[quote name=\'matchgame\' date=\'Dec 3 2004, 12:29 AM\']Wasn't there a union strike in the '70s or something and CBS executives had to man the technical equipment? I remember watching some early half-hour shows (on GSN) and the camera work was absolutely horrific.
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Late 1972. Since it came fairly early in the run, some "TJW" shows that aired on GSN also had the supervisory personnel doing tech work. (In the case of "TJW," it dovetailed with the weeks Roy Rowan was filling in for Johnny Jacobs--coincidence, I guess.) On "Gambit," for some reason there were missing sound effects during the strike--the Gambit board cards turned over to the jackpot reset gong instead of the usual door chime and the foghorn buzzer used for busts was replaced with a standard buzzer. And the audience reaction on the shows may've been less sweetened or not sweetened at all, depending on the show or who was running (or not running) the CBS Mother MacKenzie.
In the old days, it seems like they did a hell of a lot more with less available equipment than they're doing today with more technologically-advanced equipment. (And are there more than 5 fonts in the chyron at CBS? What, no 'Impact' font?)
There are probably more fonts--Rog may not want to use any more than what they've already been using. After all, it took a long time for them to finally dump the crawl machine and the Ted Cooper slotted plug list board.