[QuadList] This has to be a record

[DCFWTX at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/29/2009 3:29:54 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
DennyD1 at verizon.net writes:

> David asked Gary:
> 
> >Was switching central in NYC at that time similar to Burbank, where 
> the whole system was hand built, with relay switching in many, many 
> racks, TP-90, TP-5 (Time Preset), etc.? This drove all of the record 
> VTR's out West for zone delay recording and such (with someone watching 
> over it). Gray panels with rear lit huge numbers?
> 
>     On Mar 27, 2009, at 5:40 PM, Gary Adams wrote:
> 
> >At that time, the channels in New York were for multiple feeds not 
> 
> counting the time zone delays.  Feeds such as local channel and 
> multiple sports on the weekends.  In fact the time zone delays at that 
> particular time were driven by a system built by the company I was 
> working for.  A computer system recording one feed and delaying for 
> multiple hours.  It was mostly automatic.  Controlling Panasonic 
> cassette machines.  You are probably describing what happened just 
> prior to the time frame I am speaking.
> 
>     I add:
> 
>   At the time of my photos of NBC Switching Central (1976-78, which was 
> prior to Gary's time frame), there were 8 output channels (not usually 
> enough outputs during weekend sports programming).  Normally, one of 
> those was reserved for local WNBC-TV, leaving only 7 channels for the 
> Network:
>     <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/515373883/>
>     <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/515346686/>
>   Time zone delayed feeds were not part of NBC New York at that time 
> (later, during Gary's time, they WERE part of NBC NY).  The Network was 
> distributed by Telco coaxial cable and microwave link until around 1982 
> when satellite distribution was put into service.  Before the existence 
> of satellite distribution, it was necessary for time zone delayed feeds 
> to be performed where they were needed, which meant that the West Coast 
> origination center in Burbank would perform the delayed feed function 
> for all West Coast stations.  Central and Mountain TZ received the same 
> feed as the East, fed by branches from a "round robin"; a loop of the 
> Network feed that circled around the Eastern and Central TZ returning 
> to New York at the end of the loop.
>   Most stations in the Central TZ aired network programs as they were 
> fed at the same time as in the East, which meant that they aired one 
> local hour earlier than in the East.  Some Central TZ stations 
> performed their own delayed programming feeds; most Mountain TZ 
> stations performed their own delayed feeds.  I've heard that a few 
> Mountain TZ stations took the West feed, which meant that they aired 
> programs one local hour LATER than the West feed.
>   As far as the construction of NBC NY Switching Central is concerned, 
> NBC had a substantial construction shop in those days which made a lot 
> of custom panels and equipment.  I do not know anything about the 
> construction of Burbank's Switching Central compared to New York (I'm 
> hoping Gary can fill in those blanks for me), but it must have been 
> very different since New York had no delayed feed capability until 
> around 1982.  The West Coast delayed feed facility must have been an 
> important part of Burbank Switching Central up to that time.
> 
>       Dennis Degan, Editor-Consultant-Knowledge Bank
>            NBC Today Show, New York
> 

Dennis,

I think everyone here would agree that videotape was invented primarily to 
provide a means for cost effective zone delay recording for the three networks 
on the West Coast, as an alternative to kinescope. At that time (the 1950's), 
NBC, ABC, and CBS were desperate for a solution, and videotape was that prayer 
answered. In the case of NBC, it was not until the Ku Band satellite system 
was installed in the early 80's coupled with the MARC MII robot machines later 
on, that all time zone delay recording shifted back to NYC. Up till then, it 
was a 24/7 tape room with many people and a lot of machines, including full 
staffing of supervisors, operators, maintenance, and a major stash of video heads, 
and 2" stock.

NBC Burbank had a lot of internally custom built gear. Being the first 
television plant ever built from the ground up for color meant a lot of hand crafted 
material. One has to remember that this was way before commercially built 
color gear, such as Grass Valley, Sony, Vital, CDL, and Leitch, etc. The plant 
was full of lead-sheathed covered coaxial cable and these "brand X" DA's, with a 
custom NBC logo on the front. These DA's were a single one or two rack height 
1x 6 DA with UHF connectors on the back and a plug in module. This included 
both pulse and video DA's. There was no real routing switcher till what was 
billed at that the "world's largest" by NEC (250x250?) was installed in 
1980-1981. It had originally gone to Moscow for the 1980 Olympics which the U.S. 
boycotted. When our limited broadcasting of that event concluded, the router came 
back to Burbank and was installed. For the first time, just about everyone could 
get a feed from anywhere in the plant on a dial up, which was a huge 
improvement. Up until that point, "transmission" had to be called for physical 
patches. They were staffed 24/7. That operation was an busy place being the central 
point for all of the studio, news, telecine, videotape, and incoming and 
outgoing telco and microwave audio and video from Burbank. It was there also that 
the worlds first frame synchronizer, the NEC FS 10, was installed (one full 
rack!). It was used to fully synchronize the incoming main NYC network feed, for 
either West Coast delay recording (which was particularly helpful when the 2" 
VTR's were recording non-sync video switches), or live insertion into the West 
Coast distribution. For what it was designed to do, it was pretty amazing, but 
occasionally it would freeze up or jitter depending on what kind of 
nonstandard video and sync was incoming from NYC, especially during Nightly News. I 
seem to recall that for a while, the Nightly News was recorded with one video 
line from the FS 10 and the other with raw, unsynced video, just in case the FS 
10 acted up. Then, we'd have about two hours to edit back together the "good" 
video from the two separate 2" sources from the above split recording. That 
finished product would then be the West Coast zone delay of the Nightly News. 
Just another day in Burbank tape.

As far as the round robin was concerned and Mountain Zone delay, I believe 
that KOA in Denver delayed KOB, KTAR, and other Mountain Zone stations feeds. 
That must have made for a very horrific day for KOA as this was only a one hour 
delay, meaning as soon as the one hour recording was done, immediately zip 
that tape back to the top and hit play. This would be quite a feat on any first 
or second generation 2" VTR. They must have had some scheme where they were 
recording on a second VTR just the first five minutes or so at the top of each 
hour to cover the rewind transition of the main zone delay deck of that show. 
But can you imagine the machines, manpower, and head wear needed to run any 
stand-alone one-hour delay center in 2" days? It would have to be at least a 20 
hour per day, seven day a week commitment. One can see the "blessing" of today's 
zone delayed, hard drive based equipment.!

David Crosthwait
DC Video 
Archived Videotape Re-mastering
177 West Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA. 91502
818-563-1073
818-563-1177 (fax)
818-285-9942 (cell)
DCFWTX at AOL.COM     
DAVID at DCVIDEO.COM
WWW.DCVIDEO.COM



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