Since we have been discussing TV coverage of JFK's assassination recently, let's fast-forward the tape a few days to the day of Kennedy's funeral, procession, and burial. If anyone can suggest sources (internet or otherwise) for accounts of the logistics of covering these events, please do so.
I imagine this may well have been the most ambitious live event ever covered on TV up to that time, and all of it had to be coordinated in less than 3 days. I wonder just how many cameras were used (and how many miles of cable!) to cover all the DC scenes, the slow solemn procession across the river, and the ceremonies at Arlington. While the networks had some resources locally (I assume all three had some sort of Washington bureau at the time), I wouldn't doubt that cameras, other equipment and personnel had to be "imported" for the occasion from affiliates all along the Eastern seaboard.
I would guess that, in spite of the availability of live mobile unit technology in 1963, many if not most of those cameras would have been hard-wired rather than microwaved to a central point. I can't imagine that they would have had the ability to handle more than one or two microwave links at one time. And though the action was spread out over a fairly wide geographic area, the pace of events was rather slow, so I wonder if some equipment set up to cover earlier stages of the day were then quickly "redeployed" to other sites?
And, given that the video portion of the broadcast was pooled among all three networks, who actually ran the show and called the shots that made it on the air? And how was he chosen? I wonder if there was some behind the scenes competition amongst the networks for that assignment -- after all, whoever directed that very historic broadcast would be acquiring quite a feather in his cap!
Thoughts? Guesses? References? Sources?
I imagine this may well have been the most ambitious live event ever covered on TV up to that time, and all of it had to be coordinated in less than 3 days. I wonder just how many cameras were used (and how many miles of cable!) to cover all the DC scenes, the slow solemn procession across the river, and the ceremonies at Arlington. While the networks had some resources locally (I assume all three had some sort of Washington bureau at the time), I wouldn't doubt that cameras, other equipment and personnel had to be "imported" for the occasion from affiliates all along the Eastern seaboard.
I would guess that, in spite of the availability of live mobile unit technology in 1963, many if not most of those cameras would have been hard-wired rather than microwaved to a central point. I can't imagine that they would have had the ability to handle more than one or two microwave links at one time. And though the action was spread out over a fairly wide geographic area, the pace of events was rather slow, so I wonder if some equipment set up to cover earlier stages of the day were then quickly "redeployed" to other sites?
And, given that the video portion of the broadcast was pooled among all three networks, who actually ran the show and called the shots that made it on the air? And how was he chosen? I wonder if there was some behind the scenes competition amongst the networks for that assignment -- after all, whoever directed that very historic broadcast would be acquiring quite a feather in his cap!
Thoughts? Guesses? References? Sources?