Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

obtains extreme closeups and practically puts you in a huddle. The other three cameras are equipped with Zoomar lenses, which can move in and out of closeups. We also utilize a camera with a special 60-inch tele- scopic lens at games where the press box is far back from the field, such as the Army-Navy battle in huge Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia. A fifth camera, NBC-TV's ultra-portable camera, is used for games televised in black-and-white. The por- table unit travels up and down the sidelines to pick up shots of the crowd, the cheering sections, the bands and — occasionally — special game action, such as goal- line stands. While NBC engineers are working in the stadium, other technicians are arranging the telephone line hook- up that will feed the telecast from the stadium to NBC headquarters in either New York, Chicago or Los Angeles, whichever is closest, where the telecast is trans- mitted into the coast-to-coast network. An open phone line is installed from the mobile unit control room to the master control point so that film commercials can be integrated without interrupting the telecast of the game itself. By Friday afternoon, the camera and relay installa- tions are all set, all cables connected and the micro- phones installed in the announcer's booth, where com- mentators Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange and their spotters (who help identify the players) sit. Smith, the directors and the engineering crew then talk over anticipated problems of the following day They map out a carefully integrated plan which includes such points as which camera covers kickoffs, punt returns and passes, which picks up the referee signalling after the attempt for extra point, which catches defensive shifts, and so on. Any TV sports director, by the way, will tell you that there is no sub- stitute for top-notch cameramen in covering a game, for they are his "eyes" and must be alert and quick to provide him with all the action on the field. The director quite literally must be a grandstand quarterback — and a good one, at that. Sitting in the mobile unit control room, he watches monitors which show the picture each of the four or five cameras is getting at that moment. He must prepare for whatever play the offensive team is likely to run and then call Ins (.amera shots accordingly. On Saturday morning, the NBC crew stages a com- plete rehearsal, and by noon is ready to go on the air. Coordinating Game Action Obviously, the actual telecast of the game requires coordination of widely scattered activities. The camera crews, the announcer's booth, the control room in the mobile unit and the NBC-TV master control point are in constant touch by open phone lines. Producer Smith controls the program from his seat in the mobile unit, while the director is responsible for getting the best possible sound and picture story of the game trans- mitted to the network. Game day is a long one, and of course there's always the threat of rain, sleet or snow. Special foul- weather gear is provided the camera crews and protec- tive tarpaulins are stored beside each camera. You might bear this in mind this Fall as you watch the series from your living room easy chair. When the Saturday telecast is finished and alumni are assembling for victory celebrations or post-mortems, the NBC crew is still hard at work. After the crowd files from the stadium, the engineers dismantle the installations, coil the wires and cables and load up the mobile unit truck. On Sunday the truck goes to its home garage, where maintenance men check every item of equipment. By the first of the week, the unit is ready to roll to the next stadium and game. Zoomar lenses move in and out of closeups. Two cameras are at midfield, two on 20-yard line.