WBZ-TV "Eyewitness News" 1970

[danpetitpas]

I wouldn't say this is random footage. It looks more like raw footage for a documentary of what goes into a newscast. All it needs is narration and some canned music.

[TroySundt]

It hasn't changed much now from how they did it then! awesome.

[SalemNHmedia]

I didn't realize AB Dick made a CG. Our first CG looked like DOS text and only had one page . Still have it in storage.

[PlaneAndTVtechfan]

I still wonder who's the guy running the TR-70 VTR in this video. And I also wonder if that's another TR-70 next to the machine that's being readied for use.

[GEMINITREKKER]

Thats cool!

[SalemNHmedia]

Were they using key cards or slides? This is a great piece of history. Thanks for posting it.

[VintageTelevision]

@SalemNHmedia

35 millimeter slides, art cards and a Videograph (an early electronic character generator made by the A. B. Dick Company)

[staylor3440]

Wow, talk about mis-matching cameras! An RCA TK-42 & TK 44A. Not a good idea!

[PlaneAndTVtechfan]

Who's the woman in the coat?

[PlaneAndTVtechfan]

Tom Ellis looks cool as a cucumber.

[PlaneAndTVtechfan]

Who was the VTR operator in this video?

[RCAquadruplex]

Great video of period local television production. Thanks for saving this and putting it up!

[jaychrepta]

Wow, 16mm film with magstripe (1 sec audio delay after "splice"), 2-inch quad tape, a fully staffed control room (and smoking is okay), and cameramen (no robots) in jacket and tie.

[PlaneAndTVtechfan]

@jaychrepta I bet that WBZ is probably a 'smoke-free' workplace, it seems to be happening everywhere.

[MSTS1]

At 0:27 the frame shows the 4s set bkgrd, which was used for many years (well into the mid-70's..). When WBZ decided to finally stop using it (I don't recall what year that was), I do remember that they offered on-air to break it up and give away pieces to anyone who wanted to come down to get one. I don't think it was any type of auction, just a give-away. I wanted one, but couldn't get there.. At the same time spot, I wonder if that is anchor Steve Shott.. Looks like him to me..

[VintageTelevision]

Yes, that person is (the late) Steve Schatz.

[MSTS1]

Steve Schatz, right. Schott would be Marge Schott- Cincinatti Reds..

[CiniCraft]

SO GLAD i didnt live in the 70s

[geocgeo]

@CiniCraft The people that did live in the 70's were lucky that you didn't live in the 70's...LOL

[GateStudios]

Hey look at 3:16 and again at 5:12 and yet again at 5:19...early electronic graphics! (Electronic graphics were new in the '70s...the Vidifont was introduced followed by the first Chyrons)...who created those primitive electronic graphics?

[VintageTelevision]

The Videograph (electronic character generator) seen in the clip was manufactured by A. B. Dick Company. This company is better known as a maker of mimeograph machines.

[pvx]

@VintageTelevision Ah, I was wondering what make of CG they were using, I assumed it was one of Chyron's first models (wasn't the Videograph licensed & resold by Chyron as well?)

[fdmantube]

Love the good old wood paneling in the control room. It's interesting how sparse the the sets were back then compared with the elaborate studios they construct now, like the sports shows on TBS. It's like comparing someones basement with Time Square.

[tyrese3745]

The anchor was Tom Ellis, before his stint at at the top-rated WCVB's NewsCenter 5 some roughly 8 years later.

[GEORGETOWN93]

This is more than interesting so called stuff,These people knew what they ere doing without high tech guidence that has made everyone lazy today!

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Those old, 2-inch 'quadruplex' videotape machines, like the TR-70 seen here, supposedly were a b*tch to service if something went wrong. And today's ENG vans are better, as far as being able to provide instant news coverage, than the old ENG vehicles which used microwave dishes to send the signal back to the station.

[747400fan]

And the machine shown here...is a TR-70B. Back in the day when "Quad" was the undisputed 'king' of VTR's.

[747400fan]

A TR-70A would have the RCA 'meatball' logo between the reels.

[RCAquadruplex]

@747400fan

Actually, that machine is a very early TR-70. Notice the RCA TO-2 waveform monitor instead of the later Tektronix 529. Also, the 70A was the only one of the series that the face of the monitor bridge was not painted RCA blue. Also, the B and C versions have a master warning indicator between the two meters right above the transport.

Of the two 70As I have, One of them has the RCA logo between the reels, and the other doesn't!

[bobandrayfan1]

Their film editor was a guy named Jack Percoco.

[SMGJohn]

the best time in this Telus Historie whas the 60s to 80s that where the best time ever not its just computers and the technology have brain whased us and whe are the new Elektronic zombies

[swami1]

Who's the director?

[CiniCraft]

i really wish i could go back to the 70's for a week.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

And why don't WBZ's cameras have any station markings on them? Most TV station's cameras do. Also no markings showing them to be an NBC affiliate.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I heard the command from the director to the TR-70's operator 'get ready to roll'. I always thought that they would say 'roll tape'. I wish I could see a TR-70B, and meet someone who works with 'quad' machines.

[ThisIsBilbo]

interesting stuff from another time

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I still wonder why the d*mn studio door was left open while on air.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I guess that most people can see the 'on air' sign and that WBZ probably reminds any visitors to observe 'on air' lights.

[wsr216]

If you listen real closely starting at 3:37, you hear the intro music underneath the announcer VO.

Are they using John Barry's "007" theme?

(No, not the "James Bond" theme, but the recurring "007" music used in - I believe - "From Russia With Love", "Thunderball" and "Diamonds Are Forever".

Any Bond fans should know the piece to which I refer. Listen close for the music at 3:37. It sure sounds like it to me.

[dooktango]

that music was used in thunderball. i remember this being used during the newscasts vividly.

[caseyg5]

It is indeed from Bond's "Thunderball" at least.

[guimbadriver]

hey did you see two cameras in this video? a tk 45 and a tk 42, i dont understand why some peoples tell bad things about the video quality of tk 42, last month i restored all my tk 42,its amazing the 4 tubes pickup system called M channel independent chrominance and luminance channels, in my point of view it procuces natural colors and rich gray scales, my test was make a shot video of the street, the picture was perfect in all the senses..

[wmbrown6]

As this was 1970, the newer camera was the TK-44A . . . the TK-45A, from what I could tell, didn't come out until 1973.

[lowbhall]

When I worked at KSL Salt Lake City in 1970, they RCA TR-22's and 1 Ampex 2000. The editor on the TR-22 was difficult to set up, and random insert edits would shift. The Ampex Quads were far superior.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

It seems like some of the Ampex machines are prized and are in the hands of collectors like Tim Stoffel(Quadruplex Park). I've seen some videos here of the AVR-2, imagenorth is one guy who has a video up.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Hi, what type of film chain are they using in this video? And how many of those TR-70's did WBZ have? Was the TR-70 the VTR that had warning alarms if something went wrong? That control room looks a lot simpler than today's control rooms.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Which station did the Boston Red Sox home games in the early '70's? WPHL-17 did the Phillies in the early 70's.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I guess no one is able to answer my question about the TR-70's. It's frustrating that there's no decent books that go into detail about Quadruplex VTR's. These machines, the networks and stations that used them and their operators and support personnel were responsible for getting 30-some years of TV history on those reels of two-inch tape.

Well, I guess TV history doesn't really matter anymore.

[Ampex196]

I don't have any experience of the TR70, though I'm sure that vtoldboys would be happy to answer any queries if you contact them via the website. I gather that tape damage problems were mainly due to fast spooling.

There was at least one publication that covered Quad in detail but it'll be long out of print by now - probably since the early 70's.

[tvnetdude]

Reminds me of my days at Grahm.

[LowellDevil]

No audio for the first 40 seconds. Was it supposed to be that way?

[leshaunfossett]

They probably placed music over that portion of the film.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

What telecine equipment are they using in this video? Did they use the same telecine equipment to show movies on WBZ?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Why was the studio door kept open? Wouldn't that cause a problem with extraneous sound 'spillage' during the broadcast?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I still wonder why the studio door is left open.

And I still wonder if WBZ ever used TK-40's or TK-41's.

[wmbrown6]

Depends on whether WBZ produced any local color programming prior to 1965-66.

[lowbhall]

The film chain is an RCA TK-27.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Thanks for the info. I have been on vtoldboys (the website set up by guys that used to work in the BBC's 'basement' VTR area) and they mention their Edit Suite #2 which used TR-70's and they said that using the edit suite was 'problematic' because the machines would somehow destroy some of the tapes. It seems that most of the other VTR's they had were Ampex machines, mostly VR-2000's, an AVR-1, and a couple of AVR-2's.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I wonder if WBZ had TK-41's as their first color cameras? I know some NBC owned-and-operated stations got them first in the mid-50's.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I wonder what I would need to be able to post some opens/idents for my local station, WMGM NBC40 which is actually not far from me, in Linwood, New Jersey. NBC40's old call letters were WCMC, they switched in 1985 when they moved their offices to Linwood. The actual studios used to be in Swainton, now the studios are also in Linwood.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Seeing that brief picture of NBC's Chet Huntley

with those old-fashioned glasses on brought back memories of my childhood.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

What network was WBZ affiliated with in 1970?

Thanks.

[wmbrown6]

NBC. From its sign-on in 1948 until early 1995. In that context, it figures they'd use RCA's TK-42 and TK-44A's and TR-70's (as RCA owned NBC then). Whereas KPIX in San Francisco, a CBS affiliate, used Norelco PC-70's.

[bosma64]

Pretty fascinating to watch this...I miss Shelby Scott!

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

What is the cue that the director used to get the tape rolling to show on the air?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I wonder what type of training people who worked with the old quadruplex VTR's had to have? How complicated were the machines to maintain and operate?

[VintageTelevision]

Two-inch quad VTRs made great pictures but they did require that operators have technical knowledge to run properly. Understanding how to read a scope was a prerequisite.

Quadruplex VTRs are built upon a lot of mechanical components and discrete electronics. Also, they require an air compressor. Ongoing maintenance is required to keep these machines in service.

CBS Television City has a collection of quad VTRs that are used for dubbing vintage programming to contemporary video formats.

[tvnetdude]

I don't miss Quads at all!

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Did you deal with Quad VTR's?

[tvnetdude]

Yes indeed both Ampex and RCA

[tvnetdude]

Editing on them was absolutely a horror show.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Even with electronic editing. I saw that on vtoldboys, the BBC VT site, where they mention Edit Suite 2 which used TR-70's. I notice that the BBC also used the old Smith Splicer editing technique for a while.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

And I thought using Windows Movie Maker was g-dawful!

[tl54]

that is cool

[heine71]

No sound?

[wmbrown6]

There was sound in the second half of the film . . .

[dgendvil]

That night on that film, they were using Tom Ellis as anchor. He also worked at WCVB, WNEV, & NECN in Boston, & also WCBS & WABC in New York. Is he retired now?

[VintageTelevision]

Tom Ellis is still an anchorman at New England Cable News.

[wmbrown6]

Interesting . . . WBZ using RCA TK-42's and TK-44A's in the same studio. I guess they were hedging their bets? And am I correct in assuming WBZ used color bars rather than slide-based test patterns, between sign-off and sign-on - or was it just for internal use?

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

Hi, I see they're using quadruplex VTR's with 'spot' reels. I can't tell if the VTR they're using here is an RCA TR-22 or TR-70..if anyone knows please post it here. And I find it strange that WBZ is using both TK-42's and TK-44A's.

[wmbrown6]

Looks like the original 1967 RCA TR-70. There was a slight difference in appearance between this and the subsequent updates (TR-70B - which came out in 1969 - and TR-70C - which wasn't introduced until c.1975). Certainly isn't a TR-22.

[wmbrown6]

One weird example of different cameras in the same studio was in 1966 during ABC News' coverage of that year's mid-term election results. Photos of the studio layout showed a Norelco PC-60 camera placed in one area, and several feet away in the same studio an RCA TK-41C.