[QuadList] JFK 50 Years later

Thu Nov 21 18:08:57 CST 2013

I was a freshman in high school, so not yet working in TV, that would be 5 years later. But watching all the remote coverage coupled with a live remote from Notre Dame HS of a basketball game about 6 months later certainly led me into a 45 year+ career in Remote Broadcasting. 

Pat 

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Subject: QuadList Digest, Vol 65, Issue 21 

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Today's Topics: 

1. Re: JFK Fifty Years Later--Were any QuadList members 
workingin TV that day?--Have you handled any materials from then? 
(Fred Kovach) 
2. Re: JFK Fifty Years Later--Were any QuadList members working 
in TV that day?--Have you handled any materials from then? 
(Ted Langdell) 

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Message: 1 
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 13:46:21 -0600 
From: "Fred Kovach" <fkovach at sbcglobal.net> 
To: "'Quad List'" <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com> 
Subject: Re: [QuadList] JFK Fifty Years Later--Were any QuadList 
members workingin TV that day?--Have you handled any materials from 
then? 
Message-ID: <C970A303AC3F49C98B09F3CA9A222EF2 at gu.lan> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 

I was a mere seven months old at the time he was shot. Nonetheless, I do 
have a rather humorous involvement with a piece of JFK footage. 

I used to work for a video dub house that handled various footage for the 
National Archives. This was in the late 1980's and I was a dubber at the 
time. One day, I was given the assignment of dubbing a rather obscure 
speech that JFK had given. It was not really politically significant. I 
think it had something to do with the Department of Agriculture. It came on 
a 2" Quad reel and I was supposed to dub it to 1". I had been trained that 
old 2" tape was particularly fragile and that the heads could slice through 
it if left to idle too long. 

Recognizing the importance of JFK to our history, I handled this tape with 
particular care. I set up levels as fast as I could and tried not to 
shuttle it too much. I dubbed it in one pass and made sure that the 2" tape 
was well into black before stopping it. When I stopped it, I very quickly 
took the heads down and examined the tape. To my horror, I found that the 
heads had, in that brief moment (less than a second), sliced through 2/3rds 
of the tape! 

I knew there was no harm done because I had gone so far into the tail. And 
the National Archives was going to pitch the tape anyway once they received 
our 1". So I spun the tape back onto its original reel and sent it back 
along with the 1". I didn't care to be known as the guy who ruined some JFK 
footage! 

Fred Kovach 

Broadcast Technician 

417-848-8381 

_____ 

From: QuadList [mailto:quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com] On Behalf Of 
Ted Langdell 
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 1:30 PM 
To: Quad List 
Subject: [QuadList] JFK Fifty Years Later--Were any QuadList members 
workingin TV that day?--Have you handled any materials from then? 

It seems hard to believe that the television coverage that had many of us 
riveted to the screen happened 50 years ago tomorrow. 

Some folks on the list could have been working in network or local broadcast 
settings on that day, and it would be great to learn more about what they 
didand thoughtas they were doing their jobs. 

I know that QuadList member Harold Deppe, Sr. was at CBS in NYC at the time. 

Although not in Videotape, Harold Sr. would have had a unique view of how 
the network handled the day and those that followed. (I think this would 
have been from the Grand Central Station facilities, since the Broadcast 
Center on W. 57th St. had a 1964 debut. Clarifications about what happened 
from where would be good.) 

Perhaps there are others that you know of who are still able to recall 
details? 

If you've handled JFK materials, it would be interesting to know what you 
observed as you played them, such as technical considerations and logistics 
of the times. 

If any of the materials you've transferred are airing in productions to be 
seen over the next few days, or are available on-line, please include links. 

Thanks, 

Ted 

Ted Langdell 

(530) 301-2931 

ted at quadvideotapegroup.com 

Secretary for the <http://www.quadvideotapegroup.com/> 
QuadVideotapeGroup.com: 

Preserving Tape, Equipment and the Knowledge to use them, in conjunction 
with the Library of Congress 

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Message: 2 
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:40:06 -0800 
From: Ted Langdell <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com> 
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com> 
Subject: Re: [QuadList] JFK Fifty Years Later--Were any QuadList 
members working in TV that day?--Have you handled any materials from 
then? 
Message-ID: 
<37AE06CD-AC55-45FD-B90B-67085AA3F428 at quadvideotapegroup.com> 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" 

On Nov 21, 2013, at 11:36 AM, Dennis Ray Wingo wrote: 
> I was three years old.... 
> 
> :) 

A lot of us were too young to be "in the business" but I wonder how much of what we experienced during our 0-10 years influenced our career choice(s). 

I was eight, and was?from knowledge picked up from reading technical books from SAMS and other publishers at our local public library?fascinated with how it was all being put together. 

The news travelled back to my California elementary school via kids who had gone home for lunch and learned of it then. 

I was quite surprised that no school people?teachers or administration?had said anything, nor did say anything. They could have crowded the kids into the same classrooms that had been wired for ITV and tuned in coverage as they did when the Mercury space flights took place. 

I spent the afternoon and evening at a neighbors house watching the television coverage. CBS, from what I remember. 

remember the live coverage of the arrival of Air Force One and the transfer of the people and JFK's casket... the lights and highlights causing IO halos. 

The funeral coverage was quite smooth and remarkable. 

Pretty good work from all directions when you consider what it took to connect point A to B back then, and that the equipment being used was tube and could be unpredictably temperamental. 

If I were CBS and CBS had a cable news channel (or wanted to send something that affiliates could show on their .2 or .3 channels,) I'd have put together a Kennedy Week that aired much of the content in its entirety... recreating the broadcast coverage as it might have been possible. 

Keep the recollections coming. 

I'm heading off to the Bay Area for the Quad Videotape Group tour of the NEP truck in San Jose. 

Cheers! 

Ted 

Ted Langdell 
Secretary 
Skype: TedLangdell 
e-mail: ted at quadvideotapegroup.com 

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