[QuadList] This has to be a record

[Gary Adams]

Unrelated, in the 80s, I had a contractor job at NBC in New York, to
document the addition of a few more channels in Switching Central.  Looking
over Dennis' photos brought back memories.  In fact, I opened the door to
the announce booth and caught Don Pardo on the phone with his broker no
doubt.  I have in my garage, many drawings of the system at that time period
to include the exact wiring of the GA computers and the complete equipment
makup of a single channel and path. It's pretty interesting.   If anyone is
interested in it, it doesn't need to sit here.  Mostly blueprints which
would  be somewhat faded but not completely.  I knew many people previously
having worked for RCA prior but I wasn't a normal fixture there.

Regards, Gary

-----Original Message-----
From: quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com
[mailto:quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Degan
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 1:10 PM
To: Quad List
Subject: Re: [QuadList] This has to be a record


			On Mar 27, 2009, at 10:06 AM, DCFWTX at aol.com wrote:

 > My experience with TR 70's at NBC Burbank included the A, B, and C 
models. The A's were the oldest, RCA's answer to the VR 2000. The B 
models worked the best, especially in editing with the RCA programmers 
(edit controllers). The C models made the most amount of overtime for 
me, as they always had servo issues, especially with closed captioning 
edit sessions. If you had an edit session in bay 3 with the 70C's, you 
were guaranteed to run late.

			I add:

	That was my experience as well.  NBC New York had a total of 4 
TR-70Cs.  All 4 were in the one and only CMX 340 edit room.  2 of the 
machines can be seen here:
		<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/515355305/>
	The TR-70C was 'blue'-er than the earlier -70A or -70B.  Note the 
speaker panel at the top left is blue (I know, it's a B/W photo).  The 
-70A and -70B's speaker was aluminum.  The 'C' machine was more 
tempermental than the earlier versions.  The biggest difference between 
them was the semi-digital servo system which frequently would oscillate 
and refuse to lock up.  But if finessed just right, it was the fastest 
lock-up RCA VTR of the time.

			David also said:

 > Also in the Burbank tape room, one TR 70B was paired with a TCR 100. 
Every Tonight Show commercial (a program that, at one time, was 
responsible for 17% of the total network pretax revenue around 1980, so 
the story goes), was transferred from that 70B to that TCR 100. 
Needless to say, it was kept in top running shape!

			I state:

	NBC New York also had its contingent of TR-70Bs paired with
TCR-100s.  
Look at this:
		<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/515329694/>
	But for the most part, 30 Rock's TCRs were used as players only.  
There were 6 of them in this part of the tape room. A 7th machine was 
around the corner in the transfer area where most of the spots were 
copied onto TCR carts.

			David:

 > Regarding TR 600s and 600A' there: There were 4 low serial # 600s 
paired with 4 70As for zone delay. Only in extremely rare circumstances 
were the 600s ever placed on the air, and only for a few moments due to 
less quality from the 600s. There was one edit bay (5) that had 4 TR 
600As with a CMX 340. The prevailing thought was that the TR 600As 
never made picture as nice as the 70Bs.

			Me:

	In New York, the main primetime air VTRs were Ampex VR-2000s!
Here's 
a shot of 2 of the 4 of them:
		<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/515355073/>
	Those Ampex machines made consistently better pictures than the RCAs

did.  Part of this was because many of the RCA VTRs were used primarily 
as recorders and not always in the best of shape for playback.  Those 4 
Ampex 2000s were fully equipped as playback machines and were 
well-maintained too.

			David:

 > One of these days I am going to sketch out a floor plan of the NBC 
tape room before it was radically changed after the end of 2" days. I 
think it will make for interesting reading. It will be accompanied with 
photos.

			Me:

	I would be eternally grateful if you'd make available any photos you

have of NBC Burbank.  As you can see from my Flickr photo site, I have 
lots of pics of NBC NY.  I'd be VERY happy to see your sketch and 
photos of NBC Burbank!  Please do this!
		<http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/>

			Dennis Degan, Editor-Consultant-Knowledge Bank
	  				NBC Today Show, New York


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