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Past Olympics Media Coverage


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Ah, a young Mylena Ciribelli (20 years old at the time with that hair volume). Anchoring the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games for now-defunct TV Manchete back in 1988. Actually in this case here, she's presenting the Best of the 88 Olympics. Now at Record. Logo looks like an early NBC Olympic rip-off with a chemistry formula m-form:

Which leads me to present back when TV Manchete helped broadcast the Summer Olympics on Brazilian TV. Alltime TV Manchete showed 4 of them starting with the 1984 one in Los Angeles that ended with Atlanta 20 years ago before ceasing production in 1999. What TV Manchete did put many Olympic broadcasters around the world--even NBC's puny 179.5 hours--to shame with investing in over 400 hours of transmission, much of it live. But it did devote lots of coverage to the Olympics during this era, which is kinda easy to forget nowdays with so many Brazilian TV broadcasters, both on free-to-air and pay-TV/subscription, taking the Olympic broadcasting challenge this year. The Brazilian media behemoth Globo didn't offer that much coverage back then until after Manchete bit the dust. Some of the video material here was rather silly and cheesy when it comes to the Olympics like the (superimposed) guy coming down from flying to a bunch of fawning attractive women:

http://torcedores.com/noticias/2016/07/voce-sabia-extinta-tv-manchete-ja-transmitiu-as-olimpiadas-relembre

Long wondered what Seven's TV spot for the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics looked like in its return to Australian Olympic TV since Moscow 1980 (Network Ten was mostly Australia's Olympic TV network back in the 1980s) with its 350+ hours of coverage. Now we know. Lots of footage from Seoul like Duncan Armstrong, the Boomers basketball team, Daley Thompson, Greg Louganis, Naim Suleymonoglu, the Kookaburras field hockey team, and Debbie Flintoff-King. Man, I now miss the previous AOC logo with the Australia flag above the rings. Now to big on the Australian coat of arms AOC logo:

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  • 1 month later...

Got a nice treat for you also from Seoul 1988 thanks from Westnyacktwins. We got the historic men's 100m butterfly because have--and it must be stressed heavily here--the first black person to win gold in an Olympic swimming race, male or female, in Suriname's Anthony Nesty from a South American nation that was barely after a decade into its independence from The Netherlands and then a Florida Gator swimmer (Dara Torres, you'll notice in this when the cameras capture the moment, happily runs and embraces her teammate after Nesty's victory). With all the attention towards Simone, Anthony Ervin, and Cullen Jones and before Michael Phelps perfected the butterfly comeback. Nesty apparently originated it! He beats Matt Biondi, defending gold medalist Michael Gross (who doesn't medal at 5th), Jon Sieben, and Andrew Jamieson. In this video early on as we get for the race we also see NBC's Olympic Profile, their answer to ABC's Up Close and Personal, on Biondi, who shortly afterwards in a Sports Illustrated diary article during Seoul, says he "got sick" watching on losing out to Nesty. Nonetheless, Nesty's victory, its first ever medal for Suriname, obviously meant tons to the nation with the tremendous pride it brought . In terms of sports, we know Suriname more as a producer of great Dutch soccer talent like Guulit, Rijkaard, Davids, Kluivert, Van Gobbel, Seedorf, Winter, and Hasselbink, but Nesty's contributions must not be ignored worldwide; the quietly confident Nesty would swim against anyone and still defeat them even in practice regardless of his condition.

We also get one of those primetime segment early NBC Olympics broadcast staple of Seoul: The Last 24 Hours--Let Us Show You highlights that started with MCI (now Verizon) and then McDonald's and Coca-Cola with the live medal ceremony ending the the first (and so far only) time we hear the Surinamese national anthem. He's now mentoring one of his proteges from Suriname in Renzo Tjon-A-Joe:

 

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Thanks for sharing that Durban, My college roommate and I joyfully jumped up and down on our beds when Nesty won. I would have tried to replicate the experience but I have no clue where he is and my bed would collapse under all my extra weight. Great memories.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Some special attention should also go other Black American swimmers of note who couldn't quite make it to the Summer Olympics like Sabir Muhammed, Byron Davis, and the late Chris Silva. Nesty also carried Suriname's flag in Beijing to commemorate his 20th anniversary Olympic win. 

First 8+ minutes from ABC Sports' Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics preview show special aired Friday, July 27 1984 with the torch relay culminating with UCLA grad and 1960 decathlete Rafer Johnson lighting to flame at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Too bad right now we can't get the full program. Jim McKay could weave an Olympic (or any sports) narrative like no other, though Bob Costas comes very close to what we have now. The writing, graphics, music scores, visuals, editing were all innovative and acclaimed back in 1984:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2rrYva8_Kw

The openers to Network 10 Australia's Seoul 1988 coverage on the first two days' coverage, starting with the official Seoul 1988 TV opener followed by Ten's own from Day 1 (nighttime with Mike Gibson and a young Bruce McAveney with a superstars' outlook, diving featuring Julie Kent, and full OC replay) and then Day 2 the following Sunday (Tim Webster and Grahame Hughes with Boomers basketball vs. Puerto Rico, swimming with an Aussie outlook, Kookaburras field hockey) at Seoul's IBC. Taken from someone who recorded it from Brisbane:

Australia's big international basketball breakthrough was in Seoul with final highlight footage from its upset quarterfinal win versus experienced  Los Angeles silver medalist Spain, representing a golden age of Aussie basketball with some young, exciting, athletic players like Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley, Mark Bradtke, Rob Sibley, and Andrew Vlahov meshing with longtime vets Damian Keough, Ray Borner, Larry Sengstock, Phil Smythe, Wayne Carroll, and Darryl Pearce. Australian basketball was becoming a force to be reckoned with permanently since with some disappointments along the way like most recently this August. Here, they headed to face pool mates Yugoslavia equipped with its very talented and young team in the semis in a rematch. This is how Network Ten with Phil Lynch and Debbie Spillane calling it with members of the Australian women's team, weren't yet called the Opals and already into the semis themselves at this point, behind them cheering them on. Lynch later interviews Borner and Bradtke (then with the NBL's Adelaide 36ERS) in the bowels. Guess Spain got its revenge in a karmic way this year:

 

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  • 1 month later...

Another real nice treat this time taken from ABC's nearly 63-hour Munich 1972 Summer Olympics presentation. Only things I largely ever see from ABC since then as far as these tragic Games are concerned is the controversial USA vs. Soviet Union gold medal basketball game, Mark Spitz's swims to 7 gold medals, Olga Korbut, and Jim McKay reporting the Munich tragedy ("They're all gone..."). Thankfully, ESPN Classics took up the replay of the coverage on the 40th anniversary of these Games back in 2012, so you get to see the intro and graphics--Bugler's Dream was used by ABC for 4 years at the time but you won't hear it here. Certainly not as elaborate as we see nowdays with the immense technological advancements later on that really took off during the 1980s. Also, contrary to popular belief it was not McKay who hosted the ABC presentation but was at the Olympic Games covering track and field with Bill Toomey (sprints) and Marty Liquori (middle distance, with a foot injury preventing him from competing in Muinich). Chris Schenkel was actually the overall anchor for this and pops up at times in front of a superimposed image of the aerial shot of Olympic Stadium. Apparently, there was just primetime coverage with no daytime or late night segments that we get now. According to Wikipedia, it only did seven sports: track and field, gymnastics, swimming, basketball, wrestling, diving, and boxing.

The video that we see here from its September 9 coverage centers on the starcrossed and "tragic" American men in track and field and the controversies they encountered with a schedule misunderstanding for the American sprinters who happen to be overall favorites missed the heat with Robert Taylor remaining to carry America's 100m hopes in the face of Valeri Borzov. Howard Cossell speaks in the studio with a heartbroken Reynard Robinson and 1972 trials champion Eddie Hart with all those years of work shattered. Coach Stan Robinson takes responsibility and later talks to Cossell, who knew him for a long time. More devastation comes in the form middle distance fave Jim Ryan crashing into Ghana's Billy Fordjour and tried valiently to finish when he was expected face Kenya's great Kip Keino again in the final. The long wait for a champ there will be 4 more years, and, as it later turned out, way beyond with an Up Close and Personal profile on Ryan preceeding it.   

Social Media Week presents the BBC's overall London 2012 coverage in a good-natured London presentation with the BBC's 2012 director Roger Mosey chairs this social media Olympic panel with help from reigning Olympic gold medallists and world rowing champions Mark Hunter MBE and Zac Purchase MBE on the panel, alongside athlete-turned-broadcaster Gail Emms, and Lewis Wiltshire from BBC Sport as panel discussing how Britain's biggest media project ever broadcast to millions on British TV, radio, online and IPTV and what part will social media play in the BBC's coverage, how would athletes and journalists use social media during the Olympics, and how could the BBC's audience expect to interact with broadcast coverage and the key players from the worlds of sports and entertainment.

 

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  • 5 months later...

Been months since I last was here. Going on a Brazilian mode here. First up is when Brazil's men's volleyball team in the final moments beating The Netherlands for gold in Barcelona at the Palau Sant Jordi and the immediate aftermath as sideline reporter Fátima Bernardes interviews the players and coach José Roberto Guimarães, sparking boisterous celebrations from the Brazilian fans storming the volleyball court. Can't get away with that nowdays. No medal ceremony here though:

A salute to the TV Bandeirantes Olympic professional crew in Seoul back in 1988 at the end of its broadcast to the official song "Hand in Hand" that was commanded by Luciano do Valle with in order of appearance involved in the production, editing and technical aspects: Sílvio Luiz, Osmar de Oliveira, Alexandre Santos, Álvaro José, Juarez Soares, Simone Mello, Elia Jr., Luiz Andreoli, Flávio Prado, Gilson Ribeiro, Marcelo Bianconi, Michel Laurence, Maria do Carmo Fúlfaro, and video camera chief José Carlos Mosca (maybe there's a few others involved like Maria do Carmo, Sílvia Vinhas, Luciana Mariano, and Flávia Comin. If I make mistakes in the ID'ing, please notify me for I'm still learning about Olympci sports with Brazilian coverage:

 

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Starting to get back on the Seoul 1988 British Olympic coverage when the BBC shared it with fellow British channels ITV and, for the only time, Channel 4. The BBC's coverage was on BBC1. Funny how C4 dropped out when it started to create more sports channels that could now, in possibility, capably absorb more and fuller Olympic sports TV coverage along with online. Back then in 1988, ITV would share with Channel 4 for 16 days starting with Channel 4 showing the torch lighting, interestingly not the Opening Ceremony, that Friday night at 11:15pm GMT from the OC--if I recall the BBC had exclusive rights to the Seoul 1988 Opening Ceremony. C4 will come in at night for live coverage starting at 11:15 and then up until what 9:30am? Then ITV takes over during the British daytime with highlights, previews, and reviews. This is the general promo for shared coverage showing on both channels with that 1980s music with the bass guitar and some percussion or syncussion prominently playing:

Same narrarato used on the BBC1 promo for its portion of the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics. Has a touch of the rhtymic gymnastics as it shows a montage of Britain's best in various sports like the men's field hockey team, Linford Christie, Tessa Sanderson, Fatima Whitbread, Steve Cram, Adrian Moorhouse, Nick Gillingham(?), and the like to some 1980s new wave music fused with traditional Korean sounds. The Seoul coverage is also notable to have Sally Jones as the first woman to cover the BBC's portion as an anchor:

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Couple of vintage 1980s Olympic promos from Panamericana Television Channel 5, known as Pan Tel back then. During Los Angeles it had the bulk of the coverage and largely focused on Peru Olympians with plenty of action towards the Peruvian women's volleyball team, easily one of the best out of South America along with Brazil. Yeah, they did show other Olympic sports with strong Peruvian appeal along with the core sports like swimming, track and field, soccer, and gymnastics. This 1984 PanTel promo showed footage not from Olympic sports but not directly Olympics events. Not even from Moscow 1980 that Peru did compete in but had a smaller team than 4 years later. All that footage is interspersed with sports scenes from Sergio Mendes' Olympia music video and the global intro of the computerized LA Memorial Coliseum for these 1984 Summer Olympics. If I recall correctly, PanTel's rival America Television on Channel 4 showed the Opening Ceremony back then:

PanTel's Seoul 1988 promo is heavy on the Los Angeles 1984 footage of various sports with Seoul venues aerial footage along with non-Olympic competitions like Euro track meets. Not to mention the appearance of several sponsors like Coca-Cola, Banco De Credito Del Peru, and Winter's promoting this that's like a first for its coverage. Also it uses Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's music:  

 

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Now getting some further info regarding the Seven Network's truncated Moscow 1980 Olympic TV coverage that it paid A$1 million to get and was nearly derailed when Australia's government under PM Malcolm Fraser threatened to boycott taken from the Big Footy boards by posters. Much of it at least is true. If some details aren't, feel free to correct me.

Bruce McAvaney was a young Adelaide host, though I didn't see his name as part of the commentary team on the YouTube videos. He would come on at 8:30pm AEST and proceed to present 6-8 hours as an anchor when the Moscow studios coverage with Ron Casey, Sandy Roberts, and Gary Wilkinson was done for the day and thus handed over to the different states' Channel 7s in the state capitals. Ron Casey, 7's Melbourne GM and sports host, had issues with pronouncing the Eastern European athletes' names and making other terrible mistakes that carried over from the political pressure, which was a shame because of his immense experience. He played an important part in crucial meetings in whether Australia was going to go or join the US-led boycott and would Seven cover it. Then-PM Malcolm Fraser got bitter when Australia's boycott didn't materialize. Sandy Roberts just moved from Adelaide to Melbourne as a rising star and managed to be on location in Moscow during the Olympic Games in those trademark burgundy blazers. He eventually did some studio hosting and took over the hosting duties a bit because Casey was so bad. 

Coverage of course truncated because of the boycott threat. It would've went somewhere between 150-170 hours were it not for that, I think. And surely Australia would be involved in several more sports like field hockey and equestrian with more hours on TV. Much of the material, save for anything Australia was competing in at the moment and the big stuff like both ceremonies, swimming, track and field, gymnastics, and cycling, was obviously taped. Several major sponsors that were originally onboard dropped out from the broadcast. Even just as interesting was that Seven wasn't actually a national network at the time. Just a collection of brother stations led by big east coast Sydney and Melbourne ones dominating that was fraught with some division. Sydney's 7 was pro-boycott. Melbourne's wanted to go to Moscow. Of course, Melbourne got its way. And Seven, consequentially with all this going on, sent a smaller staff than originally planned bound for Moscow.

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I have decided to share information I have collected on US TV broadcasts of the Olympics.  Here is some information on CBS's coverage of the 1960 Squaw Valley Games:

VIIIth OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
SQUAW VALLEY 1960
ABC (withdrew)
CBS
Rights Fee: $50,000
Production Costs: $450,000
15 Hours
Executive Producer: Sig Mickelson
Director of Operations: Gilbert P. Wyland
Host: Walter Cronkite
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Walter Cronkite
Reporters:
    Chris Schenkel (skiing, ski jumping)
    Bud Palmer (Ice Hockey)
    Dick Button (figure skating)
Analysts:
    Andrea Mead Lawrence (skiing)
    Giancarlo Rossini (skiing)
    Art Devlin (ski jumping)
Features:
    Harry Reasoner
Thursday, February 18      -- 7:30 PM - 8:00 PM (All times ET)
                                          Opening Ceremony
Friday, February 19           -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                          Skiing - Men’s Downhill
Saturday, February 20       -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
                                          Skiing - Women’s Downhill
                                           -- 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
                                          Skiing - Women’s Downhill
                                          Speed Skating - Women’s 500m
                                          Figure Skating - Pairs Competition
Sunday, February 21         -- 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
                                           Skiing - Men’s Giant Slalom
                                           Ski Jumping - 60m
Monday, February 22         -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                           Speed Skating - Women’s 1000m
Tuesday, February 23        -- 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
                                           Figure Skating - Women’s Free Program
                                           -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                           Highlights
Wednesday, February 24  -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                           Speed Skating - Men’s 500m
Thursday, February 25      -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                          Figure Skating - Men’s Compulsory Program
Friday, February 26           -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
                                          Figure Skating - Men’s Free Program
                                          -- 12:00 AM - 12:15 AM
                                          Highlights
Saturday, February 27      -- 4:30 PM - 7:00 PM
                                          Ice Hockey - USA vs. USSR
Sunday, February 28        -- 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
                                         Ice Hockey - USA vs. Czechoslovakia
                                         Ski Jumping - 90m
                                         Review of Games
                                         Closing Ceremony
 
The Thrill of Victory... by Burt Randolph Sugar
    "TV ‘found’ the Olympics when CBS News paid $50,000 for the rights to televise the 1960 Winter Olympics from Squaw Valley, California...anchored by Walter Cronkite.  Suddenly the American Ice Hockey team, skaters David Jenkins and Carol Heiss...were seen by more people than had witnessed the...previous games combined.  They were instant stars and television had an ideal quadrennial program."
 
The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV 
internet article by Joseph Gallant (notquite@hotmail.com)
    "On February 18th, 1960, the 8th Olympic Winter Games opened in Squaw Valley, California, the first Olympics to be held in North America since 1932. In addition to some 1,000 athletes and several thousands spectators, the opening ceremonies were watched by several CBS television cameras, marking the beginning of television coverage of the Olympic Games on American Television.
    "The anchorman for these first televised Olympics was Walter Cronkite, and several CBS sports reporters did play-by-play of various events and a handful of CBS newsmen were dispatched to Squaw Valley to interview medal-winners and dignitaries.
    "Considering how extensive television coverage of the Olympics has become, and how much broadcast rights fees nowadays go for, it may surprise many that CBS paid just $50,000 for broadcast rights to Squaw Valley (and spent another $450,000 for production) and that the network broadcast just fifteen hours of coverage.
    "Despite the favorable time difference, not much of the coverage was live. For one thing, on most weeknights, CBS had just a half-hour in prime-time (sometimes an hour) and another 15 minutes at 11:15 P.M. (Eastern and Pacific times). Thus, most of what was seen were edited highlights, making use of the then-newly-developed art of videotape editing.
    "CBS, however, did air live a handful of events, most notably some figure skating, and the final two games of the ice hockey tournament--the U.S. against the Soviet Union, and the U.S. against Czechoslovakia. The U.S. hockey team, who had lost the gold-medal game to the Russians four years earlier at Cortina, Italy, were not expected to medal at Squaw Valley. But after winning two games against weak opposition, Team U.S.A. stunned Canada, and then, on the second-to-last day of the Olympics, upset the Russians. The next morning, the final day of the Squaw Valley Games, the U.S. came back from a 4-3 deficit after two periods to score six straight goals in the final period
to cement a 9-4 win and the gold medal--America's FIRST "Miracle On Ice.""
 
Carrying the Torch... by CBS Television Network (This is a rare promotional booklet printed by CBS to promote its Rome Games coverage.)
    "...the CBS Television Network performed during its exclusive coverage of the Eighth Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California, during the closing days of February.
    "Each day for weeks in advance a 61-man team of CBS Television Network technicians and cameramen, operating on skis and snowshoes, worked from dawn to dusk burying 30,000 feet of cable under a blanket of snow covering two-square miles, establishing camera locations along the sheer slopes of the surrounding mountains, and moving the cameras into position by ski-lift and snow tractor.  (Only by establishing such positions was it possible for the viewer to keep the skiers constantly in view.)
    "Nor was there any way of knowing ahead of time whether or not a blizzard would sweep over the landscape at the last minute, damaging hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and making a shambles of the entire venture.
    "It is more than a mere figure of speech to suggest that the task of bringing the events of Squaw Valley into millions of homes, thousands of miles distant from the scene of the events, required of television the kind of faith that can move mountains.
    "From the point of view of the medium’s importance to the economy, the Olympic broadcasts earned for their sponsor, the well-known French automobile company Renault, Inc., the interest and respect of a cast segment of the American people.  During the average minute that the 14 broadcasts were on the air, they absorbed the undivided attention of some 20 million viewers. More people watched these broadcasts than the combined viewers of all the other programs on the air at the same time.
    "The Eighth Olympic Winter Games closed on Sunday, February 28.  On the following Saturday, the network presented an hour-long broadcast reviewing the highlights of the games under the sponsorship of four well-known advertisers, The American Oil Company, Carter Products, Hill’s Bros., and the P. Lorillard Co.
    "Altogether the network’s cameras ground out 45 hours of "live", taped, and filmed action from which emerged the 15 hours of programming that were seen on the air.  In two instances the official Olympic judges viewed a videotape of the contests to determine whether to allow claims of foul.  In each case the claim was disallowed."
 
The Real McKay by Jim McKay
    "It was the worst possible timing, because right at this point, CBS asked me to work on the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, the first ever to be televised in this country.  It would be a great event, with Walter Cronkite as host.  I would do commentary on ski racing, one of the biggest events in the Games.
    "Two days later, on a Sunday morning at home, I showed Margaret my hands.  They were shaking and I didn’t know why.  Margaret called a neighborhood doctor, who assured me that I was just burned out, that a couple of weeks in Florida and some new tranquilizing pills he would give me would get me straightened out in no time.
    "The advice almost ended my career.  Margaret booked us a room in the famous Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach (where she scrounged the money from I still don’t know), and we left by train.  (My problem had also made me terrified of flying.)  The very thought of riding in a ski lift or walking down a mountainside made me feel dizzy.  So we told CBS that I had pneumonia and couldn’t go to the Olympics.
    "I thought I had missed my biggest opportunity.
    "I had depression, all right, which was made worse by my having to watch Chris Schenkel do the ski racing, which would have been my assignment.  (I couldn’t have known that Chris and I would go on to do several Olympics together at ABC, which, in 1960, hardly had a sports department worthy of the name.)"
 
Here is good clip of how CBS coverage looked and sounded:

 

Tune in tomorrow for CBS coverage of the Rome 1960 Summer Games!

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Here is CBS coverage of Rome 1960:

GAMES OF THE XVIIth OLYMPIAD
ROME, 1960
CBS
Rights Fee: $394,000
Production Costs: $266,000
20 Hours
Executive Producer: Sig Mickelson
Studio Producer:
    ? (Week 1)
    Bob Allison (Week 2)
Host: Jim McKay
Reporters:
    Bud Palmer
    Dick Kirschner
    Gil Stratton
    Bob Richards
Friday, August 26         -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM (All Times ET)
    Opening Ceremony
    Boxing
Saturday, August 27     -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    Boxing
    Swimming - Women
    Diving
    Soccer
                                     -- 11:30 PM - 12:30 AM
    Highlights
Sunday, August 28       -- 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
    Swimming - Men
    Swimming - Women
    Water Polo
    Cycling
                                      -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
    Diving - Men
    Diving - Women
    Track & Field  - Men’s 4x100m Relay
Monday, August 29       -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Swimming - Men
    Swimming - Women
    Cycling
    Boxing
Tuesday, August 30      -- 8:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    Basketball
    Boxing
    Gymnastics - Women
    Diving
    Cycling
                                      -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
    Swimming - Men
    Swimming - Women
Wednesday, August 31  -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
    Fencing - Men
    Swimming - Men
    Swimming - Women
    Diving
    Boxing
Thursday, September 1   -- 7:30 PM - 8:00 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
                                         -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Water Polo
    Greco-Roman Wrestling
    Boxing
    Swimming - Men
Friday, September 2        -- 8:30 PM - 9:00 PM
    Boxing
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
    Basketball
                                         -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Swimming - Women
Saturday, September 3   -- 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
    Track & Field - Road Walk
    Boxing
    Basketball
    Fencing
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
    Diving
    Water Polo
                                       -- 8: 30 PM - 9:00 PM
    Basketball
    Boxing
    Water Polo
    Swimming - Men
    ? - Women’s Relay
                                       -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Water Polo
Sunday, September 4     -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    Rowing
    Basketball
    Boxing
    Track & Field - Men
    Fencing - Women
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
Monday, September 5     -- 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Basketball
    Boxing
    Track & Field - Women
    Swimming - Women
                                         -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Swimming - Men
    Water Polo
Tuesday, September 6    -- 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM
    Fencing - Men
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Boxing
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
Wednesday, September 7  -- 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    Fencing - Men
    Freestyle Wrestling
    Track & Field
    Gymnastics
                                          -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Soccer
    Field Hockey
    Freestyle Wrestling
    Weightlifting
Thursday, September 8   -- 8:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    Track & Field - Men’s Discus Final
    Track & Field - Men’s Pole Vault Final
    Track & Field - Women’s 800m Final
    Equestrian
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Equestrian
    Weightlifting
    Gymnastics
    Basketball - Quarterfinals
Friday, September 9       -- 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM
    Track & Field - Men
    Track & Field - Women
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Gymnastics
    Weightlifting
    Basketball - Quarterfinals
    Fencing - Sabre
Saturday, September 10 -- 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
    Gymnastics
    Fencing
    Field Hockey
    Weightlifting
    Equestrian
                                        -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    Basketball - Semifinals
    Gymnastics
    Soccer
                                        -- 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM
    Gymnastics
    Field Hockey
    Basketball - Semifinals
    Equestrian
Sunday, September 11   -- 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
    Fencing - Sabre
    Equestrian
    Shooting - Rifle
    Weightlifting
    Gymnastics
    Basketball - Final
Monday, September 12  -- 7:30 PM - 8:00 PM
    Equestrian
    Marathon - Finish
    Review of Games
    Closing Ceremony
 
The Thrill of Victory... by Burt Randolph Sugar
    "TV ‘found’ the Olympics when CBS News paid...$660,000 for the rights plus some production ‘gimmies’ to the Summer Olympics from Rome... Suddenly...boxers Cassius Clay and Nino Benvenuti, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, distance runners Peter Snell, Herb Elliot, and Abebe Bikila, and swimmers Murray Rose and Dawn Fraser were seen by more people than had witnessed the previous twenty games combined.  They were instant stars and television had an idealquadrennial program."
 
The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV
internet article by Joseph Gallant (notquite@hotmail.com)
    "CBS also had the Summer Games from Rome. As there were no communications satellites yet, tape was shot, edited, and quickly flown across the Atlantic to what was then Idlewild Airport in New York where they would be put on a videotape deck in a mobile unit connected to the CBS network, allowing most events to be broadcast the same day they occurred.
    "A youthful Jim McKay, who divided his time between the sports department and narrating a daytime court-drama called The Verdict Is Yours hosted the Rome telecasts--but from the New York studio. McKay did a superb job with the Summer Games, but his contract with CBS would lapse in early 1961."
 
The Real McKay by Jim McKay
    "And then, one early June afternoon in 1960, I had a most unexpected phone call from Bill MacPhail, head of CBS Sports.  ‘How would you like to be the studio host for the Rome Olympics?’ he asked.  It was a bolt from the blue, just the providential boost that I needed at that moment.  Naturally, I jumped at the offer.  When I told Margaret, it was her turn to cry.
    "The logistics for televising an Olympics were different in those days. A team of on-scene commentators was in Rome.  They described the events, which were recorded on videotape, then flown to New York, where they were edited and put on the air.
    "I sat in an eerily lit studio located in a loft atop Grand Central Station in New York, in front of a spooky-looking urn with a flame leaping from it.  The studio looked more like a funeral parlor than an Olympics anchor position.
    "I was excited about the job, but from the beginning things were badly organized.  The tapes arrived from Rome erratically, sometimes with commentary, sometimes without even a guide script for me to use as I ad-libbed my way through the events.  Sometimes the tapes were frozen from their long trip in a cold cargo hold, and the producer and I would have to hold them against our bodies to warm them enough to be edited.  We had no format.  The whole first night’s show was a journey through chaos.  I began to wonder if my ‘big break’ might have been the worst thing that could have happened to me.
    "The show aired at eight in the evening, but in the daytime I went out to the airport to interview returning medal winners.  I remember standing at the door of a plane as a young boxer, who had just won the gold medal in the light heavyweight class, emerged.  He was friendly, with a sweet smile on his face, but seemed somewhat shy.  His name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali.
    "The entire first week of the Olympic telecasts was a disaster, visually and production-wise.  At that point, a high-level meeting was held, at which the sports executive responsible for the New York end of the telecast was put on the griddle.  He blamed the problems on me.  Fortunately, a friend of mine was also at the meeting.  He defended me and had Bob Allison, a news department producer, assigned to the show to pull things together.  If my friend hadn’t been there, I probably would have been fired. Allison and I got along just fine.  At our first meeting, he asked me what he could do to help me.  ‘Give me a format,’ I said.  He immediately doused the dismal studio flame, handed me a tight format for each evening’s program, and made a few other changes; the show improved and all turned out well."
 
Here is a clip from CBS' coverage of the Rome Games:

Tune in next time for ABC coverage of Innsbruck 1964!

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Thanks so much for the CBS Squaw Valley/Rome Olympic broadcasting info Panamfan! :D I have to wonder where did you get the CBS schedules and further info on the personnel and times for both? There certainly not present on Wikipedia's entries on the Olympics on CBS. Surely there Are likely some vintage TV Guides from that time that you discovered to help you on this, because I can't find them online. Or maybe I haven't looked hard enough. Interestingly to have some sports highlights crammed into such small time frames.

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And this is the clip of CBS' coverage of that all-important 1960 Squaw Valley hockey match between the USA, the original Miracle On Ice team, and the Soviet Union on February 27, 1960 with Bud Palmer doing play-by-play. At least the first part. With 10,000 in attendance here with SRO. Like that far more famous squad 20 years later that had the late Herb Brooks as coach (he was incidentally the last player cut from this 1960 team), it featured a ragtag team full of college kids cheered on by a hometown crowd to golden glory with a medal-level round robin and not single elimination. What's interesting now in retrospect is that CBS here treated the Olympics like a news event (which it was, obviously, with sports headlines around the world in a special way) as much as like a sports event; it's a major reason why Walter Cronkite was the anchor for CBS's coverage with Chris Schenkel and his familiar voice (coming in here with the ski jumping) and event experts joining in. Douglas Edwards filled in for Uncle Walter on the Sunday night late news, which Cronkite helmed until taking over for Edwards on the weekday evening news. You notice some sunlight beaming into the rink with the hanging Olympic rings shadowing in at the Blyth Arena (Hate to be a nitpick here. Why couldn't Schenkel say the Soviets and not Russians to be geopolitically correct? Not every player on this team is Russian though all but one is out of respect for Aleksandr Almetov, who was from Kiev, Ukraine. And the Soviet Union wasn't just Russia but 13 other Soviet republics at the time:

 

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Thanks for the kind words, and the clip of the 1960 Hockey Game, Durban Sandshark! One of my prized videos is a DVD copy of the complete US/USSR game at Squaw Valley as broadcast on CBS that I traded for with a collector several years ago. I wish I did have access to the old TV Guides.  The lists of broadcast times and scheduled events above I have compiled from the daily TV listings in the New York Times as well as my hometown newspaper.  I also have a copy of the CBS promotional booklet mentioned above, that I found for sale online, that contains a wealth of information on their Squaw Valley coverage - including a number of rare photographs.  I have always been fascinated with how TV covers the Olympics, ever since watching Jim McKay on ABC as a young boy, and its been a sort of hobby of mine to compile this information over the years.  It is amazing, especially with today's wall-to-wall coverage) how short many of the broadcasts were in 1960 and 1964 - as little as 15 minutes! 

Now, while I am here, Here is ABC's coverage of Innsbruck 1964:

IXth Olympic Winter Games
Innsbruck 1964
ABC
Rights Fee: $597,000
17 1/4 Hours
Executive Producer: Roone Arledge
Host: Jim McKay
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Jim McKay
Reporters:
    Jim McKay
    Curt Gowdy
    Jim Simpson
Commentators:
    Carol Heiss (Figure Skating)
    Andrea Mead Lawrence (Alpine Skiing)
    Bob Beattie (Alpine Skiing)
    Wally Schaeffler (Alpine Skiing)
    Art Devlin (Ski Jumping)
    Stan Benham (Bobsledding)
    Robert Riger
Wednesday, January 29   -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    "Opening Ceremonies" with a description of the scene by Jim McKay, Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson. First of 13 consecutive programs.
Thursday, January 30       -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Tentatively scheduled are Pairs Figure Skating and Ladies 500m Speedskating events.
Friday, January 31            -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Tentative events are: Men’s Downhill Skiing, Men’s 30 Kilometer Cross Country Ski, and Ice Hockey.
Saturday, February 1        -- 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
    Tentative events are: Special Ski Jump, 2-Man Bobsled, Ladies Figure Skating.
Sunday, February 2          -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Ladies Slalom, 2-man bobsled finals, ladies cross country events tentatively scheduled.
Monday, February 3         -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Tentative events are Men’s Giant Slalom; Ladies Figure Skating.
Tuesday, February 4        -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    Tentative events are Ladies Giant Slalom; Combined Ski Jump, and the Toboggan Finals.
Wednesday, February 5   -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Tentatively scheduled events are Ice Hockey, Biathlon, Men’s Speedskating, Men’s Figure Skating.
Thursday, February 6       -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    Tentatively scheduled events are 2-man Toboggan Finals, Ice Hockey, 4-man Bobsled.
Friday, February 7            -- 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM
    Tentatively scheduled events are Ladies Downhill Skiing and 4-man Bobsled.
Saturday, February 8       -- 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
    Tentative Schedule - Men’s Figure Skating. 4-Man Bobsled Finals, Ice Hockey.
                                        -- 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
    Men’s Figure Skating, tentative.
Sunday, February 9        -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Men’s Slalom; Ice Hockey; Men’s Cross-Country Relay.
                                        -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    "Special Ski Jump".
Monday, February 10      -- 11:15 PM - 11:45 PM
    Closing Ceremonies described.
 
The Thrill of Victory by Bert Randolph Sugar
    "...ABC [paid] $200,000 for the Winter Games in Innsbruck.  Although new to the Olympics, ABC was no stranger to the coverage of sports like skiing, bobsledding, figured skating, speed skating, and ski jumping, having telecast all these events during their first three years of "Wide World."  In fact, they had mastered their artistry by going to the continent no less than nineteen times: three of those times being the World Two-Man and Four-Man Bobsled Championships in Innsbruck the previous year and the International Ski Jumping Championships earlier that year.  They were ready.  Roone Arledge felt that "from a television standpoint the Winter Olympics from Innsbruck
gave us the opportunity to utilize the techniques we have developed on ‘Wide World of Sports’ during the previous three years and put them all into effect at one time."
    "But there was a basic difference between the Squaw Valley games and the Innsbruck games.  While the Squaw Valley games had been telecast live, the six-hour plus time difference between New York and Innsbruck plus the still-experimental state of the circling satellite necessitated ABC airing their Olympic coverage on a delayed tape basis.  "There’s just no comparison in the built-in excitement and tension of an event that is live, no matter who wins, because you don’t know what’s going to happen," Arledge said.  "If the results are known, as they were in most all of our telecasts from Innsbruck, then showmanship and creative ability is much more important than it is in
a live show."
    "The logistical challenge as well as the creative challenge was very exciting." Arledge later noted.  "Challenging" hell! "Ball-breaking" better lends itself to describing how ABC was able to air thirteen programs, many on the same evening they occurred in Innsbruck.  With a logistical battle plan that could have gotten Phineas Fogg around the world in eighty minutes, they made the impossible possible.  Figuring the time difference down to the microsecond, they could complete the editing of a day’s taping by four in the morning in Innsbruck--doing in one day what had usually taken a week for a "Wide World" show--and have it in New York in finished program form that night.  Their preparations included having the edited master driven to Munich, where a dub was played back on the air to Frankfort and put on a plane from Frankfort to New York.  The master was then put on Pan Am’s "Around-the-World" flight which left at 9:00 A.M. Munich time, 3:00 A.M. New York time. After stopping over in London, it arrived in New York at 1:00 P.M. EST.  That gave New York six hours until the scheduled 7:00 PM air time, the first prime time telecast of an Olympics in history.  Also calculating the accuracy of Murphy’s Law, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong," they had set up emergency plans in case the Munich flight was delayed.  In which case either the dub from Frankfort was to be used or a mobile unit standing by at Kennedy Airport would air the tape directly, rather than entrusting it to a courier to wage battle with New York City’s unforgiving rush hour traffic.
    "ABC also had the potential use of something that would revolutionize all of television, just as videotape had done six years earlier--the communications satellite.  They made a complete schedule of its passes, usually thirty to forty a day, ranging from twelve to fifty minutes at a time.  They worked out the infinite possibilities fed to them by NASA via ABC News in New York and were prepared to use it if the United States won any gold medals.  But instead of the average of three captured by American athletes since the start of the Winter Olympics, including the three at Squaw Valley, the United States won only one, that by 500-meter speed skater Terry McDermott--and ABC was able to accommodate his award ceremony without the use of the satellite.  However, they did use it to transmit fifteen minutes of the opening ceremony as Jim McKay described the four hundred athletes representing thirty-eight countries parading through the huge 50,000 seat stadium in the Bergisel mountains.  As the signal beamed his opening remarks  from Bergisel Stadium to Bethesda split-levels and Billings singles bars, ABC began its milestone Olympic coverage."
 
The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV internet article by Joseph Gallant (notquite@hotmail.com)
    "On January 29th, 1964, ABC began its first Olympics, the opening day of the Innsbruck games. Although there was a satellite by this time, it was not in a stationary orbit, so very little of ABC's Innsbruck coverage would be sent by satellite. Instead, as CBS did in Rome four years earlier, tape was shot, edited, and flown across the Atlantic to New York. Still, with most Winter Olympic events occurring during the morning hours, nearly everything was broadcast the same day it occurred. Critics noted that ABC's coverage in Innsbruck was vastly superior to what CBS had done just four years before."
 
The Real McKay by Jim McKay
    "The bidding process for the 1964 Winter Games was a remarkably informal one compared with the complicated, formalized procedures of today.
    "Roone Arledge and Chet Simmons, then the two top executives of ABC Sports, flew into Munich, where they rented a limousine to take them to Innsbruck and across the Austrian border in the Tyrol, just a few miles from the Brenner Pass leading to northern Italy.  The driver happened to be a young man named Kurt Fuchs. He spoke his own brand of English, learned entirely by listening to U.S. Armed Forces Radio and by chauffeuring American tourists.
    "Upon arrival in Innsbruck, Arledge and Simmons had their first informal meeting with Herr Professor Wolfgang, chairman of the Innsbruck Olympic Organizing Committee. Professor Wolfgang said that no interpreter would be needed, since he spoke perfect English. It sounded a bit less than perfect to the Americans, but they went ahead, discussing some rather complicated aspects of the proposed coverage. Wolfgang kept nodding assent.
    "In time he looked at this watch and halted the proceedings.
    "'Well, gentlemen,' he said, 'It is interesting what you say, but my clock tells me that I must go now. So I bid you hello.'
    "Hello?
    "Obviously, an interpreter would be needed for the next meeting. But who? The only person available was at the wheel of the limousine. And so Kurt Fuchs became the interpreter for the rights acquisition of the 1964 Winter Games.
    "Our coverage of the Games themselves was a far different and more primitive process than is allowed by today's space-age technology. The telecasts would be almost entirely on tape, although two short segments would be sent live through the new marvel, a communications satellite. The satellite of those days whirled around the planet Earth at a mind-boggling speed, rather than being anchored at one spot in space. This meant that it was available for use at any given spot on Earth for about a three-minute window as it passed overhead. So we only sent a very short portion of the opening ceremony and another brief segment on the last day live to the U.S.
    "The heart of our operation, though, was a battery of videotape machines. The Austrians assigned the machines space in the basement of the brand-new ice arena, a cold, damp, and depressing area. More important than the ambience was the fact that fresh cement dust kept drifting down and settling into the tape machines. As the operators recorded the events, they had to keep blowing their breath into the whirling cylinders to keep the cement dust from clogging them up.
    "Our method of getting the tapes back to the U.S. was also rather primitive and uncertain.
    "Each night at something like 3:00 A.M., a recently retired U.S. air force colonel, Jim McNu, loaded the show into the trunk of his rental car and began a lonely drive over the mountains and through the snowstorms to the Munich airport. He had to make it in time to put the tapes on Pan Am flight 101 to New York. One flat tire or one impassable snowstorm and we would have been out of business for the day."
 
Here is the first few minutes of an ABC special previewing the 1964 Innsbruck Games, hosted by Jim McKay - whose jacket has the ABC Innsbruck 1964 logo patch on it.

 

Tune in next time for NBC coverage of Tokyo 1964!

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Speaking of CBS and Squaw Valley the audio portion of the entire 30 minute CBS broadcast of the opening ceremony was released on a souvenir record album.  Click on the following link and you will find a Disney related page about the album.  Click on the "open Mp3 player" button on the page and you can listed to the complete recording!

http://mountainearsorg.ipage.com/wm2/index.php/disney-related-records/item/84-viii-olympic-winter-games

Among the voices heard are Walter Cronkite (host), Art Linklater, Walt Disney, Bud Palmer, Lowell Thomas, Bill Henry, Avery Brundage, Richard Nixon, Karl Malden, and Carol Heiss. Also of note is that you will hear the first ever performance of the original Olympic Hymn first composed for the 1896 Games. Notice that the arrangement is completely different than the one we are used to.  The current arrangement was first used at Rome that summer.  Note, too, Karl Malden's appearance to recite an Olympic Prayer.  This was a sneaky "product placement" by Walt Disney - Malden was a cast member of the soon to be released Walt Disney picture, Pollyanna, where he portrayed.......a minister! (Surprise!) This was a wonderfully produced ceremony and is well worth listening to.

Enjoy!

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Here is NBC's coverage of the Tokyo 1964 Games.  
 
GAMES OF THE XVIIIth OLYMPIAD
Tokyo 1964
NBC
Rights Fee: $1,500,000
Hours: 15 1/2
Producer: Dick Auerbach
Host: Bill Henry
Opening Ceremonies: Tom Harmon
Reporters:
      Bill Henry
      Bud Palmer (Athletics)
      Jim Simpson
      Tom Harmon
      Curt Gowdy
Analysts:
      Dick Bank (Athletics)
      Bob Richards (Athletics)
      Murray Rose
      Rafer Johnson
Saturday, October 10      -- 1:00 AM - 3:00 AM (Telecast in color) (All times ET)
                                        Opening Ceremonies via the new Syncom satellite.
Sunday, October 11        -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
                                        Review of opening ceremonies; men’s 100m freestyle heats in swimming; women’s springboard diving eliminations.
Monday, October 12       -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Swimming and diving.
Tuesday, October 13      -- 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
                                        Track and field preview; rowing semi-finals; featherweight finals in weightlifting; and yachting.
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Swimming.
Wednesday, October 14 -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Track and field; swimming
Thursday, October 15     -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
                                        Track and field: finals of women‘s long jump and men‘s 100m dash; rowing: eight-oar final and  summary; swimming: final of women’s 100m 
                                        backstroke; and finals of men’s springboard diving.
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Swimming; track and field.
Friday, October 16          -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Track and field; swimming: women‘s 100m butterfly stroke.
Saturday, October 17      -- 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
                                        Track and field: finals of women‘s 400m run, men‘s 200m dash, and men‘s shotput; swimming: finals of men‘s 400m medley relay; summary of
                                        week’s highlights including: women’s high diving, volleyball, shooting, rowing, wrestling, boxing, basketball, weighlifting, and track and field.
Sunday, October 18        -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
                                        Track: finals of men‘s 110m hurdles and 5000m run; swimming: men’s 1500m freestyle, 200m   butterfly, and women’s 400m freestyle;
                                        and men’s high diving.
Monday, October 19       -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Decathlon and other track events; equestrian cross-country.
Tuesday, October 20      -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
                                        Decathlon summary; gymnastics: women‘s compulsory and men‘s voluntary exercises; fencing;  judo; greco-roman wrestling.
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Women’s track and field; basketball.
Wednesday, October 21 -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Men’s track.
Thursday, October 22     -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Boxing; equestrian grand prix dressage; cycling.
Friday, October 23          -- 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
                                        Track and field: marathon and finals of high jump; finals of water polo, football, canoeing, and    yachting.
                                        -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
                                        Gymnastics.
Saturday, October 24      -- 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (Closing ceremonies telecast in color)
                                        Final game of basketball; boxing finals; equestrian grand prix jumping; closing ceremonies; summary of week’s highlights with emphasis on track
                                        and field, swimming, and diving.
Sunday, October 25        -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
                                        Review of the outstanding individual performances over the two weeks; interviews with athletes  and coaches; analysis of final team standings;
                                        preview look at Mexico City as site of 1968 Olympic  Games.
 
The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV internet article by Joseph Gallant (notquite@hotmail.com)
   "By the time the 1964 Summer Olympics began, there was a stationary-orbit satellite over the Pacific, allowing NBC to--between 1 and 3 A.M. Eastern Time--carry the opening ceremonies live and in color. However, very little of the remaining coverage was either live or in color, but the satellite made it possible for NBC to feed its average of 45 minutes a day to the U.S. as it was being shown in the Eastern Time Zone."
 
San Diego Times August 10, 2012
TV COLUMN: Bank's call made Mills' upset even more memorable
JOHN MAFFEI jmaffei@nctimes.com
   His call was one of the most memorable in Summer Olympic history.
   His reward was a pink slip.
   Dick Bank was NBC's track analyst for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and his call of Billy Mills' victory in the 10,000 meters ---- a race I deemed the best Summer Olympics moment ---- added to the drama. Working with lead announcer Bud Palmer, Bank saw Mills charging hard down the stretch on the outside, recognized the American runner and starting yelling "Look at Mills! Look at Mills!" Banks' call only added to the drama of the race. But NBC's Dick Auerbach disagreed. A day after the race, Bank was called to Auerbach's Toyko hotel and fired. "Bud Palmer was a good friend and had a lot to do with me getting the assignment in Tokyo," said Bank, now 83 years old and living in Brentwood. "I wasn't trying to upstage Bud, I was trying to call his attention to Mills. "But Auerbach said I was very unprofessional, and they were turning off my microphone." Bank was working for Adidas at the time, so he still had access to the Olympic media center. "This wasn't my first TV assignment," Bank said. "I worked Wide World of Sports for three years. Later, I covered track all over the world for CBS. "Auerbach never said why he fired me. And NBC refused to pay me for the Olympics. "I had to threaten legal action to get paid. "It's funny. I lost all my tapes, including the Mills call, in a house fire and hadn't seen it for more than 20 years. I don't have a computer or any of that business, but a friend recently called it up on YouTube for me." Bank, a record producer, doesn't hold a grudge against NBC. "I don't agree with everything they do, but I do enjoy NBC's Olympic coverage," Bank said. "Every night at 8, I have to be in front of the TV."
 
Here are two clips from NBC's Tokyo 1964 coverage: First is the now legendary 10,000m call by Bud Palmer and Dick Bank - and the second is the 5000m.

 

Tune in next time for ABC coverage of Grenoble 1968!

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Here is ABC's coverage of the Grenoble 1968 Games:

Xth OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Grenoble 1968
ABC
Rights Fee: $2,500,000
27 Hours
Cameras: 40
Production Crew: 250
Executive Producer: Roone Arledge
Host: Chris Schenkel
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Jim McKay
Reporters:
    Jim McKay (Alpine Skiing)
    Chris Schenkel (Figure Skating)
    Curt Gowdy (Ice Hockey)
    Bill Flemming
Analysts:
    Dick Button (Figure Skating)
    Art Devlin (Ski Jumping)
Sunday, February 4           -- 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
              Preview of the 1968 Winter Olympics (live).
Tuesday, February 6         -- 8:45 AM - 10:30 AM
              Opening ceremonies from Grenoble, France. President de Gaulle, others. (live via satellite).
                                          -- 7:30 PM- 8:30 PM
              Review of opening ceremonies; Ice Hockey (live).
Wednesday, February 7   -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
             Scheduled events include two-man bobsled - 1st and 2nd runs; women’s compulsory figures; men’s downhill - 1st run.
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
             Recap of the day’s highlights.
Thursday, February 8       -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
            Men’s downhill - final run; two-man bobsled - 3rd and 4th runs; women’s compulsory figures, ice hockey.
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
            Recap of the day’s highlights.
Friday, February 9            -- 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM
            Speedskating - Women’s 500m; women’s downhill - 1st run; ice hockey.
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
            Recap of the day’s highlights.
Saturday, February 10      -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
            Women’s free skating (live); ice hockey (live); speedskating - women’s 1500m
                                          -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
            Men’s and women’s luge singles - 3rd run; women’s downhill - final run, 70m ski jumping.
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
            Recap of the day’s highlights.
Sunday, February 11        -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
           One hour special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: Men’s Giant Slalom; Women’s 1000m Speed Skating.
                                          -- 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
           Two hour special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: 70 meter Ski Jump; Luge; Hockey, U.S. vs. Canada, U.S.S.R. vs. West Germany.
                                          -- 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM
           Recap of the day’s highlights, at Grenoble, France.
Monday, February 12        -- 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
           One hour special, from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: Men’s Giant Slalom; Women’s 3000m Speed Skating; Men’s 15 KM Cross-Country Skiing; Hockey, United States vs. West   Germany, Czechoslovakia vs. East Germany, Sweden vs. Finland.
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
           Recap of day’s highlight, at Grenoble, France.
Tuesday, February 13       -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
          One hour special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: Women’s Special Slalom Skiing;   Luge; Women’s 5 KM Cross-Country Skiing; Hockey, U.S.S.R. vs. Sweden, Czechoslovakia vs. Canada.
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
          Recap of today’s highlights, at Grenoble, France.
Wednesday, February 14 -- 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
          Ninety-minute special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: Pairs Figure Skating; 4-man Bobsleds; Men’s Special Slalom Skiing; Men’s 500m Speed Skating; Hockey, East Germany vs. Finland.
                                         -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
          Recap of day’s highlights, at Grenoble, France.
Thursday, February 15    -- 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
          One hour special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: Women’s Giant Slalom; 4-Man  Bobsled; Hockey, United States vs. East Germany, Sweden vs. Canada, U.S.S.R. vs. Czechoslovakia.
                                        -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
          Recap of the day’s events at Grenoble, France.
Friday, February 16         -- 9:30 PM - 11:00 PM
          Ninety-minute special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events are: Men’s Figure Skating; Men’s Special Slalom; Men’s 1500m Speed Skating; Hockey, Finland vs. West Germany.
                                        -- 11:30 PM - 11:45 PM
          Recap of the day’s highlights, at Grenoble, France.
Saturday, February 17    -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
          Two hour special from Grenoble, France. Scheduled events: Hockey, United States vs. Finland; Men’s Special Slalom; Biathlon; Men’s 10,000m Speed Skating. (live)
                                        -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
          One hour special from Grenoble, France. Events scheduled are: Hockey, Canada vs. U.S.S.R., East Germany vs. West Germany, Sweden vs. Czechoslovakia.
Sunday, February 18      -- 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
          Two hour special from Grenoble, France. Closing ceremonies (live); 90m Ski Jump; highlights of the Olympics.
 
The Thrill of Victory: The Inside Story of ABC Sports by Bert Randolph Sugar.
    "In 1968 ABC hit the giant quinella, winning the rights to both the Grenoble, France, Winter Games and the Mexico City Summer Games, but not without some spirited bidding against NBC.  NBC has always been proud of its escutcheon, "The leader in live sports TV."  The self-serving motto was one that they appropriated partly because of their historical presentation of several sports exclusives, including the World Series every year since 1947, the Super Bowl on an alternate basis with CBS, and the Rose and Orange Bowls since
1948.  And, in part, from the fact that they had carried these events live as opposed to the tape-delayed telecasts of the majority of events on ABC’s "Wide World."  At the final presentations to the Grenoble Olympic Organizing Committee in 1965, the NBC team, in the Peacock multicolored trucks headed by their Vice-President of Sports Carl Lindemann, put on an extravagant "new business" presentation in the best tradition of Busby Berkeley.  With slides, film, flip charts, and narration, they recounted their numerous accomplishments in chapter and verse.
    "ABC followed with their own pitch, concentrating on their critically acclaimed coverage of the 1964 Winter Games and their globe-trotting experience with "Wide World," particularly their telecast of four events from France, including the World Skiing Championships from Chamonix, the site of the very first Winter Games in 1924.
    "Their presentation, plus a bid of $2 million, won the day and the television rights to the 1968 Winter Games.  After accepting the Organizing Committee’s decision to award the upcoming games to ABC, Arledge felt a tug at his sleeve.  It was the chairman of the Grenoble Organizing Committee.  "I want to offer my congratulations and please could you also help me?  I want to know why NBC kept talking of their ‘Bowel Games.’  It was in very questionable taste."
    "To the six sports and thirty-five events at Grenoble, a small city in southeast France was added yet another--television.  And the biggest team at the X Winter Games was ABC’s, with over 250 engineering and production personnel on hand to telecast the games.  Theirs was an Olympian effort, worthy of the games themselves.  In order to lay a forty-mile web of cables throughout the mountains and slopes that surrounded Grenoble, they moved their fifty tons of equipment by hand, helicopter, and heavy snowmobiles with the help of a detachment from the French Army to postions along the treacherous terrain and precipices,
    "The cameramen, technicians, and engineers--as opposed to the "production" people--are by and large as fearless as any group of counterespionage agents in the world.  They hang from scaffolding and cranes high above the earth, position themselves in front of action that no sane man would, and generally rank as second only to stuntmen in assumption of risks.  But the inevitable happened at Grenoble.  As the crew was setting up its web of cables, skittering around the mountains like snowy spiders, one of the engineers, who was up on the mountainside connecting the points on the cables to see if the cameras "fired," literally froze in his tracks.  The crew at a particular cross connect point up on the downhill slope hadn’t finished until late in the day.  By that time the ski lift had ceased operating, so the rest of the crew took off their heavy, weatherproofed, blue ABC jackets, made them into
sleds, and came down the icy "Piste" on their rumps.  The hill was no longer just snow covered, but a sheet of ice, watered down by the soldiers.  But no amount of talking could get this one engineer to take off his jacket and slide down the hill.  He was petrified.  And no amount of persuasion on the walkie-talkies could budge him either.  Finally, two French troopers on skis walked up the hill and walked him down, step by step.  One more of the hazards of being an engineer at the Olympics.
    "The twenty-seven hour television feast served up by Arledge’s army included course after course:  beauty shots of gold medalist Peggy Fleming, dramatic shots of three-time gold medal winner Jean-Claude Killy, slo-mo shots of American skiing hope Billy Kidd falling skis-over-teakettle down the 2-mile Casserousse run, breathtaking shots of skiers coming down the 1 1/2 mile downhill course at 70 miles-per-hour, and the fearsome shots of a Canadian bobsledder being dragged along the bobsled course after a spill on one of the
turns.  The old Arledge touch of placing the microphones in the place best calculated to bring the event into the living room had miles imbedded everywhere.  They were very near the edge of the 90-meter ski jump so that each airborne skiier’s frightening "huuuh" could be heard at the precise second of takeoff.  A second microphone, near the landing spot, caught their deep inhalation, "ooomph," as they landed.  And a third, at the bottom of the run, the "sssssss-s" of their skis as they skidded to a final stop.  It was all great theater, great entertainment."
 
Tune in next time for ABC coverage of Mexico City 1968!
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11 hours ago, panamfan said:

The old Arledge touch of placing the microphones in the place best calculated to bring the event into the living room had miles imbedded everywhere.  They were very near the edge of the 90-meter ski jump so that each airborne skiier’s frightening "huuuh" could be heard at the precise second of takeoff.  A second microphone, near the landing spot, caught their deep inhalation, "ooomph," as they landed.  And a third, at the bottom of the run, the "sssssss-s" of their skis as they skidded to a final stop.

Either that, or they had a really good Foley artist.

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Here is ABC's coverage of the Mexico City 1968 Games:

GAMES OF THE XIXth OLYMPIAD
Mexico City 1968
ABC
Rights Fee: $4,500,000
Hours: 43 3/4
Cameras: 50
Production Crew: 450
Executive Producer: Roone Arledge
Host: Chris Schenkel
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Jim McKay and Peter Jennings
Reporters:
    Jim McKay (Athletics and Gymnastics)
    Howard Cosell (Boxing)
    Bill Flemming (Basketball? and Swimming)
    Bud Palmer (Rowing)
    Keith Jackson (?)
Analysts:
    Jim Beatty (Track)
    Hayes Jones (Track)
    Parry O’Brien (Field)
    Tom Maloney (Gymnastics)
    Murray Rose (Men’s Swimming)
    Donna de Varona (Women’s Swimming)
    Ken Sitzberger (Diving)
    Bill Stowe (Rowing)
    Jack Twyman (Basketball)
Monday, October 7        -- 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (All Times ET)
    Olympic Preview
Saturday, October 12     -- 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    Opening ceremonies, from Mexico City. Chris Schenkel, host, with Jim McKay, Bill Flemming, others. (live)
Sunday, October 13       -- 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
    From Mexico City. Subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s 100m heats, men’s shot-put qualifying, men’s 400m hurdles heats, men’s 800m heats, men’s 100m second round,  men’s 10,000m final, live); Weight Lifting, bantamweight final, live and tape; Basketball, possible coverage, first round, live and tape; Rowing, eliminations; Volleyball, women, U.S. vs. Japan, live and tape; Boxing, Howard Cosell reporting.
Monday, October 14       -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (women’s 100m heats, men’s pole vault qualifying, men’s discus qualifying, women’s 400m heats, live); basketball, possible coverage, first round, live; weight lifting, featherweight, live.
                                        -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s shot-put final, women’s javelin final, men’s 100m semi-finals, women’s long jump final, live, 800 meters seni-finals, start men’s 20km walk, live, possible coverage, men’s steeplechase heats, live).
                                        -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change events are: Track and Field (men’s 100m final, and men’s 20km walk final); Boxing, possible coverage, trials, live; Basketball, possible coverage, first round, first round, live; Volleyball, possible coverage, woman, Poland vs. U.S.S.R.
Tuesday, October 15       -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change events are: Rowing, possible coverage, live and tape; Volleyball, possible coverage, live; Basketball, possible coverage, first round, live; Track and Field (men’s 200m heats); Weight Lifting, lightweight, final, live.
                                         -- 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    From Mexico City. Track and Field (men’s discus final, men’s 5000m heats, live and tape, men’s 400m hurdles final, live, women’s 100m final, live, men’s 800m final, live, women’s 400m semi- finals, men’s 200m second round); Basketball, possible coverage, first round, live; Boxing, possible coverage, trials, live.
Wednesday, October 16   -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Basketball, possible coverage, first round, live; Volleyball, possible coverage, men, Poland vs. U.S.; Track and Field (men’s 100m hurdles heats, men’s Triple Jump qualifying, men’s Hammer Throw qualifying); Water Polo, possible coverage; Modern Pentathlon, possible coverage, swimming, live.
                                          -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s pole vault final, live and tape, men’s javelin final, live and tape, women’s 400m final, live, men’s 3000m steeplechase, final, live); Weight Lifting, middleweight, final, live.
                                          -- 8:30 PM - 9:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change events are: Track and Field (men’s pole vault final, live and tape, men’s javelin final, live and tape, men’s 200m final); Basketball, first round, live.
Thursday, October 17       -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Rowing, semi-finals, live; Swimming and Diving (women’s springboard elimination, live, women’s 4x100m medley relay, eliminations, live, men’s 4x100m  freestyle, eliminations, live); Yachting, from Acapulco.
                                          -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s 110m hurdles final, live, men’s 5000m final, live); Wrestling, freestyle, eliminations, live and tape.
                                          -- 9:30 PM - 11:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (start of men’s 50,000m walk, men’s triple jump final, women’s high jump final, men’s hammer throw final); Swimming and diving (women’s 4x100m medley relay, final, and men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, final); Cycling, 1000m individual time-trial, final; Weight Lifting, possible coverage, light-heavyweight, final.
Friday, October 18            -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s 1500m heats, live); Swimming and Diving (women’s 100m freestyle eliminations, live, men’s 100m freestyle, eliminations, live, women’s 100m breaststroke eliminations, possible coverage, live, men’s 100m breaststroke eliminations, possible coverage, live); Basketball, possible coverage, first round. live; Boxing, possible coverage, trials, live and tape; Wrestling, possible coverage, freestyle   eliminations, live; Equestrian, possible coverage, three-day event, dressage.
                                         -- 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (women’s 200m final, men’s long jump final, live and tape, women’s discus final, live and tape, men’s 400m final, women’s 80m hurdles final, decathlon, possible coverage, 400m, live); Swimming and Diving (women’s springboard, final, live); Weight Lifting, middle-heavyweight, final, live and tape.
                                         -- 11:30 PM - 12:00 AM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Weight Lifting, possible coverage, middle- heavyweight, final, live and tape; Boxing, possible coverage, trials, live and tape; Cycling 4000m  individual pursuit, final; Basketball, first round, live.
Saturday, October 19      -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s 4x100m relay heats, live, men’s high jump qualifying, live); Swimming (women’s 400m freestyle heats, live); Rowing, coxless fours, final, live, and coxless pairs, final, live.
                                        -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s 1500m run, semi-final, live); Rowing, single sculls, final, double sculls, final, and eights, final, tape; Weight Lifting, heavyweight, final, live; Yachting, from Acapulco.
                                        -- 10:30 PM - 11:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (women’s 800m final); Swimming and Diving (women’s 100m breaststroke final, men’s 100m breaststroke final, women’s   100m freestyle final, men’s 100m freestyle final).
Sunday, October 20        -- 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s marathon, start, live, men’s high jump, final, live, women’s shot-put, final, live, men’s 1500m final, live, men’s 4x100m relay, final, live, women’s 4x100m relay, final, live); Basketball, possible coverage, first round, live and tape; Boxing, possible coverage, trials, live and tape.
                                        -- 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Track and Field (men’s marathon, final); Swimming and Diving (men’s springboard final, women’s 200m individual medley, men’s 200m   individual medley, women’s 400m freestyle); Wrestling, freestyle, final; Basketball, possible coverage, first round, live and tape; Boxing, possible coverage, live and tape; Fencing, women’s individual foil, final.
Monday, October 21       -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (men’s 4x200m freestyle relay eliminations, live, women’s 200m freestyle, live, men’s 200m breaststroke eliminations, live, men’s 100m backstroke eliminations, live); Gymnastics, women’s individual and team compulsory exercises, live; Volleyball, women, U.S.S.R. vs. U.S., live, Water Polo; possible coverage, live.
                                       -- 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    From Mexico City, subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (men’s 100m butterfly final, live, women’s 100m butterfly, final, live, men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, final, live); Boxing, trials, live; Cycling, tandem, final, and 4000m team pursuit, final; Water Polo, possible coverage; Gymnastics, individual exercises, live.
Tuesday, October 22     -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Equestrian, possible coverage, three-day event, jumping, live; Basketball, possible coverage, semi-finals, live and tape; Swimming (men’s 400m  freestyle, live, women’s 800 freestyle, live).
                                       -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Gymnastics, men’s individual and team  compulsory exercises, live; Basketball, possible coverage, semi-finals, live and tape; Boxing,  quarterfinals; Soccer, possible coverage, semi-finals.
                                       -- 9:30 PM - 10:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (women’s 100m backstroke, final, live, men’s 100 meter backstroke, final, live, women’s 200m freestyle, final, live); Gymnastics, men’s individual and team compulsory exercises, live; Boxing, possible coverage, quarterfinals, live and tape; Basketball, semi-finals, live and tape.
                                       -- 11:30 PM - 12:00 AM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: (Swimming and Diving, men’s 200m breaststroke, final); Gymnastics, men’s individual and team compulsory exercises, live; Boxing, possible coverage, quarter finals, live and tape; Fencing, possible coverage, men’s individual epee, final, live.
Wednesday, October 23 -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Yachting, possible coverage, from Acapulco; Gymnastics, possible coverage, women’s individual and team exercises, live and tape; Volleyball, men, Mexico vs. Russia.
                                        -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (women’s tower, final, live); Gymnastics, possible coverage, women’s individual and team free exercises, live and tape; Boxing, quarter-finals, live and tape.
                                        -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (women’s tower, final, men’s 200m breaststroke, final, men’s 400m individual medley, final, women’s 100m backstroke, final); Gymnastics, possible coverage, women’s individual and team free exercises, live and tape; Boxing, possible coverage, quarter finals, live and tape; Volleyball, men, U.S. vs. Japan; Cycling, Individual road race.
Thursday, October 24    -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Gymnastics, men’s individual and team free exercises, live; Swimming and Diving (men’s 200m butterfly eliminations, live; women’s 200m butterfly eliminations, live, men’s 200m freestyle eliminations, live).
                                       -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Gymnastics, men’s individual and team free exercises, live and tape; Boxing, semi-finals, live and tape; Soccer, semi-finals.
                                       -- 10:30 PM - 11:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (women’s 800m freestyle, final, men’s 200m butterfly, final, women’s 200m butterfly, final, men’s 200m freestyle, final); Gymnastics, men’s individual and team free exercises, live and tape; Boxing, semi-finals, live and tape.
Friday, October 25          -- 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (men’s 200m backstroke eliminations, live, women’s 200m backstroke eliminations, live); Wrestling, Greco-Roman, live;  Canoeing, possible coverage, women’s kayak singles, final, possible coverage, men’s kayak pairs, final, live.
                                        -- 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Diving, men’s platform diving eliminations, live; Volleyball, possible coverage.
                                        -- 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (women’s 200m  backstroke, final, men’s 200m backstroke, final, women’s 400m individual medley, final);   Gymnastics, women’s individual combined, final, live; Canoeing, possible coverage, men’s Canadian pairs, final, possible coverage, women’s kayak pairs, final, possible coverage, men’s kayak 4x500m relay, final; Water Polo, possible coverage, semi-finals.
                                       -- 11:00 PM - 1:00 AM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Basketball, final, live; Gymnastics, women’s individual combined, final, live.
Saturday, October 26     -- 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Water Polo, possible coverage, live; Volleyball, possible coverage, live; Swimming, women’s 400m freestyle relay heats, live.
                                       -- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming, men’s tower, final, live; Soccer, final, live.
                                       -- 10:30 PM - 11:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Swimming and Diving (men’s 1500m freestyle, final, women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, men’s 4x100m medley relay); Gymnastics, men’s individual combined final, final, live and tape; Boxing, final, live and tape; Volleyball, women, U.S.S.R. vs. Japan.
                                       -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Gymnastics, men’s individual combined, final, live and tape; Boxing, final, live and tape; Volleyball, possible coverage, women, U.S.S.R. vs. Japan; Water Polo, possible coverage, final; Field Hockey, possible coverage, final, live and tape.
Sunday, October 27      -- 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    From Mexico City. subject to change, events are: Equestrian, Grand Prix jumping, Grand Prix dressage; Closing Ceremonies (live and tape).
 
The Thrill of Victory: The Inside Story of ABC Sports by Bert Randolph Sugar.
    "The acquisition of the rights to the 1968 Summer Games depended not so much on a misunderstanding as on what many suggested was instead an "understanding."  Mexico City was selected as the site of the XIX Summer Games by the IOC long before the Tokyo Olympics.  But even with an Organizing Committee duly constituted to administer to such things as the awarding of television rights, the entire situation was a rife with intrigue as Rick’s Café Americaine in Casablanca.
    "ABC let it be known that they were in the bidding for the 1968 Mexico City games.  Anxious to add their very first Summer Games to their ever-growing charm bracelet of Olympics, they were prepared to investigate every opportunity, but even they weren’t prepared for this.  They soon began to receive phone calls--over a hundred a week.  The message was always the same, delivered by an unctuous Latin, who could be pictured in another pose somewhere on the streets of Tijuana, leering at his prey and whispering, "Psst. "Hey Buddee. You like my seester?"  The message he imparted to Arledge or anyone he could reach on the twenty-eighth floor of the ABC Building was "the televeesion rights for the Olympeecs are available...and I can deeleever them for you, Senor."
    "NBC was receiving its share of calls as well.  William Johnson, senior editor at Sports Illustrated, suggested, "Many of these calls, it was assumed, came from a phone booth in Grand Central Terminal and lacked any mark of officialdom."  Still, Johnson wrote, "No one knew for sure who would be the real influential force on the Mexican committee, so nearly every contact had to be taken seriously."  In a cloak-and-dagger atmosphere, NBC set up its own secret operative to follow up the furtive callers and ferret out the right pressure point.  But the right pressure point was one that ABC had found months before.
    "In 1960, James Hagerty, press secretary for President Eisenhower, had been hired as vice-president in charge of news, replacing John Daly.  One of his unannounced jobs was the maintenance of goodwill, and no goodwill meant more than that of the Mexican government as the Mexico City games approached.  In 1962, he had made a trip to Mexico, ostensibly on a fact-finding tour, but in large part to rekindle the friendship of Eisenhower’s close Mexico friends, including the former President of Mexico.  Arledge himself was to
take several trips South of the Border this time not to bring Acapulco cliff divers down from $100,000 to $10 a dive, but to bring the Olympics back to ABC.
    "Each network was finally called to Mexico City to make their presentations to the Olympic Organizing Committee.  NBC opened the bidding with $2.2 million.  Then, after ABC had made its presentation, along with a bid of $4.5 million, NBC sent a telegram to the International Olympics Committee that they "would top any figure submitted by ABC," regardless of how outrageous ABC’s bid was.  What price tag glory when you’re going for an Olympics?  But the local Organizing Committee awarded the 1968 Summer Games to ABC, never
getting back to NBC for their counter offer.
    "The winner of the TV rights to the Mexico City games, Roone Arledge, indicated he thought the reason he won the gold ring was because "after watching us covering past Olympics, they just assumed we could do it best."  But the loser, Carl Lindemann of NBC, thought other reasons concerning gold had something to do with it.  He told Johnson that "maybe ABC had given Colonel What’s-his-name, the Mexican chairman of the Olympic committee, a $15,000 Maserati."
    "And although the sour grapes quote gained wide circulation--and some mild accceptance--it was something Arledge neither had to do nor was reduced to doing.  For ABC had won the Mexico City games on their past merit; nothing as meretricious as the bribe laid at their doostep by Lindemann."
    "But [Grenoble] also was a dry run for the Summer Olympics, to be telecast that very October from Mexico City.  There the 250 men mushroomed to 450 and the forty cameras to fifty.  The coverage also increased from twenty-seven to fourty-four hours, most of it in prime time.  ABC’s first Summer Olympics would be the standard by which all future ones would be judged.
    "And it was here that the hand of Roone Arledge was most evident.  The generallissimo of all that surrounded him, he grafted his technical skills onto the spectacle and made it as much a part of the Olympics as the athletic competition itself.  Arledge became the A to de Coubertin’s D; by their own individual efforts these two men brought the Olympic age from B.C. to A.D.
    ""To me, Roone’s talent is being the producer in the control room," says Jim McKay...  But to say Roone Arledge is only a producer is to say that Cellini was only a sculptor.  For sitting in that middle chair in the main control room--known throughout the industry as The Chair--facing a board containing thirty-two monitors with an equal number of images, assaulting him, Arledge is at his best.  "It’s in the Olympic Games that Roone Arledge shows what a brilliant mind he is because he becomes a line producer," says another of his famous disciples, Howard Cosell.  "He’s looking at a bank of thirty-two monitors, evaluating each one contemporaneously and making a judgement: ‘OK, go to Howard with the boxing...’ ‘Howard throw it to Beattie, there’s a record coming up in weight lifting....’  Whatever.  And it all meshes!"  he adds incredulously.  But perhaps the man who best understands the technical wizardry that allows Arledge to orchestrate men. machines, and monitors into one total show is Julie Barnathan, the vice-president in charge of
broadcast operations and of engineering for ABC and the true unsung hero of the Olympics.  "He is great under fire--in The Chair.  And I have seen more events than anybody I can imagine.  I have never seen a man operate under conditions in such a cool way.  Cool, clear, explicit, incredible under fire. There’s no one like that."  Barnathan recalls one incident where, in the middle of a station break, they turned to Arledge and said, "Alright, Roone, where are we going?"  And Barnathan remembers Arledge answering, "I don’t know yet."
    "Somehow, unlike Humpty Dumpty, he always manages to put the pieces together again, cutting from live coverage of one event to tape of another and then back again for another live shot.  And so it was in Mexico City, as Arledge choreographed a shot from a cameraman hanging 225 feet above the stadium to a tight shot of the Olympic torch accompanied by a "whoosh" of the flame at the moment of ignition, which was picked up by a tiny microphone.  He caught it all, the results of hundreds of human competitions to incisive moments that only TV could bring us.  Everything from Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their black-gloved fists and lowering their heads during the playing of the "American National Anthem" to a Czech gymnast turning away her head during the playing of the "Soviet Anthem."  And when he didn’t quite catch it, he would send his reporters after it, directing Cosell to get Smith for an interview or even sending him onto the track to get an interview with Jimmie Hines who had just broken the Olympic record in winning the 100-meter championship.  As we all watched the incongrous sight of an athlete in a tight-fitting track suit being chased by an athlete-that-never-was seeking an interview, in spite of the Mexican's ban on interviews, we knew what we were watching was the best in sports journalism.
    "Nothing seemed to stand in Arledge’s way: not the construction of a twenty-foot-tall camera tower, built by the Mexicans, that obstructed ABC’s view of some of the track and field events, which he got removed by his persuasiveness; nor the failure of power in a stadium control room, which went dead after one live show and which, upon investigation, was found by technicians to have been caused by tiny particles of dirt in the Mexico diesel oil clogging the generator, a recurrency of which he averted by having the generator cleaned before the countdown for every show.
    "Roone Arledge had seemed to reduce all the chaos to order, all problems to solutions, all competitions to something deeper, and the Olympics to a permanent place on ABC’s quadrennial schedule."
 
Here are three rare clips from ABC's Mexico City 1968 coverage:

 

Tune in next time for NBC coverage of Sapporo 1972!

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So there IS ample evidence that NBC DID broadcast an offshore non-Americas-based Opening Ceremony live with Tokyo, something we can't expect with next Tokyo Olympiad in less than three years. And it was during the late night hours. Surely NBC was promoting this OC having in color for the first time and via satellite. But at the time slot it was under back then and not many Americans yet to have color TVs, NBC presumed not many Americans will be able to stay up and watch. Too bad there's little surviving footage of NBC's coverage of these Tokyo Olympics because NBC underwent a cost-cutting measure to re-record footage onto other shows with its videotapes for they were expensive until the early 1970s, deeming the practice too expensive. A shame since had they survived we would certainly see many of them on YouTube now. 

Seeing the schedules on ABC, NBC, and CBS back then from this Olympic era with the limited number of TV hours aired on American TV overall, it was amazing if during the slots they got that were usually no more than an hour a day save for perhaps on weekends they would be able to cram a lot of action from various Olympic sports. So strange to see this largely restricted to the late prime time/late night hours or in pre-syndication early evening/late afternoon. What they likely did was maybe save for the top Olympic events, perhaps bounce around the sports while they're in progress or more likely presented them in daily highlight package with summaries. Indeed some Olympic sports were neglected or skipped over due to the fact that they weren't popular in the United States or that we Americans lacked serious medal contenders in them or failed to enter. Like for example the dearth of soccer and field hockey in the TV schedule. Granted, there were less sports in this era than they are now. With TV space at a premium and no cable back then much less the Internet to amplify the Olympic broadcast further like we do nowdays, I stand to reason greater emphasis was placed on the United States Olympic Teams and little bit of the Soviet bloc in the sports the former were in.

Wasn't until seeing the Mexico City 1968 TV schedule that I noticed that track and field started earlier than swimming, a rare thing. And that equestrian traditionally ended things before the opening ceremony. Modern pentathlon started very early too in this era, but there was men's team competition then.   

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And I can now present ABC's Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics schedule that was 50.5 to 51 hours of coverage, more than any previous American TV coverage of the Winter Olympics at this point. You know the one with the Miracle On Ice USA team against the all-powerful Soviet Red ice hockey machine that actually was on tape delay, though shown in its entirety on February 22 causing an expansion to 7:30pm CT. Oh, and Eric Heiden's 5 golds. But the CBC which does show the OCs twice, showed it live. NBC technically does show the ceremonies twice but after the primetime airing it goes on to the late night repeat. But never live from the location and then on primetime. Interestingly, the Opening Ceremony was aired twice on Wednesday, February 14 1-3pm CT live and then at 8-10pm on delay. The following ABC schedule from Zander Hollander's Lake Placid 1980: The Complete Handbook of the Olympic Winter Games that later went through some changes (too bad it isn't detailed here about what viewers expect to see like speed skating, skiing, and figure skating). Why was the late night segment just 15 minutes long when no less than a half hour would suffice. Don't worry Panamfan, keep on giving us the details including this one when you get to it:

All times were Eastern.

Tuesday, February 12th, 1980: 9-11 P.M. (Olympic Preview)

Wednesday, February 13th: 2-4 P.M. (Live Broadcast of Opening Ceremonies)
and 9-11 P.M. (Rebroadcast of Opening Ceremonies)

Thursday, February 14th: 8:30-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Friday, February 15th: 8:30-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Saturday, February 16th; 1-3:30 P.M., 9-11 P.M., and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Sunday, February 17th: 1-3:30 P.M., 8-11 P.M., and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Monday, February 18th: 9-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Tuesday, February 19th: 8-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Wednesday, February 20th: 9-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Thursday, February 21st: 8-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Friday, February 22nd: 9-11 P.M. and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Saturday, February 23rd: 12:30-3:30 P.M., 8-11 P.M., and 11:30-11:45 P.M.

Sunday, February 24th: 12 Noon-6 P.M., and 8-11 P.M. (the latter a Live Broadcast of the Closing Ceremonies)

Although ABC scheduled 50 1/2 hours of coverage from Lake Placid (and eventually broadcast 51 hours; see below), it was still much more television coverage than any previous Winter Olympics. I think ABC broadcast some 37 or 38 hours from Innsbruck in 1976.

As I mentioned above, there were two changes made to the above schedule. The first was a few weeks after the book was printed. The Lake Placid Organizing committee decided to move the start time of the first of the two hockey games on the final day of the Olympics (February 24th) from 12 Noon to 11 A.M., and ABC's daytime broadcast schedule for that day was adjusted, so coverage was seen from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. and again from 3 to 6 P.M., both Eastern time.

The second change to ABC's broadcast schedule came during the Games. Once the U.S./Soviet Union matchup in hockey was set for February 22nd, ABC expanded that night's prime-time show from 9 to 11 P.M. EST to 8:30-11 P.M. EST in order to show the game in full (However, it was NOT broadcast live--it was seen on a three-and-a-half hour tape-delay). 

By the way, although the game was on tape (as was the men's slalom ski race, which was edited down to two ten-minute segments and shown between periods of the U.S./U.S.S.R. hockey game), studio host Jim McKay was live, and I recall he opened that evening's prime-time broadcast by noting that there was "a lot of excitment here in Lake Placid. Tonight, we're going to show you the big hockey games between the United States and Russia in it's entirety, a game that ended just about an hour ago. It's possible you may already have heard what happened. Let's watch the game, as called earlier this evening by our Al Micheals and former Montreal Canadiens all-star goaltender Ken Dryden...".

After the tape of the game was shown, there was enough time for McKay to come back to close the prime-time broadcast by saying something to the effect of "The game you just watched was taped earlier this evening. The scene you're now watching in the streets of Lake Placid is live, and it's fans who have been celebrating all evening what has to be the biggest upset in the history of sport. Teenagers are singing 'God Bless America'! When was the last time we heard teenagers sing that?? Congratulations to Team U.S.A., and join us Sunday at 11 A.M. Eastern when they take on Finland for the Gold, live here on ABC!".

By the way, only three of the seven team U.S.A. hockey games during the 1980 Winter Olympics were shown in their entirety by ABC: The Norway game (live on February 16th), the Russia game (on a 3 1/2-hour tape delay February 22nd) and the Finland game (live on February 24th). I think the Finland game may even have been shown live on the West Coast, where it would have aired live at 8 A.M. PST. Maybe someone in California can answer that question for me.

Despite being shown on tape, the U.S./Russia hockey game was one of the highest-rated television programs of the entire 1979/80 television season. I'm tempted to say that Super Bowl XIV and the season finale of "Dallas" where J.R. got shot were the only two television programs during the 1979/80 season that drew more viewers than the U.S./Russian Olympic hockey game.

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?460819-Retro-Olympics-ABC-s-Broadcast-Schedule-For-The-1980-Winter-Games-In-Lake-Placid

Yes, the Miracle On Ice game. When word came around that the United States had a good chance in staying toe to toe with the Soviets as things unfolded, ABC programmers announced the game will be shown in its entirety which explains in part the delay. Had the game proceeded with the expected Soviet shellacking, it would only just get a segment or two while bouncing around to other events, confirming the lack of optimism coming in with that brutal 10-3 tuneup game in New York's MSG as touched on in the Emmy Award-winning 30 For 30 Of Miracles and Men. Look kids! It's Jaime Farr from M*A*S*H* enjoying the game!

 

Same game and commentary but with all of the ABC presentation like Jim McKay introducing and emotionally closing it along with Jim Lampley's postgame interview outside the ice rink with many proud fans with reflecting interviews during the two intermissions from the players. I kinda like having the whole hog you know, when it comes to matters like this (don't worry, just click on). All on ESPN Classic: 

 

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Here is NBC's coverage of Sapporo 1972:
 
XIth OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Sapporo 1972
NBC
Rights Fee: $6,400,000
37 Hours
Executive Producer: Dick Auerbach
Director: Ted Nathanson
Host: Curt Gowdy
Alternate Host: Jim Simpson
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Curt Gowdy ?
Reporters:
    Jim Simpson (Figure Skating and Alpine Skiing)
    Jay Randolph (Ski Jumping and Speed Skating)
    Al Michaels (Ice Hockey)
    Jack Perkins
Analysts:
    Peggy Fleming (Figure Skating)
    Billy Kidd (Alpine Skiing)
    Art Devlin (Ski Jumping and Nordic Skiing)
    Terry McDermott (Speed Skating)
Tuesday, February 1         -- 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM (All Time ET)
    Olympic Special; Former Olympians Peggy Fleming, Billy Kidd, Art Devlin and Terry McDermott offer a varied look at Olympic sports and present filmed highlights of past Olympic contests.
Wednesday, February 2   -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Highlights of day’s outstanding events via satellite, from Japan. (Opening Ceremony - live)
Thursday, February 3       -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey - elimination round - Czechoslovakia vs. Japan and Sweden vs. Yugoslavia)
                                          -- 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Highlights of the day’s outstanding events, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s and Women’s Luge Singles, Two-Man Bobsled, Men’s 30km Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s 5000m Speed Skating, and Nordic Combined - Ski Jumping)
Friday, February 4             -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. Ice Hockey - elimination round - United States vs. Switzerland and Germany vs. Poland)
                                          -- 8:30 PM - 10:30 PM
    Highlights of outstanding events, via satellite, from Japan. (Two-man Bobsled - third and fourth runs, Nordic Combined - 15km Cross-Country, Men’s 500m Speed Skating (live), Figure Skating - Women’s Compulsories (live), Ice Hockey (live))
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights of outstanding events, via satellite, from Japan. (Women’s Downhill (live), Ice Hockey (live))
Saturday, February 5        -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Highlights of outstanding events, via satellite, from Japan.  (Ice
Hockey, Men’s and Women’s   singles luge - third run)
                                          -- 9:55 PM - 11:00 PM
    Highlights of outstanding events, via satellite, from Japan. (Women’s 10km Cross-County Skiing, 70m Ski Jump, Men’s 1500m Speed Skating, Ice Hockey (live)
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights of outstanding events, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey (live))
Sunday, February 6          -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Figure Skating - Pairs’ Compulsories, Ice Hockey)
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s 15km Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s 10,000m Speed Skating, Ice Hockey (live), Men‘s Downhill Skiing (live))
Monday, February 7          -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey, Men’s and Women’s Luge Singles, third round - postponed from Saturday)
                                          -- 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s Figure Skating - Compulsories (live), Biathlon - Individual)
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Women’s Giant Slalom (live), Ice Hockey - Czechoslovakia    vs. Finland (live)
Tuesday, February 8         -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Figure Skating - Pairs’ Free Skating Finals)
                                          -- 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Women’s 5km Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s Figure  Skating - Compulsories (live), Ice Hockey - Yugoslavia vs. Japan (live), Women’s 1500m Speed Skating  (live))
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s Giant Slalom (live), Ice Hockey - Sweden vs. Poland and Germany vs. Norway (live))
Wednesday, February 9   -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey - United States vs. Soviet Union)
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s 50km Cross-Country Skiing, Women’s 500m Speed Skating, Ice Hockey - Norway vs. Japan, Men’s Giant Slalom - second run (live), Ice Hockey - Soviet Union vs. Poland and Switzerland vs. Yugoslavia (live))
Thursday, February 10     -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey - United States vs. Finland and Czechoslovakia vs. Sweden, Men’s Luge Doubles - first and second runs)
                                         -- 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Four-Man Bobsled - first and second runs, Biathlon Relay, Women’s 1000m Speed Skating, 90m Ski Jump)
                                         -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Four-Man Bobsled - first and second runs, Biathlon Relay, Women’s 1000m Speed Skating, 90m Ski Jump)
Friday, February 11          -- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s Figure Skating - Free Skating)
                                          -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Four-Man Bobsled - third and fourth runs, Women’s 15km  Cross-Country Relay, Women’s 3000m Speed Skating (live), Men’s Slalom Skiing - first run, Ice Hockey - Switzerland vs. Norway (live))
Saturday, February 12      -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey - Germany vs. Japan and Poland vs. United States)
                                          -- 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Men’s Cross-Country Relay, Ice Hockey - Sweden vs. Finland, Men’s Special Slalom Skiing (live), Ice Hockey - Soviet Union vs. Czechoslovakia (live))
                                         -- 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
    Highlights, via satellite, from Japan. (Ice Hockey - Soviet Union vs. Czechoslovakia (live))
Sunday, February 13       -- 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Highlights from Japan, via satellite. (Closing Ceremony and Review of Winter Olympics)
 
The Thrill of Victory: The Inside Story of ABC Sports by Bert Randolph Sugar.
    "NBC which had last telecast the 1964 Summer Games from Tokyo, won the rights to the 1972 Winter Games from Sapporo, purchasing them from the worldwide owner, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), the government-owned Japanese broadcasting system.  Failing to negotiate unilateral coverage in 1964, leaving that entirely in the hands of the Japanese, NBC compounded their felony in 1972. This time they also neglected to obtain the rights to cover the events themselves with their own cameras and interviewers.  Jim Simpson, Curt Gowdy, and several expert analysts were back in a studio, but interviews with the winners would have to wait until they came to the studio.  It was treated as a news event of what had happened, not what was happening.  Those in the studio might just as well have been back in New York sitting in front of a chroma-key of Sapporo in the background.  And even what was shown needed subtitles, with the American audience treated to performer after performer, including the last sixty skiers in the downhill -- all of them downhill kamikaze pilots -- from every country in the world, with virtually no chances of winning.  In the words of one benumbed NBC executive, "They showed every goddamned one of them on American television."  With thirty-six hours scheduled, including the last half hour of the "Today Show" for a week and nine "Johnny Carson Shows," it was an artistic disaster and a commercial debacle.  No wonder NBC was wary about putting any future Olympics on prime time television."
 
The World Comes Together in Your Living Room: The Olympics on TV internet article by Joseph Gallant (notquite@hotmail.com)
    "NBC broke ABC's stranglehold on the Games in 1972, winning the rights to broadcast that year's Winter Games at Sapporo, Japan. Despite a record 37 hours of coverage, much of it live (again, Winter Olympic events are often traditionally held in the morning hours, which meant live prime-time TV for the United States East Coast), critics panned the coverage. Many wondered why Curt Gowdy - perhaps the best play-by-play sportscaster who ever lived - was NBC's studio host and not doing play-by-play of one sport or another."
 
Tune in next time for ABC coverage of Munich 1972!
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  • 3 weeks later...

While we continue to await for Panamfan to provide the US TV schedules for Munich, Innsbruck, Montreal, a more comprehensive Lake Placid, Sarajevo, Los Angeles, and beyond for us to read and study, I will upload here what was RAI Italia's intro and end credits portions of the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics coverage shown R2 or RAI 2 with the music coming from the Italian 4-person coed vocal group (2 guys, 2 women) known as Passengers that helped typified the 1980s Italian disco music scene with the rather cheesy song "Olympic Fever (Shine On)". The only Italian Olympian I can readily identify is the late Pietro Mennea. Maybe Sara Simeoni, the Italian water polo team, Gabriella Dorio, pole vaulter Mauro Barella, and javelin thrower Fausta Quintavalla are in this. There's another version of this with track in full on YouTube but with a remastered sound over the soundtrack and not with mono sound here and goes further to the end as it brings back the intro to help finish it:

Now we get the start of the RAI 2/R2's 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic broadcast as part of a R2 television sequence with the Opening Ceremony live late into Saturday, July 28, 1984 (Sabato 28 Luglio 1984) coming in at 3:57-9:17. No need to see the Opening Ceremony as we can get that elsewhere on YouTube. The audio is typically tinny for back then when calling events overseas like with fellow EBU members all the way up to 2000. But interestingly it moves away to the end credits before Reach Out and Touch and the impromptu dancing from the athletes and multicultural Californians that closed things. A presenter comes in at 3:34 to introduce it. After that Opening Ceremony, it's followed by a Gilberto Gil live performance in Rome:

 

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With thanks to MacLean's magazine opening up its magazine archives online, we can all know what CTV's Barcelona 1992 Games Of The XXV Olympiad broadcast was like for ultimately 171.5 hours (not counting the TVA French portion). Unlike what NBC did with theirs, much of the coverage there was live--through all time zones-- with some short delays on select events. CTV's coverage was, save for the first day on July 25, from 10am-5pm during the daytime with the primetime highlights from 6-9pm and the late night segment coming from 11pm-1:30am (all times US/Canada CT). July 25's CTV schedule was 12-1pm (like a CTV Olympic preview focusing on the Canadian athletes with perhaps some pre-Opening Ceremony soccer highlights), 6-9pm (Opening Ceremony), and 11pm-1:30am. It and TVA bought the Canadian TV rights back in 1989 for C$12-15 million as a continuation of sorts with what the two did with Calgary in the winter in 1988. If any of the Canadian posters here are more aware of the CTV/TVA Barcelona and Calgary (even with TSN) coverage, please let us know about them.

Really nice belated Canada Day treat for you with the CBC's live coverage of what's really two of the greatest Canadian sports moments in history, not just the Olympics, back over 21 years ago down in Atlanta with first Jamaican-born Donovan Bailey from Oakville, Ontario in the Toronto Area winning gold to go along with his world championship as the only Canadian in the finals field while shattering the world record, helping to erase the ghosts of Ben Johnson and sometime after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. It was an excellent field here. Then there's the matter of Britain's Linford Christie's DQ at Lane 2 and Ato Bolden's false start that raises the tension and how Jamaican male sprinting fell off a bit until Assafa Powell came along. Still he wishes teammate Bruny Surin was there In these two clips, the spirit of the Olympics comes into play with the media as Chris Collinsworth for NBC and Ron MacLean for the CBC asking Bailey questions at the media sidelines with his family amid "the wolfpack". Don't know if just before Bailey speaks with MacLean if that's a BBC Sport reporter. Then the post-race analysis with Brian Williams in the CBC's IBC studio in Atlanta with and medal ceremony. Aldo Roy and Ernie Afaganis handled the brief middleweight weightlifting competition report.

I find it a little strange that Steve Ovett in retrospect was part of the CBC's Atlanta Olympic sportscasting team in track and field (or athletics, if you prefer) with Don Wittman because Ovett was not known to be a media darling in its British eyes back home during his height as a famed middle distance runner in the late 1970s and early 1980s with Sebastian Coe. Far more reserved and reluctant and portrayed as adverserial to the media. Not that it mattered to Canadians, who were largely unaware of that aspect and didn't care. Anyway, Bailey with Sudbury, Ontario's Rob Esmie with his "blast off" on top of his head, Montreal's Bruny Surin, and Ottawa's (via Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago) Glenroy Gilbert all sprinted off to golden glory in the other great Saturday summer evening moment with the men's 4x100m relay that all Canadians cherish, despite not coming in as faves in this competition. Each of then with great sprints and baton passing. Though they didn't get the world record here, it was a new Canadian record. Alternate Carlton Chambers from Mississauga, who ran in the earlier rounds, gets his gold too despite his groin injury. The Canadians had to endure another controversy here with Ghana's relay team getting DQ'ed from the race for not getting together promptly and didn't start. Contains McDonald's "up close and personal" The Olympians profile on Esmie around Sudbury. And there's another joint post-race media session with MacLean sharing with ZDF (don't know guy's name here, please help if you do) over Bailey. The four sprinters reunited back in 2015 as part of the Pan American Games Opening Ceremony torch relay in Toronto!

This articles make comparisons with NBC/Cablevision's Olympic Triplecast (and griping about it for it was PPV on Olympic TV coverage for many don't have the cash for it) and CTV's 171.5 hours of Barcelona coverage that went for a similar daily time span. The Triplecast had Kathleen Sullivan, Gayle Gardner, Don Criqui, and Ahmad Rashad hosting from 5am-5pm. Buffalo News' Alan Pergemant anticipated the "flop" it became:

http://buffalonews.com/1992/06/29/pay-per-view-promises-to-be-olympic-flop/

20-year retrospective from 2012 on the Olympic Triplecast through the eyes of some of the people involved with it at NBC and Cablevision--to quote Quaker2001, the best and worst thing that ever happened to NBC's Olympic coverage. And its legacy it built for future NBC's Olympics coverage. People weren't ready for it back then and was certainly ahead of its time. Forcing a red bath for both. Did damaged NBC's prospects to expand its coverage onto cable in 1996 but recovered for 2000 to do so. Even ported it over to CNBC at one point with no audio!

http://sportsrants.com/media/2012/07/25/olympics-triplecast/

 

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  • 1 month later...

A little more on ABC's Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics coverage. Unlike nowdays and even in the next Winter Olympics it covered in Sarajevo four years later, these Olympics didn't immediately start the primetime segment; usually it would come on an hour into it following regular ABC primetime and daytime programming--even from the live Opening Ceremony followed by an ABC Afterschool Special aptly titled The Olympic Gold Medal as some kind of tie-in--and even shared ABC Sports programming like Wide World of Sports and shortened American Bandstand on weekends, so it didn't have the tremendous sports priority like it does now. Bear in mind, it was the era of 12 days of the Olympic competition with less Winter Olympic events (38 in 10 disciplines) back then, which is hard to believe. Here's some very interesting trivia for you: the Pink Panther Olympinks animated special preceeded the full but infamously tape-delayed Miracle on Ice game versus the big, bad Soviets on that very February 22 night for a half-hour at 7pm US CT. Following is from a Classic TV Sports poster Jimmy Delach presenting evidence of the coverage structure and what ABC shows came before them 

Quote

An account of ABC's 1980 Winter Olympics coverage
2/12: 9:30 - 11PM EST after "Happy Days", "Goodtime Girls" and "Three's Company"
2/13: 9PM - 10:30 EST; ABC aired "Eight Is Enough" before the Olympics and a special half-hour of "20/20" after
2/14: 8:30 - 11PM EST after "Mork & Mindy"
2/15: 8PM - 11PM EST
2/16: 9PM - 11PM EST after "One In A Million" and the "Three's Company" spinoff "The Ropers"
2/17: 7PM - 11PM EST
2/18: 9PM - 11PM EST (after "All Star Family Feud")
2/19: 8PM - 11PM EST
2/20: 9PM - 11PM EST (after "Charlie's Angels")
2/21: 8PM - 11PM EST
2/22: 8:30 - 11PM EST (ABC aired "Pink Panther Olympinks" at 8PM then the tape-delayed "Miracle On Ice")
2/23: 8PM - 11PM
2/24: 7PM - 10:30 PM (ABC News Special aired at 10:30)

Daytime coverage:
2/13: 2PM - 4PM EST (ABC aired an afterschool Special appropriately entitled "The Olympic Gold Medal")
2/16: 1PM - 3:30 EST (ABC aired a half-hour "American Bandstand" at 12:30, Pro Bowling at 3:30 and Wide World of Sports at 5PM)
2/17: 1PM - 3:30 EST (ABC aired Championship Superstars at 3:30 and Wide World Of Sports at 4:30)
2/23: 12:30 - 3:30 EST (ABC aired Pro Bowling at 3:30 and Wide World Of Sports at 5PM)
2/24: 11AM - 1:30 PM and 2:30 - 5PM EST (ABC aired WCT Tennis at 1:30 and Wide World Of Sports at 5PM)

http://www.classictvsports.com/2013/02/the-nbc-false-claim-and-opening-night.html

Based on the schedule and the times of the US hockey team, their 2/14 game against Czechoslovakia and their 2/16 game with Norway (both wins) were shown live during those program slots along with of course the final game versus Finland on that Sunday February 24. If proven otherwise on the first two, I accept the corrections. The February 13th primetime segment was the repeat airing of the OC after Eight Is Enough with a special 30-minute edition of ABC News' 20/20 with the previous night definitely the US men's hockey team's tape-delayed/edited game with Sweden that resulted in a tie. 

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