Author Topic: NBC tape question (Read 21466 times)

TLEberle · « **Reply #45 on:** April 27, 2006, 02:36:53 PM »

[quote name=\'kurtinrod62\' post=\'117156\' date=\'Apr 27 2006, 09:57 AM\']
Sorry if I caused all the hubbub over the use of the word "holocaust'', may one of you give me a Moe Howard-like poke in the eyes [I'm a victim of circumstance].
[/quote]No, you're a victim of incredibly poor word choice. Go out and pick up a dictionary, and read it a few pages at a time. Eventually you'll have gotten through all of it, and you'll know that 'holocaust' is not even close to the right word for something as comparatively insignificant as the destruction of game show tapes.

Card Shark · « **Reply #46 on:** April 27, 2006, 08:16:03 PM »

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' post=\'116964\' date=\'Apr 25 2006, 01:18 PM\']
[quote name=\'kurtinrod62\' post=\'116959\' date=\'Apr 25 2006, 12:57 PM\']
We've read about NBC's infamous erasure or destroying of its pre-1978 game shows, but how many of the peacock's past GS were there that managed to survive the "holocaust"?
[/quote]
I'd just like to state for the record that comparing the erasure of television shows to the state-sponsored mass murder of millions of people is beyond idiotic.

Sorry, folks -- I know it's unmoderatorlike of me to be that blunt, but we've criticized other boards for similar comparisons and I don't like it any more when one of our members does it.
[/quote]

I was going to say the same thing. I'm against political correctness and all that, especially having been at a college that had "speech police," but I feel the same way you do. He has his freedom of speech and I have the right to disagree.

JCGames · « **Reply #47 on:** April 27, 2006, 09:50:54 PM »

Very facinating topic here.

Ian mentioned that most of the 60s daytime shows are non-exisistant, espcially those that were live. I wonder how CBS got around to taping as an aircheck the 11/22/1963 live broadcast of As the World Turns. I want to think that Proctor & Gamble wanted some record of their own show for posterity.....what they got that day was an eventual 4-day aircheck of a historic event, as ATWT was interrupted 10 minutes into the broadcast for that CBS News bulletin slide and Cronkite's voice delivering the first reports on the shooting of President Kennedy. Anyhow, it is interesting that a daytime program from 1963 still survives in tape form. I'm even more suprised that a tape apparently still exists of Who Do You Trust from a few years before; I mentioned on another post that this showed Ed McMahon trying to do a cake commercial only to be interrupted by Johnny in a little car speeding around and crashing into the commercial set....this clip was shown on one of the 80s blooper shows as I recall.

MrBuddwing · « **Reply #48 on:** April 27, 2006, 10:06:10 PM »

[quote name=\'JCGames\' post=\'117220\' date=\'Apr 27 2006, 09:50 PM\']
Very facinating topic here.

Ian mentioned that most of the 60s daytime shows are non-exisistant, espcially those that were live. I wonder how CBS got around to taping as an aircheck the 11/22/1963 live broadcast of As the World Turns. I want to think that Proctor & Gamble wanted some record of their own show for posterity.....what they got that day was an eventual 4-day aircheck of a historic event, as ATWT was interrupted 10 minutes into the broadcast for that CBS News bulletin slide and Cronkite's voice delivering the first reports on the shooting of President Kennedy. Anyhow, it is interesting that a daytime program from 1963 still survives in tape form. I'm even more suprised that a tape apparently still exists of Who Do You Trust from a few years before; I mentioned on another post that this showed Ed McMahon trying to do a cake commercial only to be interrupted by Johnny in a little car speeding around and crashing into the commercial set....this clip was shown on one of the 80s blooper shows as I recall.
[/quote]

Re JFK: It's my understanding that, way back when, CBS' policy was to run a videotaped aircheck of its programming. (Maybe that policy is still in effect today.) There probably would have been no intention of keeping the aircheck more than a few days - but breaking news of the assassination of a president makes for one heck of an exception. That's why we still have Cronkite's first (off-camera) bulletin interrupting "As the World Turns."

Re "Who Do You Trust?": Those clips of Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon first aired on one of the "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" specials on ABC. Since Dick Clark and Ed McMahon were doing their bloopers and practical jokes show at the time, it doesn't seem surprising that once they got wind of the existence of the ABC tape, their producers licensed it. As I recall, the tape looked much better on ABC - on NBC, it had that "crooked" look that sometimes afflicted early two-inch tapes. Maybe the NBC engineers couldn't tweak the tape enough to make it look straight. A technoid I'm not.

trainman · « **Reply #49 on:** April 27, 2006, 11:48:27 PM »

[quote name=\'MrBuddwing\' post=\'117221\' date=\'Apr 27 2006, 07:06 PM\']Re JFK: It's my understanding that, way back when, CBS' policy was to run a videotaped aircheck of its programming. (Maybe that policy is still in effect today.) There probably would have been no intention of keeping the aircheck more than a few days - but breaking news of the assassination of a president makes for one heck of an exception. That's why we still have Cronkite's first (off-camera) bulletin interrupting "As the World Turns."[/quote]

In 1988, A&E ran several hours' worth of NBC's coverage from November 22, 1963...which had to be joined in progress because NBC hadn't started recording until about seven minutes into their special report.

TwoInchQuad · « **Reply #50 on:** April 28, 2006, 04:07:53 AM »

[quote name=\'MrBuddwing\' post=\'117221\' date=\'Apr 27 2006, 07:06 PM\']Re JFK: It's my understanding that, way back when, CBS' policy was to run a videotaped aircheck of its programming. (Maybe that policy is still in effect today.) There probably would have been no intention of keeping the aircheck more than a few days - but breaking news of the assassination of a president makes for one heck of an exception. That's why we still have Cronkite's first (off-camera) bulletin interrupting "As the World Turns."[/quote]

I believe that in 1963 there was still an FCC mandate about the networks retaining copies of their live broadcasts for a short period of time (I **think** it was 2 weeks), in case there were any complaints regarding what had aired. That way, there would be an actual aircheck record.

In the case of the CBS assassination videotape, it could be **that** preserved aircheck tape is the source of their News Archive copy, or it might even be a tape of the feed of the live ATWT broadcast that was being recorded for later playback in the Central or Western time zones.

Also-- although there is no visual record of NBC's first bulletins, amazingly enough, an audio recording of Don Pardo's initial break-in announcements does survive.

-Kevin

JCGames · « **Reply #51 on:** May 01, 2006, 08:26:16 PM »

I wonder if an audio recording exists at least of ABC's inital break-in.....the duty announcer that day was Milton Cross, the voice of opera. I read somewhere that after he read the first bulletin over a slide, the ABC suits were thinking of putting Mr. Cross on camera to report further bulletins, but they decided not for fear of unduly alarming the viewers.

Don Pardo's cut in occured when NBC wasn't feeding a program; in New York WNBC was running a rerun of Bachelor Father. The first bulletin was a local interruption at 142pm....the network was patched up at 145 for another voiceover bulletin read by Mr. Pardo. David Brinkley recalled that in Washington WRC was still running what he called a 'silly fashion show' when the news of the shooting was coming over the wires.

Jay Temple · « **Reply #52 on:** May 02, 2006, 05:06:39 PM »

Quote

Run for Congress, and then get them to pass the Hugh Downs Preservation Act, and then maybe you've got something.

Oh, if only there were a former game show host in Congress.

Jay Temple · « **Reply #53 on:** May 02, 2006, 05:13:19 PM »

Quote

Also-- although there is no visual record of NBC's first bulletins, amazingly enough, an audio recording of Don Pardo's initial break-in announcements does survive.

I'm embarrassed to admit that in my mind, I hear him breaking the news in game-show-announcer intonation.

uncamark · « **Reply #54 on:** May 03, 2006, 03:34:27 PM »

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'117553\' date=\'May 2 2006, 04:13 PM\']

Quote

Also-- although there is no visual record of NBC's first bulletins, amazingly enough, an audio recording of Don Pardo's initial break-in announcements does survive.

I'm embarrassed to admit that in my mind, I hear him breaking the news in game-show-announcer intonation.
[/quote]

Many years ago, the parents and I are driving up the New Jersey Turnpike to New York from South Jersey and I'm listening to WNNNNBC (well, they didn't say it that way back then) on my transistor in the back seat. The network news ends, the Monitor Beacon comes up and then down for "And from the WNBC newsroom, this is Don Pardo with the latest New York headlines..." Of course, he did it straight, but when you're used to hearing him say "BILLLL CULLEN!" or "JEOP-AR-DY!" (and remember, this is before "IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT LIIIIIVVEEE!"), it's still a strange thing.

Science Channel has done marathons of the original (well, what exists on kinescope or tape) "Mr. Wizard." On some of those, Pardo is the announcer and it's still strange to hear him do the lower-keyed "Watch Mr. Wizard! That's what all of the kids in the neighborhood say..." in the opening and "this has been a public affairs presentation of NBC News..." at the end. You just expect an over-the-top delivery from him.

chris319 · « **Reply #55 on:** May 03, 2006, 11:36:15 PM »

Quote

I believe that in 1963 there was still an FCC mandate about the networks retaining copies of their live broadcasts for a short period of time (I **think** it was 2 weeks), in case there were any complaints regarding what had aired. That way, there would be an actual aircheck record.

I believe they were only required to keep an audio tape recording. Probably the logger tape recorder was going at all of 15/16 ips.

Quote

it might even be a tape of the feed of the live ATWT broadcast that was being recorded for later playback in the Central or Western time zones.

That sounds plausible. If NBC wasn't feeding the network it would explain why they didn't have a D.B. videotape.

Don Howard · « **Reply #56 on:** May 05, 2006, 10:28:29 AM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' post=\'117083\' date=\'Apr 26 2006, 07:30 PM\']
as was reported years ago on ATGS[/quote]
No. No! NO! That phrase! That maddening phrase!!!!!
About Don Pardo, it is safe to presume that at age 88 he doesn't do the SNL warm-up or read the intro live?

uncamark · « **Reply #57 on:** May 05, 2006, 12:03:17 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' post=\'117785\' date=\'May 5 2006, 09:28 AM\']
[quote name=\'zachhoran\' post=\'117083\' date=\'Apr 26 2006, 07:30 PM\']
as was reported years ago on ATGS[/quote]
No. No! NO! That phrase! That maddening phrase!!!!!
About Don Pardo, it is safe to presume that at age 88 he doesn't do the SNL warm-up or read the intro live?
[/quote]

AFAIK, he's never done the warmup--it's always been Lorne and/or some other cast members. (Seems to me that Belushi and Ayhroyd's Blues Brothers bit was started in the warmup.)

As for being there in person, don't know--when NPR's Susan Stamberg did a piece on him some years ago for "Weekend Edition," he was still doing the show live (and proudly showed Susan his podium, formerly used by Arturo Toscanini to conduct the NBC Symphony in 8-H), but that was over 10 years ago (the only reference to Pardo on NPR's web site is the use of a "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" "SNL" sketch in "Talk of the Nation"'s 2003 tribute to Fred Rogers).

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #58 on:** May 05, 2006, 12:17:05 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'117797\' date=\'May 5 2006, 12:03 PM\']As for being there in person, don't know--when NPR's Susan Stamberg did a piece on him some years ago for "Weekend Edition," he was still doing the show live (and proudly showed Susan his podium, formerly used by Arturo Toscanini to conduct the NBC Symphony in 8-H), but that was over 10 years ago (the only reference to Pardo on NPR's web site is the use of a "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" "SNL" sketch in "Talk of the Nation"'s 2003 tribute to Fred Rogers).
[/quote]
I could swear I've heard mistakes in the intro this season, which led me to believe he was still doing them live.

Brandon Brooks · « **Reply #59 on:** May 05, 2006, 12:30:27 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'117801\' date=\'May 5 2006, 11:17 AM\']
I could swear I've heard mistakes in the intro this season, which led me to believe he was still doing them live.
[/quote]
I also heard one instance of him recently sounding awfully hoarse. I don't think he would've sounded like that on air if he still didn't do it live.

He does bring a sense of legitimacy to the show, god bless him.

Brandon Brooks