[QuadList] NBC Burbank: Au Revior--Historical tidbits about Burbank's early Quad operation

[David Crosthwait]

Further thoughts on this delay scheme. I cannot imagine NBC arranging for and paying for a separate AT&T/BellSystem feed out of Burbank to the CST, MST and PST for daily TZ delays. I don't think AT&T had that many transcontinental video lines then anyway. As Dennis reminded us all, NBC had the familiar round robin system in place which was a cost-effective way to send affiliate material back to NYC. Burbank had one dedicated feed to NY to send promos, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, Net A&P etc. as did D.C. (to NYC) up till 1985. This of course all changed when the NBC Ku system was implemented (much greater flexibility in routing and usage). But during the AT&T era, it was not uncommon to see an occasional break-in to the Round-Robin to feed news flashes etc. (Remember 11/22/63 and WBAP's color feeds initially out of Fort Worth to the otherwise NBC black & white network with the feedback howl on the first attempt?) 

If Dennis has an NBC Round Robin map, I'd hope he could post it. In lieu of that, here is an AT&T map of 1960. Note the " Television" routes. Imagine the complexity of Burbank calling for the reversal of the incoming line so as to do TZ delays. I can't fathom this:



http://long-lines.net/places-routes/maps/MW6003.html

In terms of alums, I'm afraid that we are down to one living soul who might shed some facts on this 1958 situation but his health is failing. I have not been in contact with him yet but I am trying. Stay tuned!

David





On Jan 9, 2013, at 7:26 AM, Ted Langdell wrote:

> 
> Hi, Dennis,
> 
> As I mentioned at the top of the post... I had some questions regarding what happened to the one-hour delay for Central time zone.
> 
> I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the plans for CT delay weren't implemented.  What I would like to know is:
> 
> What were they thinking?
> 
> Why was it NOT implemented?
> 
> My list of reasons did include the need for main/backup record/play capability. As you point out, if one deck went down, the plan as outlined had major problems.
> 
> You indicate that NBC began delaying programs for CT in the 80s, concurrent with implementing Ku Band transmission to stations. Why and for what dayparts?  
> 
> Seems Prime stayed "9, 8 Central time," but I can see some benefits from unifying start times for other dayparts, such as Today and other daytime programs.
> 
> Perhaps David's NBC Burbank alums can shed some light on what happened in 1959.
> 
> Ted
> 
> On Jan 9, 2013, at 2:50 AM, Dennis Degan wrote:
>> 		I offer:
>> 
>> 	Ted, it sounds like you're confusing two different technical needs.  Burbank did not provide delayed feeds to the Central TZ.  All they did was provide delayed programming to the West Coast feed, and as I recall sometimes the Mountain TZ feed as well.  They did not provide a one-hour delay for the Central TZ.  Until the 1980's, there was no one-hour delay to the Central TZ at all, to my knowledge.  In the early days (well actually, right up until the 80's when satellite distribution took over), the Networks operated essentially a two-zone system:  the Eastern/Central TZ and the Pacific/Mountain TZ.  NBC New York would not be very involved in the operation of the Pacific/Mountain TZ feeds; they merely provided a source feed for either the local affiliates or Burbank/Denver to do whatever was needed.
>> 	As far as the Burbank system described in your 1959 article, I'm pretty sure David is right:  The system as described was not in operation very long.  Frankly, I don't believe it was ever implemented as a half-hour delay system.  It must have been operated as a one-hour delay system.  This would free up half of the VTR's, allowing dual-record/playback, thereby providing backup for the system.  Keep in mind that the system as described originally in the 1959 document offered no provision for VTR maintenance or downtime.  If even one of the VTR's failed, there would be no way for the system to work as described.
>> 
>> 			Dennis Degan, Video Editor-Consultant-Knowledge Bank
>> 					     NBC Today Show, New York
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> 
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