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

Mon Oct 21 13:43:41 CDT 2013

I did not know about the SMTPE meeting. Sounds like a plan.

Randy

On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Ted Langdell <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com>wrote:

>
>
> Hi, Randy,
>
> You're welcome and thanks for passing it on.
>
> Bill had been suggested as someone to be asked about doing an oral history
> with QuadList member James Snyder.
>
> Are you planning to attend the SMPTE meeting Oct. 30 at the GVG cafeteria?
>
> Ted
>
> On Oct 19, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Randy Hall wrote:
>
>
> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
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>
>   Ted
>
> Ted Langdell
> Secretary
> Skype:  TedLangdell
> e-mail: ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
>
>
>
>
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