barely remimber anything?

That 'video' also makes me glad, we don't have commercials during news shows in germany. That brings more piece into the news. I guess harddisk recording and pre-edited segments also help a lot.

But anyhow it's amazing what those people had to go through several times per day.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Here in the US, it's the commercials that help pay for the news shows.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

This was done in the 1970's before digital TV technology. No hard-disk digital video storage yet, although there was the Machtronics analog disk-based video machine that sports crews used for instant replay.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

and the Ampex HS-100 which was used by sports crews here in the US.

[tedwcvb]

It was a Chyron with a Custom font.

2 ACR-25s... "FRED" was used for production. "FREDA" was commercials

I worked this room after John, the TD here, died... while on a quiet day off.

[wmbrown6]

It would've been amazing if Chyron had a CG typeface associated with Vidifont . . . I know Vidifont's shape, sizes and spacing inside-out.

[tedwcvb]

we never had anything but Chyron

[tedwcvb]

The director was a ham... all the time and his acting would sometimes carry us through crazy shows... he would develop a rythym and you followed along.. best live director I ever worked with.

and yeah I smoked while TDing.. don't know how I did it, It was a CDL switcher years before emems were a twinkle.

[tvdirector38]

Thanks for sharing - I got into the business just as the transistion to digital media began taking place (1992 Charlotte) - so I got my hands on a few analog cart machines and 1" VTRS - before BETA, DVC, and now server based video tapes... Ugggg -- I think its MANDATORY VIEWING for all production assistants -

rg

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Just curious,what kind of helical-scan VTR's did your broadcast facility use? And I wonder if Quad VTR's were already phased out there?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Seeing this reminds me of the time I got to watch a Gloucester County Cablevision(NJ)tech crew do the local news from their mobile truck, which also functioned as their control room. What they used for videotape recording? Sony U-Matic machines! They hooked up the mobile 'control room' to the studio and tech/VTR area from the parking lot. Seems the cable company thought it less expensive to use the mobile truck rather than build a control room.

[mrmatchgame]

I'm in college to work in television, in about every production I worked on it was as insane and intense as that, the only one that wasn't crazy was a project I produced and directed.

(Always feed your crew before they work)

[noahf67]

I worked in radio during the analog-to-digital transition, and now I get dizzy envisioning how we got it all done with

carts and reels. Truthfully, THAT was action

packed adventure, mis-fires and all.

All-manual backtiming! It was Cirque De Soleil!

[dwiller1]

Even though I don't smoke, I wish I could light up while directing my local newscast.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I'm not sure I'd want to be working in that control room. And of course I noticed two 'quad' VTR's in that presentation...Ampex's VR-2000 and AVR-1.

[NautiusMaximus06]

I work at a TV station, & except in Breaking News situations, rarely is the behind-the-scenes so dramatic & tense. Fast-paced, yes.

I get the feeling the director is playing it up a bit.

[DevSodDribble]

Smoking in the control room; Nice! :D People think news is easy-just set up a camera and read it off a teleprompter. This shows that that isn't quite the case...

[wmbrown6]

The CG font (as seen at the 3:55 mark and again at 5:05 and 6:32) looked more like Vidifont than Chyron. Also, I.I.N.M., wasn't the PC-100 camera same as the Philips LDK-5?

And would anyone know what WCVB's test pattern looked like in those days - or did they only use color bars before sign-on?

[NEPatriot]

Don't forget those cart machines, perhaps laying on a junk pile somewhere. Though some radio stations still use carts. One station I worked with had a triple stacker ITC machine--loved it. I actually like carts myself--just a bit of old school in me!!

[pkennyburns]

What radio station didn't have that triple decker deck is my question. CBS was using them in 2005!

[NEPatriot]

That would be WGCH, Kenny!

[pkennyburns]

then or now Bob?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Speaking of 'cart' type machines, I wonder whether they used 'quad' cart machines like ACR-25's or TCR-100's for videotaped ads?

[VintageTelevision]

WCVB-TV had two Ampex ACR-25s for commercial playback and general production use.

[wmbrown6]

I presume, then, that WBZ would've used TCR-100's?

[VintageTelevision]

WBZ-TV also had two Ampex ACR-25s. One was used largely for production and the other for air.

As of the early 1980s, Channel 4's other quad VTRs included three RCA TR-600s and one Ampex AVR-1.

[srpeabs]

The "Cart" Director, Putt has been calling for is an Audio Cartidge. An off screen voice often was recorded into 1/4 inch audio tape. (See 6:25 during the explanation of the 16mm FILM Simulroll.)