Hi I'm Don Kramer. I am a new member and I also run (with the help of a lot of others) the YouTube channel "thetelethonchannel". For those of you who want to travel 42 years ago back in time to Labor Day 1983, our channel will for 21 1/2 hours starting at 9pm EDT tonight, we will be airing the ENTIRE 1983 Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon! Enjoy!
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Watch the 1983 Jerry Lewis Telethon in it's entirety on YouTube's "TheTelethon Channel"
- Thread starter caller10
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Pass....
Where did you get the rights to use this on YouTube? Does the MDA still own the show and has granted permission? I recall the various performers unions had to sign off on a lot of things in relation to appearances on the telethon.
I was involved with production at the local level with the MDA telethon between 1977 and 1983. It was a handful to deal with, but I got double time pay for working a holiday.
I recall the local inserts were supposed to be from :15 to :30 past each hour, but Lewis would start rambling on about something and the local avail would hit very late. We would find our local time compressed in order to get back to the network at :30.
The Hughes Television Network handled distribution of the telethon back then. I remember there was a little countdown clock in the video vertical interval; you would set a monitor on underscan to see it…counted you into and out of local breaks which could vary around due to the flow of the national show.
I was involved with production at the local level with the MDA telethon between 1977 and 1983. It was a handful to deal with, but I got double time pay for working a holiday.
I recall the local inserts were supposed to be from :15 to :30 past each hour, but Lewis would start rambling on about something and the local avail would hit very late. We would find our local time compressed in order to get back to the network at :30.
The Hughes Television Network handled distribution of the telethon back then. I remember there was a little countdown clock in the video vertical interval; you would set a monitor on underscan to see it…counted you into and out of local breaks which could vary around due to the flow of the national show.
Maudlin and manipulative television with "celebrities" I wouldn't walk around the corner to see. So glad this is off regular TV, always resented it for the preemptions it would cause.
I'd rather watch the Chabad Telethon and the dancing rabbis than Jerry rambling on. Also, you're not a new member, you signed up here in 2003 according to your profile.
Fire up a flare if the 1980 one, taped off KOLO-TV in Reno runs, because...
I might watch it for 5 minutes of nostalgia, but only 5 minutes. I also worked the local angle at an affiliate one year, extra pay and there was plenty of food.
Why are you sporting a button with a bell on it? Lol
Oh first of all I am a very long time member of radio-info, that was a copy of a message I had placed somewhere else.
I've watched the telethon my whole life, everything is timed out including filler for what constituted "local".
It is being aired under Section 107"; Fair Use provision of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). This is the third year in a row, it makes a lot of people very happy. YouTube is flooded with content and clips and whatnot from many individuals.
OK noted. We have the first Chabad Telethon of 1980 with Jan Murray and Carrol O' Connor, a really true classic!
"Hughes Television Network"
That is a huge detail I did not know. I do know that Sylvester "Pat" Weaver was very involved in the pulling together of the "Love Network" in the 1970s.
I don't care about Jan Murray but I might watch if Carrol dances with the rabbis
Might just be me, but I find "Lol" works a lot better if you know exactly what you're loling.
I have no idea how, with that small an image, you have any
Well I put on my glasses...and it still looks like a bell! I hope I don't go to hell for Lol'ing one of Jerry's Kids.
I had forgotten about the “Love Network” moniker that Lewis frequently used during the telethon.
In the days of affiliates being fed by a web of microwave links, Hughes was responsible for cobbling the MDA network together. Usually a station’s normal network feed would be switched from its usual network to the telethon during the station break that immediately preceded the telethon’s start. So you would finish whatever your network’s show was, roll your local break, keep an eye on the network monitor, and have your fingers crossed that AT&T (or whichever microwave provider) made the switch. Never had a problem with that; the station log would refer to such feeds as “Special Network” which could be a number of things depending on the programming…Mizlou was another example for sports.
When satellites began being used for feeding stations in the early 1980s the MDA telethon moved to that distribution method, which was much simpler.
It was pretty much standard procedure for the local hosts to record promos with Jerry. Having seen a lot of those I can say that the conversations with Lewis before and after doing the actual promo take could be quite interesting…😳😵💫😱
It's a 150x150 that's all of 12kb.
If I crop it---no attempt to zoom or magnify---this is the button----not from my post, but from my original:
I have NO idea how that looks like...anything.
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While this changed over time, when I first began watching the MDA telethon in 1974 (The Jackson 5 was on that one--probably the funkiest group the show had on until MC Hammer in 1991--but I'm getting ahead of myself), it was the only show on in Phoenix between roughly midnight Labor Day morning and 5:00 that same morning when other TV channels began resuming their transmissions. KPHO-Channel 5 aired the telethon in Phoenix for (almost) its entire run--though I stopped regularly watching (well listening is more appropriate in my case) to it in 1977.
I did listen to parts of shows since them (the 1985 show with Billy Preston), and the last time I watched any part of the telethon was in 1991 (if memory serves) which was the first year the show was aired after the death of longtime Jerry Lewis friend Sammy Davis, Jr. That was also the first and only time that a rap act (MC Hammer) appeared on the show (that I know of).
The thing that always struck me about the Labor Day MDA telethons that I listened to was the blandness of the performers. Most all were AC artists, whether white or black, and I believe that was done (and please correct me if I'm wrong) intentionally to make the show palatable to as many viewers as possible.
This is off-topic but I can tell you that the telethon was very controversial within the disability community. The basic concern (which Mr. Lewis tried to address in later shows) was that the telethon's ultimate goal (trying to find a cure for muskular distrophy) interfeerred with people, particularly adults, who were trying the best they could to live as "normal" of a life as possible under their circumstances.
I did listen to parts of shows since them (the 1985 show with Billy Preston), and the last time I watched any part of the telethon was in 1991 (if memory serves) which was the first year the show was aired after the death of longtime Jerry Lewis friend Sammy Davis, Jr. That was also the first and only time that a rap act (MC Hammer) appeared on the show (that I know of).
The thing that always struck me about the Labor Day MDA telethons that I listened to was the blandness of the performers. Most all were AC artists, whether white or black, and I believe that was done (and please correct me if I'm wrong) intentionally to make the show palatable to as many viewers as possible.
This is off-topic but I can tell you that the telethon was very controversial within the disability community. The basic concern (which Mr. Lewis tried to address in later shows) was that the telethon's ultimate goal (trying to find a cure for muskular distrophy) interfeerred with people, particularly adults, who were trying the best they could to live as "normal" of a life as possible under their circumstances.
Your experience was actually pretty mild. Lewis at his worst could be quite shocking, as I saw in outtakes as well as in person on a few occasions.
Having said that, I’m not going to trash Lewis as he seemed to put a lot of sincere effort into the telethon, but YMMV.
You hit the nail on the head with that observation. The telethon had to play between the 30 yard lines to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible.