[QuadList] History - what is the REAL story

[Dennis Degan]

		On May 3, 2009, at 9:51 PM, Rory Ryan wrote:

 > I suppose I remember the 4 TR-70s as 2 edit rooms. I must be getting 
old.  In those days the lowly "new guys" were only allowed in to clean 
the filters!!

		I remember:

	My assigned task was to empty the condensate from the vacuum pump 
tanks.  Every night, I would place a pan under the vacuum pump tank and 
drain out the water from 2 or 3 machines.  In a couple of weeks, I 
would have gotten to all of the VTRs and I'd start over again.
	My other task was to change the logging VCRs' cassettes, located in 
the tape library.  There were two of them; one for the network and the 
other for WNBC-TV.  I think these were special logging VHS VCRs (or 
they might have been surveillance EIAJ reel-to-reel decks) that 
recorded very slowly, I think 1 B/W video frame every second, but the 
audio was continuous (and of poor quality).  They'd record for 24 hours 
and needed to be changed at around 2am when the local station was off 
the air.  I did that every day I worked the overnight shift in that 
shop at NBC in 1978.
	Those were my regular tasks, but I also did troubleshooting and put 
out fires as needed.

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