[QuadList] Passings--Ampex Quad & GVG engineer Bill Barnhart at 88--

[Randy Hall]

Ted
Thanks for the posting. I forwarded it to many of the old Groupies.
Randy



On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Ted Langdell <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com>wrote:

>
>
> Television and videotape engineer Bill Barnhart—who played several roles
> in the famous color video recording of the Nixon-Kruschev "Kitchen
> Debate"—has passed away in Grass Valley, California.
>
>
> h
> ttp://www.theunion.com/news/obituaries/8396446-113/bill-nevada-barnhart-broadcast<http://www.theunion.com/news/obituaries/8396446-113/bill-nevada-barnhart-broadcast>
>
>
> Barnhart was 88, and extended early amateur radio and WW II US Navy
> training in radar into a long career in television broadcast product
> engineering.
>
> After graduating from Stanford University in 1950 with a degree in
> Electrical Engineering, Barnhart began his career at pioneering Los Angeles
> television station KTLA, where television was live and local, unless it was
> part of a "never been done before" event like covering an atomic bomb test
> in Nevada via multiple microwave hops over desolate desert and high
> mountains.
>
> Barnhart's Ampex experience began in the mid-1950s as the pioneering audio
> recorder company was pioneering the development of the Quadruplex video
> recorder.
>
> In 1959, Barnhart was in Russia supporting the Ampex VR-1000 Quad VTR
> being shown at the American National Exhibition in Sokolniki Park in
> Moscow.
>
> He is seen running the recorder as Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev and US
> Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in what came to be called "The Kitchen
> Debate."
>
> Stories are told about how the tape smuggled out of Russia, and Barnhart
> regaled  Sacramento SMPTE section event.
>
> Member Pete Challinger recalled the telling in a post to the Telecine
> Internet Group in 2006:
>
> Kruschev and his handlers were not aware at the time that the exchange was recorded, or most likely even that it was possible it could be recorded.
>
>
> After it was over the Ampex engineers realized what they had and discussed how to get it home, knowing that sooner or later someone would realize what had happened.
>
> It so happened that Joe Roizen and another engineer were scheduled to return home that day.  Bill spooled off the tape and wound it tightly around a pencil then Joe took the pancake back to the hotel and hid in his dirty socks while packing to come home.
>
>
> By the time they were heading for the airport speculation was spreading amongst the Russians that something was going on.  Fortunately by the time the Russians had worked out there was a tape and that Americans were leaving Moscow, the plane was in the air.
>
>
> After our meeting of course we all kicked ouselves recognizing the irony of failing to preserve the retelling on videotape!
>
> See the July 26, 2009 QuadList post "*[QuadList] Kitchen Debate Video
> turned 50 this weekend--Pictures from an Exhibition*<http://mail.quadvideotapegroup.com/pipermail/quadlist_quadvideotapegroup.com/2009-July/001187.html>"
> for more and a photo of the event.
>
> In 1967, Barnhart became Grass Valley Group's twelfth employee, and was a
> cheery fixture at NAB and other trade shows demonstrating Grass Valley's
> range of video processing and switching equipment.
>
> Barnhart was tapped to be part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of
> Videotape, as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
> presented an All Day Historical Seminar on Saturday, Oct. 21. 2006, joining
> engineers from the CBS, NBC and ABC who installed and ran early Quad
> machines, and former Ampex Quad development team member Ray Dolby, who
> passed away a few weeks before Barnhart.
>
> The 2006 Conference's co-chair Bill Hogan said at the time, "The
> innovations these individuals and companies produced decades ago profoundly
> changed the television industry. Their seminal ideas are present even in
> the devices we use today. The pioneers' perspectives and remembrances will
> enhance what is going to be a fascinating day-long look at motion picture
> and television history"
>
>
> https://www.smpte.org/news-events/pr/smpte-historical-seminar-celebrate-vtrs-50th-anniversary
>
>
> Barnhart had a love of recorders—the musical kind—and while at Ampex
> founded a group in Palo Alto:
>
> http://www.mpro-online.org/DetailedHistory.htm
>
> In Grass Valley, he was part of the Nevada County Concert Band, and in
> 1978, co-founded the Sierra Community Symphony.
>
> http://www.nccb.org/pdfs/NCCB120990Program.pdf
>
>
> Barnhart was married to the late Nevada County Supervisor Ilse Barnhart,
> until she passed away in 2002.
>
> He is survived by son John of Elk Grove, California, daughter Shirley
> Rodriquez of Reno, Nevada, niece Nancy Struble of Nevada City, nephew Dirk
> Miller of Incline Village, Nevada and eight grandchildren.
>
>
>
>
> Ted
>
> Ted Langdell
> (530) 301-2931
>  ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
>   Secretary for the  *QuadVideotapeGroup.com*<http://www.quadvideotapegroup.com/>
> :
> Preserving Tape, Equipment and the Knowledge to use them, in conjunction
> with the Library of Congress
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Please trim posts to relevant info when replying.
>
> Change subject to reflect thread direction. Thanks.
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