Network Delays For Standard Time

[oldiesfan6479]

Special attention bpatrick and other hard-core TV schedule geeks...

We've discussed in the past about when the networks began their
one-hour delayed feeds during DST to standard time areas in the
Eastern and Central time zones.

Spring 1958 was most often mentioned as when this began (it ended
after the 1966 DST period), based on things seen here and there from
various posted schedules.

Turns out that 1958 is on the mark. Check this from David Eduardo's
http://www.americanradiohistory.com website (thanks, Old Gringo):

Broadcasting Magazine (the weekly, not the yearbook)
April 7, 1958 issue
page 54 (magazine page, not necessarily the PDF page)

The story in the box at the top left of this page details how the
delayed feeds would start on the last Sunday in April with DST.
Some areas could not be accommodated. Especially notable is
that ABC would do this using only four VTRs (CBS and NBC each
alllocated 12 tape machines), however you can do a one-hour
delay with four VTRs--three for the primary record/playback
segues and the fourth as a "continuous" record backup.

 

[Stanislav]

Three questions come to mind:

-- Did the networks also provide a delayed feed for West Coast stations that did not observe DST? That would mean they were sending our four separate feeds: standard EDT/CDT feed; one-hour delayed feed for EST/CST; three-hour delayed feed for PDT; and four-hour delayed feed for PST. (Or two-hour and three-hour delays for PDT/PST -- I don't recall offhand if West Coast stations were airing programs according to the Eastern or Central clock pattern in that era).

-- Were these extra feeds maintained all summer long (for the benefit of areas that opted out of DST entirely), or just used in the transitional few weeks in Spring when some areas had already "sprung forward" while others had not?

-- How long was this arrangement maintained? The Uniform Time Act of 1966 did standardize the start and end dates of DST, but still allowed for opting out of DST altogether. But by then, I believe there were fewer renegade opt-outs to deal with, and I would think that those few affiliates might have been left on their own, especially as VTRs became more commonplace at local stations.

(Of course, I'm typing this without having read the article yet -- a cardinal sin. I'll probably find that some of these questions are answered therein, then feel like a fool. Which is pretty much how I feel most of the time anyway...)

 

[Stanislav]

(Of course, I'm typing this without having read the article yet -- a cardinal sin. I'll probably find that some of these questions are answered therein, then feel like a fool. Which is pretty much how I feel most of the time anyway...)

Yeah, the first question was answered by the article: they didn't do any PDT/PST delays since all of California was on PDT, and they didn't think it worth the effort to provide a special feed for the small number of PST affiliates in Oregon and Washington. (They would just have to put up with their network shows airing one hour earlier than normal.)

The other questions are still open.

BTW, thank you for alerting us to that website -- what a great resource. If I can muster up the time and patience, I might just download an old Broadcasting Yearbook or two. TV Geek Heaven! ;D

 

[Tim L]

Thanks Stan and Oldies for the alert:
This site is a total broadcasting geek heaven for sure..Already have it in my blog links..

http://clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com/


As far as the topic at hand..Makes me glad I lived in Northeast Ohio all my life..Trying to straighten out all that about Daylight Savings Time is just a tad confusing to me..

 

[oldiesfan6479]

-- Were these extra feeds maintained all summer long (for the benefit of areas that opted out of DST entirely), or just used in the transitional few weeks in Spring when some areas had already "sprung forward" while others had not?

The standard time feed was for the full period of DST--then the last Sunday in April
to the last Sunday in October. While a few places may have started DST a bit later,
the big disjoint was in the "fall" where some areas ended DST as early as some time
in August, and others still only through the last Sunday in September. The October
end date began in the mid-1950s and became more common by the mid-1960s.

Cali, for example, continued to end DST in late September (I'll resist the temptation
of a Maggie May joke here ;D) through 1961, resulting in a four-hour difference from
NY for a month from 1955-1961.

-- How long was this arrangement maintained? The Uniform Time Act of 1966 did standardize the start and end dates of DST, but still allowed for opting out of DST altogether. But by then, I believe there were fewer renegade opt-outs to deal with, and I would think that those few affiliates might have been left on their own, especially as VTRs became more commonplace at local stations.

Spring/summer 1966 was the last DST period that the networks provided the delayed
feed, as the UTA of 66 took effect with DST in 67. You are correct, stations in the
opt-out states then had to either delay the network themselves or air the shows an
hour earlier.

In Phoenix, where at least some delays were the norm going back a ways--being in the
"time zone the networks forgot"--KOOL-TV (CBS) got experience and a comfort level
with doing in-pattern two hour delays during DST for prime time that they eventually
bit the bullet and kept the in-pattern one hour delay in the winter, where before it was
(to oversimplify) flip the 7:30 ET hour to 9:00 MT and air 8:30-11 ET "live" 6:30-9 MT.

 

[Stanislav]

BTW, thank you for alerting us to that website -- what a great resource. If I can muster up the time and patience, I might just download an old Broadcasting Yearbook or two. TV Geek Heaven! ;D

Thanks Stan and Oldies for the alert:
This site is a total broadcasting geek heaven for sure..Already have it in my blog links..

BTW, ignore those messages on every page advising that the files cannot be downloaded, and only viewed online. Horse hockey. They download fine, just like any other PDF files...