History of network relays

[joebtsflk1]

In Iowa, it seemed the switchover to TV high-fidelity audio was late winter/ early spring of 1978 (or was it 1977?) Anyway I remember other kids in my HS school class talking about how the phone would ring on the TV and they'd get faked out thinking it was their own phone ringing as it sounded much more realistic.

Funny, as a kid I always thought local TV sound was cheap and tinny, and the somewhat bassy, rolled-off network sound seemed more like the big-time.

 

[newsmark]

I actually thought it was 1977. I remember during the NYC blackout of July 13-14 that network shows seemed "glitchy." My mother supposed that it might be because the networks were having to operate from LA instead of New York.

It seems like just a few days later I noticed a big difference in audio. I remember thinking "Three's Company" sounded like it was live.

 

[JeffM]

I believe Mutual (radio) was the first network to go to satellite distribution; with good reason too as they were stuck with "Class B" AT&T lines, they either couldn't get or couldn't afford the "Class A" lines the big three had. Mutual stations could obtain from the network a "line filter" (a box of tubes about the size of a tackle box) designed to improve signal quality. It worked at least well enough for AM radio.

When stereo sound arrived in the mid-80's, I seem to recall CBS using a different and incompatible system than NBC or ABC. For sure they were using a different closed-caption system (called CBS Teletext) and actually erasing non-CBS-type CC signals from shows and commercials submitted by outside producers; which was about as mean-spirited as going into a library for the blind and ironing the Braille...

 

[K.M. Richards]

Having recently done a considerable amount of research for an article on the Overmyer/United Network, I can tell you that they were required to pay for six hours a day of network line time from AT&T and it was a major factor in their demise.

The aforementioned article is now online, as Santa left "The History of UHF Television" under the tree as a present to everyone.

http://www.uhftelevision.com

 

[radiorob2.0]

I believe Mutual (radio) was the first network to go to satellite distribution; with good reason too as they were stuck with "Class B" AT&T lines, they either couldn't get or couldn't afford the "Class A" lines the big three had. Mutual stations could obtain from the network a "line filter" (a box of tubes about the size of a tackle box) designed to improve signal quality. It worked at least well enough for AM radio.

When stereo sound arrived in the mid-80's, I seem to recall CBS using a different and incompatible system than NBC or ABC. For sure they were using a different closed-caption system (called CBS Teletext) and actually erasing non-CBS-type CC signals from shows and commercials submitted by outside producers; which was about as mean-spirited as going into a library for the blind and ironing the Braille...

Mutual and/or RKO were first with satellite distribution for radio networks. have to research that. As far as TV stereo sound due to deregulation the AM stereo standard became a massive cluster. Finally the FCC decided on the ill-fated "Let the marketplace decide" decision. TV broadcasters and the FCC wanted to avoid the decision mess so they set a standard on how to create the stereo pilot so the Zenith system became the defacto standard.

 

[JeffM]

Mutual and/or RKO were first with satellite distribution for radio networks. have to research that. As far as TV stereo sound due to deregulation the AM stereo standard became a massive cluster. Finally the FCC decided on the ill-fated "Let the marketplace decide" decision. TV broadcasters and the FCC wanted to avoid the decision mess so they set a standard on how to create the stereo pilot so the Zenith system became the defacto standard.

Since writing my last post here a couple months ago, I've remembered that "CBS StereoSound Where Available" logo. Man, was it clunky. A solid blue bar that extended via animation from screen center to the edges. It looked twice the size of what the other networks were using, and shows with their main titles in the lower third of the screen sometimes ended up partly obscured. Maybe CBS was just trying to make viewers think they had their own unique sound system?

Some shows did display the StereoSound symbol separately; it was the same visual, but over a black screen with some electronic "whooosh" effect. For all their skill with programming, CBS always had lousy luck with their ideas for "technical innovations," everything from their "Rube Goldberg" color system to Teletext.

 

[FredLeonard]

The general consensus back then was CBS' color system produced a better color picture than RCA's. But RCA had more lobbying clout and the FCC opted for RCA's system which was compatible with existing black and white receivers. CBS' plan was to use UHF for color broadcasting and sell color receivers on which they held patents - instead RCA held the patents and sold receivers and equipment - and collected royalties from all other manufacturers.

CBS did OK, however, with their 33 1/3 RPM long playing record. Better than RCA did with their 45 RPM records. And NetAlert was far more sophisticated than the rather clunky system NBC used. And CBS introduced automatic gain control.

 

[frankberry]

My great friend and engineer, Cliff Benham, has built a couple of CBS mechanical color systems.
To make the system work, Cliff had to design a converter which could output the R-B-G colors (one at a time) and synchronize a color wheel to the R-B-G signals.
Cliff's system works and produces a fantastic picture.

http://www.earlytelevision.org/2009_convention_benham.html

Frank

 

[K.M. Richards]

I highly recommend Ed Reitan's extensive history of the color system battle to those interested:
http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/index.html

 

[JeffM]

The myth of the superiority of CBS's color system has survived over the years; the fact is that the CBS color picture, while offering attractive color, was noticeably less sharp than existing B/W or RCA's color (400 lines vs. 525) and operated at 24 images per second like a motion picture projector rather than 30 images per second as any other system. This second point may not have mattered had the system succeeded, but it would in any case have resulted in a more film-like appearance to live or taped TV.

A still camera captures a moment in time when its shutter opens and closes; a motion picture or TV camera operates within the flow of time, cutting the action in front of its lens into slices, be it 24 or 30 or whatever to each second. With 30 "slices" per second, each slice is smaller and sharper in terms of capturing the action; which accounts for the immediacy of the "live look" of TV. It's a very different look compared to film. (Some call this the "Mexican soap-opera effect" or refer to that old Monty Python bit about "being on film outside," based on the habit of British TV of shooting all exteriors on 16mm film.)

In the end, the public was well served by the adoption of a compatible color system that did not render their existing sets obsolete relics. As for the record "speed wars," both the "45" and LP survived and prospered, and again, the public benefited. LPS became the favored medium for classical music, Broadway cast recordings, and "albums" of popular songs, replacing the previous literal albums of 78 rpm records bound in book form. The 45 rpm "single" was the best choice for individual pop songs; durable, inexpensive, and offering excellent fidelity, a huge improvement over the bulky, fragile 78's. (And for better or worse, it pretty much spawned top 40 pop radio as we know it!)

 

[CDG]

During the early day of television if the city had only one station at that time AT &T would not run the network line from New York until there was a second TV Station in town so the first station had to set up relay's for the nearest city that had all 3 networks.

 

[Mario500]

The Encyclopedia of Alabama and TVTechnology have some details about the relay systems used by Alabama Public Television.

 

[danderson4411]

A bit of trivia: when the two coasts were joined on September 4, 1951, there were 107 stations on the air (the last pre-freeze licensee, Atlanta's Ch. 11, then WLTV Ch. 8, would sign on Sept. 30). One station, however, was not linked into the system: KOB Albuquerque, and I don't know when it was. To mark the occasion, President Harry S Truman addressed the UN, then still headquartered in San Francisco, and Douglas Edwards began using his longtime opening, "Good evening everyone, from coast to coast." Still, there was some crazy scheduling in those early days; I once posted a retro for San Francisco for a Monday in 1951; KPIX carried the live feed of "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" at 5:30 (PT)/8:30 (ET), while Los Angeles saw it on "fast kine" three hours later (or someone at the station made the kinescope during the live feed).

Somebody mentioned the practice of welcoming new stations to a broadcast; sometimes that was the biggest news of the day, and the networks (particularly ABC) wanted to promote their steady expansion. I still remember Aug. 1, 1962, the day WRAL switched from NBC to ABC and became the second fulltime ABC affiliate in North Carolina (after WLOS); it was mentioned on three daytime shows, "Yours For A Song" with Bert Parks, "Camouflage" with Don Morrow, and "American Bandstand," all of which were live. And even when ABC began picking off other networks' affiliates in the '70s and '80s, the practice continued; I remember the morning in 1990 when WHAS Louisville joined ABC and Charlie Gibson acted delighted that one of the oldest and most prestigious stations in the country had moved from CBS to ABC.

It's still probably a hassle to switch football games; CBS went to bonus coverage of the Browns-Titans game yesterday, but both WCBS and KCBS had to cut away by NFL rules to show the Jets-Chargers game in its entirety. WFMY and WRAL, my local CBS affiliates, stayed with the Browns-Titans game to the end.
But this discussion is otherwise getting too technical for me; all I know is that the first live network broadcast we got in North Carolina came in 1950, before I was born; WFMY carried DuMont's telecast of the North Carolina-Notre Dame football game on the day live network programming was extended southward from Richmond at least to Birmingham. I do have some insight now as to how, if in the '50s I had worked at a station that carried both Jackie Gleason (CBS) and Sid Caesar (NBC) on Saturday nights, I could have switched from CBS to NBC at 9, when Gleason went off and Caesar came on, to use one example (or in the '60s, how CBS/ABC affiliate WMAZ Macon, GA could go directly from Gleason to Lawrence Welk (ABC) at 8:30).

i wonder if NBC or CBS back in the 1970s would be able to delay Wonderful World of Disney or 60 Minutes for a regional game so that the whole network was in sync? especially if that game turned out to be a better game than the main game

 

[danderson4411]

i know that in the 1980s NBC would sometimes preempt "Our House" until the last late NFL game was over during doubleheader weekends even if it meant starting the lineup late and delaying the local news

 

[danderson4411]

A bit of trivia: when the two coasts were joined on September 4, 1951, there were 107 stations on the air (the last pre-freeze licensee, Atlanta's Ch. 11, then WLTV Ch. 8, would sign on Sept. 30). One station, however, was not linked into the system: KOB Albuquerque, and I don't know when it was. To mark the occasion, President Harry S Truman addressed the UN, then still headquartered in San Francisco, and Douglas Edwards began using his longtime opening, "Good evening everyone, from coast to coast." Still, there was some crazy scheduling in those early days; I once posted a retro for San Francisco for a Monday in 1951; KPIX carried the live feed of "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" at 5:30 (PT)/8:30 (ET), while Los Angeles saw it on "fast kine" three hours later (or someone at the station made the kinescope during the live feed).

Somebody mentioned the practice of welcoming new stations to a broadcast; sometimes that was the biggest news of the day, and the networks (particularly ABC) wanted to promote their steady expansion. I still remember Aug. 1, 1962, the day WRAL switched from NBC to ABC and became the second fulltime ABC affiliate in North Carolina (after WLOS); it was mentioned on three daytime shows, "Yours For A Song" with Bert Parks, "Camouflage" with Don Morrow, and "American Bandstand," all of which were live. And even when ABC began picking off other networks' affiliates in the '70s and '80s, the practice continued; I remember the morning in 1990 when WHAS Louisville joined ABC and Charlie Gibson acted delighted that one of the oldest and most prestigious stations in the country had moved from CBS to ABC.

It's still probably a hassle to switch football games; CBS went to bonus coverage of the Browns-Titans game yesterday, but both WCBS and KCBS had to cut away by NFL rules to show the Jets-Chargers game in its entirety. WFMY and WRAL, my local CBS affiliates, stayed with the Browns-Titans game to the end.
But this discussion is otherwise getting too technical for me; all I know is that the first live network broadcast we got in North Carolina came in 1950, before I was born; WFMY carried DuMont's telecast of the North Carolina-Notre Dame football game on the day live network programming was extended southward from Richmond at least to Birmingham. I do have some insight now as to how, if in the '50s I had worked at a station that carried both Jackie Gleason (CBS) and Sid Caesar (NBC) on Saturday nights, I could have switched from CBS to NBC at 9, when Gleason went off and Caesar came on, to use one example (or in the '60s, how CBS/ABC affiliate WMAZ Macon, GA could go directly from Gleason to Lawrence Welk (ABC) at 8:30).

i was thinking of 1992 when nbc switched from broncos chiefs to dolphins patriots they did it almost as soon as the extra point was made so nbc was as guity as cbs in switching games

 

[danderson4411]

Not really. Everything is fed by satellite, and the different games (and alternate feeds for stations that have to make a game change or deal with blackouts) are all on different transponders. The satellite receivers are remotely controlled by the network, and each network is capable of many different feeds out of New York (CBS) or Los Angeles (Fox.)

The network controls are capable of folding various game feeds together for "bonus coverage" depending on market.

Decades ago CBS could only feed two games out of New York, while other games had regional "control stations" that would take the truck feed from the stadium, insert the network commercials, and feed it to a regional network of stations. For instance, KDFW (then a CBS affiliate) would often be the control station for Cowboys games, distributing them to a regional network of CBS affiliates across Texas and the southwest. NBC had a similar arrangement, IIRC.

i know its a old thread but i would think for the Chargers two games on CBS would KFMB be the control station to feed the game to lets say Minnesota for a MIN/SD game as in 1981

 

[newsmark]

I would think for the Chargers two games on CBS would KFMB be the control station to feed the game to lets say Minnesota for a MIN/SD game as in 1981

The San Diego station might not have been equipped to do this. Since LA is so close, CBS probably handled everything from there.

 

[danderson4411]

i was thinking how many feeds would CBS be able to do for 60 Minutes during a NFL Sunday? same thing with Disney on NBC?

 

[newsmark]

i was thinking how many feeds would CBS be able to do for 60 Minutes during a NFL Sunday? same thing with Disney on NBC?

CBS would "normalize" the network. That was one reason, once your game was over, they would join another game in progress. Eventually, everyone would be on the same game and the CBS Sports would sign off the entire network at the same time 93 seconds later (except on the west coast), 60 Minutes would start. Other times, after each game was over, they'd join the post-game show in progress.

 

[danderson4411]

i wonder how nbc handled Sliver Spoons and Punky Brewster and the NFL? diffrent show than 60 Minutes in that they were half hour comdies