John Chancellor NBC Nightly News Closed Circuit, Nov. 1980

[@norelcopc2431]

It would have been great to have one of those huge satellite dishes thirty years ago when a person could see the network feeds.

[@davesandhu3421]

My dad had the news on every evening. Even as a little kid 40 years ago, I knew John Chancellor was good, among the greatest.

[@goldenpacificmedia]

Any person interested in the history of network news coverage should appreciate seeing this rare clip of the NBC national news team setting up prior to the broadcast. The staff is running through the slide deck used on the broadcast on the left side of the screen. Chancellor is seen putting his microphone on and doing a mic check. He also reads the initial headline and I notice that he makes a pen mark on the script for the broadcast. You can hear his papers rustling during the screen test. There was actually a technique taught to TV people to avoid that sound when shuffling through their script and notes for the broadcast but during the sound check, he knows that he's not on air. For the benefit of younger people who are in the media, there was no instant autofocus capability on the large professional TV cameras in 1980. The iPhone HD camera is far more advanced than the huge camera that was used in studio to shoot this video. At 1:05 into the tape, the camera man zooms into Chancellor's tie to get a focus on his tie. Back 30-40 years ago, this was a common technique taught to TV camera people and used to get a more precise focus on the subject of the camera. By zooming into his tie, the camera person could get a lock on the fine focus adjustments and then would pull back the zoom using a button on the handle. The sequence around 6:30 into the clip is terrific because you can see how there were no computers. The script was typed by hand and edits were made by hand. He and the staff are arranging the news before your eyes.

[@WxWNY53]

Very interesting perspective and knowledge remarked upon from Golden Pacific Media. The writer is spot on. Timings were done with stopwatch. Scripts were typed and edits done by hand. You can see changes made in the minutes prior to the broadcast. I didn't realize how rare this footage was. At the time I recorded it, I was fascinated watching this over several weeks. Finally, was able to get a 3/4" U-Matic machine to record this. The tape was not stored properly over the three decades I had it. Finally, I got help from a friend in Minnesota who was able to clean it up and helped me post this vintage video. Thank you for your perspective and additional insight. Also, your appreciation of this unique video!

[@goldenpacificmedia]

Thanks! Love to see this feed! There is an TV network News Archive at Vanderbilt. If people want to check that archive, you can find the exact broadcast being assembled as the "NBC Evening News for Wednesday, Nov 26, 1980". The title cards that are seen at 3:21 in this tape roughly correlate to the broadcast archived. I haven't been able to quite figure out which broadcast was being assembled in the first part of the clip or the Roger Mudd portion. The Vanderbilt TV news archive is located here: tvnews.vanderbilt.edu

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Yeah everything was MANUAL back then.

[@mst3kanita]

I love the banter about "did you see this show?"

[@adrianconoza]

The graphics are nice and well-made...

[@twyatt5]

I love this video….. I watch it frequently…. One really get's the opportunity to see John Chancellor as he really was as a person. I hope you can find more of these network closed circuit feed to post. I sure appreciate it!

[@WxWNY53]

+twyatt5 Thank you for your kind comments on this. I believe that is all I have that survived three decades of storage. The 3/4" u-matic tapes were not stored in ideal conditions. Among them, extreme heat and cold in storage for a few years. Ideally, they should have been stored upright in a climate controlled setting. I believe there are places such as underground salt mines in Kansas. Johnny Carson's original shows are stored there. Again, thanks for your complement and viewing it often!

[@stormendless552]

3:05(with John Chancellor), 8:16(with John Chancellor and Roger Mudd in Washington): NBC Nightly News intro

[@RickinBaltimore]

4:43, there is a listing for Balt/Arrows, meaning that a MISL game was being carried. Awesome!

[@kingbee1500]

This inspired me to look through my files...and I found some ABC-TV closed circuit feeds ("DEF," or Daily Electronic Feed) that hit stations every day at 4 PM, sports or news events notwisthanding. I will clean up the 3/4" U-Matic cassette and upload. BTW, anchors were Frank Reynolds and Max Robinson...dated 1981 and 1982.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

If you did upload, I sadly don't see them.

[@goldenpacificmedia]

In response to the private message from WxWNY53, I took a look at the CG output at 4:33 into this clip. Here's my best explanation (I'm sure any professionals from the network can correct me). 11/26 refers to the date of the transmission. 06:26:16 (16 is the seconds, 26 is the minutes, and 06 is the 12 hr clock time. Network news started at 6:30 PM in 1980. The 7 PM shows were local shows under the control of the local affiliates. Note that in the list of feeds, you can see the CBS Network and ABC Network news feeds at the same time of 6:30 PM on different channels. This allows the various news stations to monitor each other's broadcasts simultaneously. This recording is probably off the line at 6:26 pm and 16 seconds (with the seconds clicking off). The voice man is giving a sound level check for the stations down the line and for the in-house audio producer to mix sound levels correctly. He's doing this because they're doing a clock check. You can hear the producers and directors talking with the voice over man at about 3:56 into the clip. A guy makes a joke about checking the time against the clock (when the clocks aren't synched right, you would end up with the broadcast being mistimed...which is a big problem when you are shooting a live broadcast). Each line seems to be a list of feeds from various sources. The timing are listed in Easter Daylight Time with info on where to find the feed (CH is probably "Channel" but I am uncertain of what the "MG" stands for. When the feed was coming over a satellite feed, the Geosynchronous satellites had specific transponders which the ground station satellite techs had to dial-in on their receivers. I assume that the video here is also recorded non-stop live off the feed. John Chancellor sits down at the desk at about 6:27:00 (three minutes before going live). You can hear a floor director call out a 2 minute warning to going live when Chancellor notices that some pages are out of order and he starts putting the show in order because he doesn't have some of the script. When he's asked how its doing, he says "just fine" and looks cool as a cat. This is probably par for the course for the man, he was cool as a cat on live network news for more than 25 years by the time this tape was made. If you notice, the show starts at the equivalent of 6:30 PM EDT exactly on the dot at 8:03 into the tape. You can faintly hear the background people doing countdowns in the background as the tape catches the test for the start of the show. The tape appears to cut with the show starting and a new show is being prepped at (8:40) into the tape. Roger Mudd was with NBC around 1980 (not sure exactly when he moved from CBS as a back up to Walter Cronkite to NBC as a co-anchor). Chancellor was around NBC from the late 1960's and early 1970's when he co-anchored the NBC nightly news with Chet Huntley and Frank McGhee. Chancellor was the guy who in the 1960's would cover political conventions from the floor to the point that he was arrested by a political party for not relinquishing his reporting position to some Goldwater Girls in 1964's Republican National Convention. He was in Chicago in 1968 when Dan Rather of CBS was pushed around by Chicago police at the Democratic National Convention. He was also in studio when man landed on the moon and was at the Cape when STS-1 flew (covering the launch with Tom Brokaw). Chancellor is also the person who thought up the idea of creating an electoral map of the United States and lighting each state by the color of the party winning the state for the presidential elections.

[@andyrose5616]

I didn't work at NBC, but I'm certain the numbers on that list are not transponders or frequencies. Satellites in those days only had 24 transponders, and most of those signals would not have been delivered by satellite anyway. I suspect that display was showing what was being patched through the central routing system that sent video signals from one place to another within 30 Rock. The "channel" was probably the final destination -- a videotape machine or switcher crosspoint expressed as a single-digit number or letter. MG (not sure precisely what that stands for) is probably the permanent assigned number for that input. So feeds from NBC Burbank came to New York on input 83, and in this case it was routed to destination A. Notice that there's a feed scheduled from the NBC bureaus around the country just before the Nightly News begins. Typically day-of stories would be worked on and edited right up to air time, so it makes sense that they've scheduled a last-minute feed for them. That line was probably also used for any live reports coming out of Washington during the newscast. DC and Burbank were the only bureaus connected to New York full-time. Getting a feed from elsewhere cost extra money. Other than the bureau feeds and network monitoring, it looks like everything else was set up for the benefit of the local news on Channel 4. A live shot from LaGuardia airport, and a bunch of games involving New York-area teams to be record for late news highlights. "NJPTV" was New Jersey Public Television. Maybe there was a political debate that night that Channel 4 wanted to record. I'm guessing they put that display on the screen just because it was the easiest source to punch up that showed the network's central clock for synchronization. Why have Bill Hanrahan read the clock out? Again, it's just a guess, but the crew was probably on the phone with the Washington bureau checking the "return" feed of video that DC was getting from New York. Hearing the time checks while also seeing the clock on the video line assured that the audio was working and in synch.

[@clar260]

The announcer is actually Bill Hanrahan.

[@damodmc]

Brilliant to hear the announcers loving Reggie Perrin at 5:10 :)

[@norelcopc2431]

Announcer has a golden voice.... he could have been a NBC announcer since the late 1940s.

[@WxWNY53]

+norelco pc I believe the announcer was the late Fred Facey, who also was the announcer for the "Today Show," among other NBC programs over the years. He passed away at age 72, in April 2003. Thanks for your interest!

[@sdcafunnyguru]

I'm pretty sure the announcer was Bill Hanrahan? Until he retired in the early 80s, he regularly handled announcing chores for Nightly News. After that, Howard Reig was the announcer, through Brokaw's years and then during Brian Williams' tenure, until 2007, when actor Michael Douglas announced the open for several years. After Williams was asked to leave and was replaced by Lester Holt, they replaced Douglas with an actual announcer.

[@ScoopNemeth]

I take it this is the video right before Nightly News broadcasts live nationwide for that day. If so, it feels like witnessing an orchestra warming up before going live (either at the symphony or in the pit at the opera).

[@YouTubricant]

Brilliant.

[@musicom67]

That's what it's like, folks!

[@mysticpuffy]

at 5:10 they showed a slate with the clock. What was all the stuff on the slate representing? I saw Celts/Lakers, ABC Net news, and other things

[@WaltGekko]

Actually, in those days, the network newscasts in New York except for special situations always aired at 7:00 PM, NOT 6:30 as local news ran until 7:00 back then. It was only in 1987 and the expansion of syndicated programming that the network stations in NYC would go to 6:30.

[@Chubachus]

very interesting

[@hoopandstuff]

cool video... thanks

[@signoff12]

What was that clock thing with timings on there?

[@marksymbala3454]

A ticker

[@JimmySand9]

Was this taken off of the satellite, or was the feed still coming in through the Bell Long Lines?

[@WxWNY53]

At the time I recorded this, the NBC affiliate did not have any satellite dishes on the property. It was through AT&T long lines as you correctly indicated. Thank you for your question!

[@JimmySand9]

+WxWNY53 I'm very interested in that menu at 4:20. I'm assuming the numbers correspond to the frequency of each channel in MHz; and if that's the case, I'm also assuming the carrier was modulated down to VHF from the C-Band microwave signal and carried to the control room via cable.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It wouldn't surprise me if not many stations had yet to get their dishes yet by this point.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Yes, you might be correct--it seems the same numbers listed under "MG" (megahertz?) match with the letters/numbers in the "CH" (channel), such as in A=83, B=91, C=92, etc. My guess is that NBC took the composite baseband video out of each of their satellite receivers and alongside taking that video and running it through their plant's routing switchers to be used on-air or to an editing/production suite, they also split and modulated the sat. receivers' output CATV-style to a cable fed to all control rooms and elsewhere in NBC's NYC facilities for previewing satellite feeds, with the menu pictured being fed on a dedicated channel on said cable. I'll also hazard to guess that the selection/tuning of those satellite feeds was preprogrammed/automated via computer, with the same computer generating the menu channel. I do know NBC did have all their on-air switching and routing automated via computer since the 70s, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a similar automated system for managing the reception of incoming satellite feeds....

[@thebestisyettocome4114]

The real deal 👍

[@TomSanderson100]

Ah yes Reggie Perrin played by Leonard Rossiter