Past Olympics Media Coverage

[Durban Sandshark]

Spain 25 years ago was enjoying its greatest Summer Olympic ever with gold in many sports in Barcelona from the likes of Martin Lopez-Zubero, Fermin Cacho, Daniel Plaza, several of its sailors, Miriam Blasco, Almudena Munoz, Jose Manuel Moreno, and Spain's women's field hockey team. The following video is no doubt one of them with the Spanish soccer team in highlight form apparently taking one of the most craved gold to the public at FC Barcelona's hallowed Camp Nou in front of King Juan Carlos' family and hometown IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, among others, taking on a newly Communist-free Poland. The team had Kiko, a young FC Barca star and future coaching legend Pep Guardiola as captain, Alfonso, Abelardo, Luis Enrique, Albert Ferrer, Rafael Berges, Paco Soler, Roberto Solozabal, and goalie Toni. TVE1 showed this live to the Spanish with Juan Carlos Rivero commentating this at a time when winning an even more desired World Cup and Euro championship proved elusive, so they had to make do and cherish this one:

 

 

[Durban Sandshark]

 

Another, and likely even more symbolic and significant, Olympic moment came four years later in Atlanta as we look back to Hong Kong, in its final full year competing the Olympic and international sports as a British crown colony prior to the planned Chinese takeover after 99 years of British rule the next year.  Lee Lai Shan pretty much stunned everyone when she took gold in the women's mistral sailboard in Savannah, Georgia now 21 years ago (the sailing events were held there for Atlanta as the Olympic city is landlocked). After that shock win and the international reputation HK athletes had in not possessing world-class athletes in the world and Asian sports stages, an exhausted and emotional Lee even further became a HK sports legend by famously declaring afterwards to Hong Kong Olympic broadcasters TVB and now-defunct ATV that "We Hong Kong athletes are not garbage!" in her historic win right at the shore and being inundated with celebratory phone calls from back home. Until then, HK never won a medal of any color in either Olympics and this being a big deal; it has never won another gold since Atlanta and the Chinese takeover now as a special administrative area under the "Hong Kong, China" banner though it since won a silver and bronze. So it hasn't heard any anthem since God Save The Queen at the medal ceremony in Savannah. You'll also see the 1996 TVB Olympic anchor team celebrating with the HK crown colony flags upon this historic moment at the end of the second clip. Final clip is ATV's leading top news report that evening on Lee's historic gold for Hong Kong:

 

[BTHarner]

That means that God Save the Queen was played as many times for Hong Kong in 1996 as it was for Great Britain.

[daniel anderson400]

On 11/5/2014 at 4:01 PM, Durban Sandshark said:

Thanks for filling out some of the missing pieces for NBC with the info, Barcelona. All I knew was that the late Charlie Jones was going to call track and field at Lenin Stadium, partly because he said so in that Los Angeles Times article and the fact he was doing those sports at Seoul 8 years later. However, after looking at the Moscow schedule of events, Jones would have to hurry back to the Central Sports Palace that was nearby from Lenin Stadium in the last couple of days of gymnastics with track and field just starting. Don't know exactly what times the track and field events would start on those days. But I would presume gymnastics took place in the evening with say within 45 minutes to 2 hours to get there and have everything organized. Also, Diana Nyad was also going to be with NBC in Moscow as a reporter, very likely swimming, with her proficiency in Russian to help her. Then again, as she later did in Los Angeles for ABC, canoeing and kayaking wouldn't be that far away. Also, what was to be done with young Bobby Costas? What role and sports would he have announced? Anybody else do you know that could've worked at NBC back then with the sports? Being the biggest buyer of the Moscow Olympics back then, it would use its own video cameras and equipment more so than many other broadcasters worldwide and use it in conjunction with the host feed.

Surely NBC could've done an Olympic preview in those days. Based on that schedule, I think it may have been on that opening Saturday at the 11am-noon slot if not the previous Friday night. That Saturday night's primetime surely would be the taped delayed Opening Ceremony. Had it been a full-fledged Olympics, some "seemingly insignificant" nations to Americans anyway would no doubt get the short shrift in the Parade of Nations thanks to commercial breaks, especially in a offshore one like in the former Soviet Union. The outcry would not be as bad as it would get later that NBC would make amends later even in glimpses right after commercial breaks ("Why in the hell NBC didn't show Mali in the Parade of Nations?! I wanna see the Malians!"). Also makes you wonder if NBC employed a few of those tactics later used like in Sochi, what parts do you think NBC would omit now that we've seen a fuller Moscow OC and OC?

In any case, it may be rather difficult to figure out what would exactly telecast on those time slots after the swimming, gymnastics, diving, track and field, cycling, boxing, and rowing. In other words, what times exactly would the games involving USA basketball, volleyball, soccer, water polo, and maybe field hockey (if US qualified) based on NBC's programming structure? I do believe basketball would get primetime love with the men and women. Not sure if the gold medal games would be live though. Some things would designated for primetime like perhaps water polo and some volleyball if the USA is involved. Surely there will be some foreign coverage and victories to show, particularly whenever what the Communist bloc would up to in sports to better weave that Cold War Olympic TV narrative. No doubt it would've been very jingoistic with US Olympic TV space at a premium even at a then-record of 150 hours. If some people thought ABC's Los Angeles coverage was bad with it, they probrably would've been aghast with what NBC could've done if it went ahead in Moscow. Don't think we'd have the copyright that we see nowdays during the segments.

As far as I understand it, Australia's Seven Network ultimately decided to go ahead and head out to Moscow around two weeks before the start of the Games with its staff. It paid a then-record A$1.4 million for the exclusive Australian TV rights to cover it live through 100 hours, much of it primetime-late night Australia time before signing off but will have highlights shows during the day. Previously Summer Olympics was shared between ABC, Seven, and Nine where even the Opening Ceremony was shared and, I think, simulcasted, from 5am AEST. Part of the team, if I recall reading correctly, stayed in the Adelaide studios. In Montreal's case, ABC and Seven limited the daily coverage and did the highlights packages several times a day with Nine branched out to handles more of the sports and news coverage with the available video. In a lot of ways, Seven's exclusive coverage of Moscow 1980 marked a new era. For one thing, no more cooperative Australian Olympic TV broadcasting; Aussie TV was fast maturing with color and better programming and presentation qualities and more sophisticated satelittes beaming things quicker and easier to Earth. Plus the Olympics, as we went along during the 1980s, was becoming more lucrative for advertisers and more commercial. It began this bouncing off of Australian Olympic TV rights (both Summer and Winter) that continues to this day, despite during the 1980s of Network Ten becoming "Australia's Olympic Network", a mantle 7 would later carry with great distinction during the next decade and beyond and just since reclaimed. Australia was still reeling from the effects of the fast-rising professionalism and the need for a rethink about its athletes and amateurism as seen with the disappointing Montreal medal display with no golds to show for it. It also brought live continuous Olympics coverage more consistently instead of designated it to primetime or highlights several times a day. Did something that not even the BBC could manage: show both ceremonies in their entirties.

I'm sure with those 100 hours the Seven Network granted priority to the Australian athletes that decided to compete in Moscow. But it was a decimated team that had no field hockey and yachting without a doubt. Even some sponsors for Seven's coverage pulled out because of the fallout of then-PM Malcolm Fraser's boycott threat that the Australian Olympic Federation voted against. Consequently, it may explain why it was set at 100 hours and not more as hoped. But there was surely a lot of jumping around to various sports instead of sticking to just on event if it goes long--and chopping of blocks during the day with daily slots towards daily highlights. I'm sure for example, the Australian basketball and water polo teams didn't enjoy having their full games shown back in Moscow. Sure there was plenty of swimming and track for the Aussies to enjoy. Some events got completely overlooked by Seven because of no Australians or the sports had no to little appeal to them. With a few of its own cameras, it utilized its reliance towards the Soviet/global TV feed, as you surely noticed on the Moscow ceremonies by Balanced Australia.

Seven's Moscow 1980 Olympic coverage was coming to a close with the CC and Seven showed the end of those who took part in Moscow during this coverage and brought them to down under. Also notice that Adidas is their official outfitter for the Seven team in Moscow, just like it was for the Australian Olympic Team then. Gary Wilkinson, Peter Waltham, Sandy Roberts, Peter Landy, and Graham McNaney apparently were commentators without specific portfolios, meaning they covered various Olympics sports that weren't already designated. I am also curious that John Devitt did all the aquatics including diving and water polo. Been mentioned elsewhere online that Bruce McAvaney was involved as a sportscaster for its Moscow coverage. He's not mentioned here. But he was host of the Adelaide end of the telecast, making his Australian Olympic TV debut before heading off to Network Ten Australia and cover its track and field Olympic coverage for much of the 1980s and eventually co-host Ten's Seoul 1988 coverage. If any of you Aussies here in these boards who have more intimate knowledge about of a programming guide of what was shown and at what times daily regarding 7's Moscow 1980 broadcast coverage, please help and your info would be greatly appreciated! Hope we get something

 

 

New Zealand's Olympic TV coverage was restricted to just two minutes a day during TVNZ's evening news reports, which in NZ's case was just as well since only 3 canoeists (Ian Ferguson, Alan Thompson, and Geoff Walker) and one modern pentathlete (Brian Newth) competed under the black NZOCGA flag as independents dwindled out of a NZ team originally slated for to have 98 athletes. Whatever comprehensive Moscow coverage subsequently came was likely imported from Australia's Seven across the Tasman Sea.

My guess is that Don Criqui would have had a role in Moscow for sure. He'd likely would have done basketball with McGuire likely, but if Charlie Jones didn't want to do two events on the same day, then gymnastics likely? Maybe Criqui would be at Central Sports Palace while Jones would be at Lenin Stadium.

[Durban Sandshark]

On 9/11/2017 at 9:32 PM, daniel anderson400 said:

My guess is that Don Criqui would have had a role in Moscow for sure. He'd likely would have done basketball with McGuire likely, but if Charlie Jones didn't want to do two events on the same day, then gymnastics likely? Maybe Criqui would be at Central Sports Palace while Jones would be at Lenin Stadium.

I think you're more right than I am as far as the prospective NBC 1980 Olympic broadcasters goes. Criqui, who had to have an Olympic assignment there as you say, certainly has the basketball experience like even covering ABA games on TV in the 1970s. And Charlie Jones would just stay at Lenin Stadium. Remember, the track and field event days would overlap even more with the swimming's back then unlike now. Don't want to overstretch poor Charlie now, would we? 

 

[daniel anderson400]

On 10/24/2014 at 5:03 PM, Durban Sandshark said:

What NBC was planning to cover in abundance in Moscow? Doing educated guesses based on what we know was planned and what came after for NBC and even ABC. Of course, the usual anchor Summer Olympic sports like swimming, track and field, and gymnastics. Basketball would no doubt get plenty of love, as the Americans were the dominant force come Olympic time. Boxing, diving, rowing, volleyball (NBC undoubtably would promote the debut of the US women's team), water polo, cycling, wrestling, canoeing/kayaking, weightlifting, and equestrian all would've earned ample TV time. Soccer would have received a serious boost in US TV with the qualified US (men's) team that was replaced by Cuba showing some of their games along with the final, something that would help soccer's profile and its consistent media exposure in the USA as the NASL was slowly dying thanks to overexpansion and financial incompetence and with the USA not being in the World Cup qualification wilderness for 30 years at that point. With the boycott had NBC stayed committed to air them, all US residents may have gotten was perhaps the semis and definitely the gold medal final. Based on what ABC did in Los Angeles, I'm guessing even modern pentathlon, with the structure that it had back then, would get some decent coverage.

Structural breakdown of daily broadcasting would likely been similar what we have today, albeit much smaller: NBC Today would kickstart things in the mornings as a lead-in with somebody in Moscow. During the daytime/afternoon hours it could have been a couple of hours on weekdays. Primetime undoubtably would be where it's at from 7-11pm US CST with various sports going on to show led by the anchor ones and likely some basketball included and boxing, for example--I'll assume Bryant Gumbel would anchor that. On weekends of course, we'd get them at 6pm. Saturdays and Sundays daytime coverage would go more all out with 5-7 hours each. Late nights woul be what I just mentioned in the last post hosted by David Letterman and Joe Garagiola that would be more lighthearted. Yes, you have to expect some Soviet Union featurettes and news during the ill-fated coverage, likely with John Chancellor guiding us. And, yes, those now-infamous Up Close & Personal puff pieces would dominate. Maybe like with Bob Costas/Meredith Viera/Matt Laurer years in Sochi, Vladimir Poszner would possibly stop by to help educate about the enigmatic Soviet Union to Americans like he did on Meet The Press back in those days. Like with Seoul 8 years later, NBC would've hopscotch along various sports going on giving it several minutes at a time with strong emphasis on the US Olympians and foreigners with strong medal contention. A crown jewel event like the men's and women's 100m may get live coverage with a reairing because it's very quick. Because of the time zone differential and the American TV business structural needs, NBC indeed would go tape-delayed in almost everything with Americans featured largely designated in primetime. Not sure where a sport like field hockey would fit into the mix had the USA qualified in either if not both. If that were the case, a timeslot surely would've been set aside for it, mostly in progress or tape-delayed unless they made it to the medal round. Team handball, archery, fencing, sailing, and shooting, sports with little to no serious US contention/interest, would find itself relegated towards brief highlights/narrative-weaving storylines. Maybe in the late night segments with seeing some action mixed from other sports like with maybe volleyball, weightlifting, and water polo.

NBC cancelled its coverage but sent some people to Moscow, albeit in a reduced and minor capacity to 56 cards at the IBC, videotaping coverage with its own camera for posterity and was restricted to highlights on Today, primetime, and on a concluding highlights show presented by Gumbel (who Baron despises ).

Here's a couple of "did you knows?" ABC Nightline, at the time of the Iran US Embassy hostage crisis, aired highlights of the Opening Ceremony and pledged to show daily highlights from the Moscow Olympics to start with, only to later announce that ABC, then THE Olympic network in the USA, can't show any further video footage from those Olympics because NBC still held exclusive US TV rights to showing Moscow 1980 footage. Bummer...

A couple of music ones connected to NBC's Moscow 1980 footage are that Herb Alpert's instrumental "1980" from his 1979 Rise album was slated to be used by NBC as the official score for its Moscow coverage. It is a majestic track and certainly serve NBC really well at the time, though a bit dated now, in an apt way to usher in the 1980s since ABC still held the exclusive rights to Bugler's Dream and John Williams hadn't yet composed the Olympic Fanfare and Theme, Olympic Spirit, Summon The Heroes. "1980" does indeed capture IMO the Olympic majesty, competition, spirit, and pagentry without initionally being it. "1980" did eventually get some broadcast use by NBC Sports when it became the theme music for its 1986 World Cup soccer coverage in Mexico, which aptly had a Mexican touch when the Unites States was still struglling to break through in qualifying...and Canada did for its first and so far only time. But I digress about that.

 

 

Also, there was the "We Are One" official NBC Olympic song that was to be used and already recorded for the Moscow Olympics, calling that the USA is one with the team and that all the athletes around the world are unified in the spirit of competition. NBC did eventually use it upon its Seoul 1988 Olympic preview, like on its first commercial break when the athletes arrive at the Seoul International Airport. And later for its Barcelona 1992 promos like this one for world lump jump record holder Mike Powell

 

 

But NBC's 150.5 wasn't the largest amount of planned hours covered for Moscow in a boycotting nation. Japan's TV Asahi, not NHK as many would be stunned to know, paid for the exclusive Japanese TV rights to the Moscow 1980 back when it was known as NET (Nippon Educational Television) with plans to broadcast 206 hours with approximately 12 hours daily. Just weeks after it changed its name to TV Asahi in 1980 to reflect its new direction to be a commercial TV network, it drastically reduced its coverage plans from 206 all the way to just 40 hours with 68 cards reserved for their staff in Moscow following the Japanese government's decision to boycott them and deny their athletes a chance. You'll see some Moscow 1980 gymnastics clips on YouTube with some Japanese commentary. That's all from TV Asahi. Gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, track and field, and I think, volleyball were all covered because those are all popular sports to them.

Even West Germany planned to broadcast more TV hours than NBC before it too joined the boycott. Not sure it was going to be co-aired like it is nowdays with ZDF and ARD. That nation, this version of the Federal Republic of Germany, was to have 180 hours in total from Moscow. I'll say solely ARD. After the boycott, coverage was reduced to a paltry 20 hours.

The CBC also abandoned plans to cover the 1980 Moscow Olympics to the cost of $5 million+. CBC President Al Johnson decided to follow suit from the Canadian government in Ottawa after strong public pressure despite no communication between it and the crown corporation with its own boycott, thinking it would be "paradoxical" for the CBC to air a sporting event with very few, if any, Canadian participation and that few at home there would watch. It planned to send a 142-person crew to Moscow and stood to lose a combined $2.4 million in rights fees and facility rentals (C$1.2 million each) to pay back to the Soviets with an additional C$3.8 million advertising revenue loss. CTV planned to show primetime highlights package from Moscow in an arrangment with the CBC that got scuttled and dropped its Olympic coverage plans altogether on the same day the CBC announced it was dropping theirs. Went there anyway with 9 cards representation. CBC's plans for TV coverage in terms of hours was very similiar to NBC's but very likely was to be wall-to-wall live and nonstop me from early morning to the afternoon with maybe its own primetime highlights show, since it was not subject to strong business obligations like south of the border. I'd say no more than around 160 hours originally planned from the CBC.

A few things about Moscow... Who would have done MLB for NBC if Joe Garagiola couldn't? Would that be where Costas or Merle Harmon would come in? I could see Harmon and Costas handling the MLB games for NBC during that period.

[JMarkSnow2012]

12 hours ago, daniel anderson400 said:

Costas handling

This forum does have a "quote selection" facility !

[Durban Sandshark]

An assortment of broadcast promos from NBC Olympic network family's coverage of Athens 2004 that ushered in new ground in having multiple TV channels showing longform event presentation, often live, and pretty much round the clock. With these Olympics, it was the first time the Olympics were on HDTV, to hit the 1000-hour barrier, and got expanded with the inclusion of USA, Telemundo, and Bravo thanks to NBC Universal's then-recent acquisition of them to go with NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. Also it was the first time on US television the Olympics were broadcast in Spanish. Too bad the Internet came later: 

 

 

[Durban Sandshark]

As we get ourselves prepared and ready for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, let's take an interesting look back at when South Korea last hosted an Olympics almost 30 years ago at this writing. But I'll take an interesting selection taking segments from then-West Germany's ARD as the first clip that apparently taken from its preview hosted by Werner Zimmer when we see the FRG athletes arriving in Seoul like golden slam girl Steffi Graf and Jurgen Hinsen, Michael Gross and Carl Lewis studio interviews, a studio performance by recording artist Min Hae Kyung, how Seoul is getting prepared and promoting itself globally with those slices of Korean culture since its 1981 selection in Baden-Baden, Germany, and the Soviet athletes:

 

[mattperiolat]

On 10/2/2017 at 9:49 PM, Durban Sandshark said:

An assortment of broadcast promos from NBC Olympic network family's coverage of Athens 2004 that ushered in new ground in having multiple TV channels showing longform event presentation, often live, and pretty much round the clock. With these Olympics, it was the first time the Olympics were on HDTV, to hit the 1000-hour barrier, and got expanded with the inclusion of USA, Telemundo, and Bravo thanks to NBC Universal's then-recent acquisition of them to go with NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. Also it was the first time on US television the Olympics were broadcast in Spanish. Too bad the Internet came later: 

 

 

Oh, the memories of Athens. No fewer than four, sometimes five VCRs running, trying to get it all. To this day, I’ve not had a chance to review all the tape, there was SO much. And I was working at the time. But significant - Athens was really the first time NBC took what they had learned from the Triplecast misfire and have enough networks to support it all the coverage. I cannot tell you how amazing it was to see air rifle, sailing, rowing heats all on television without US athletes. It was, at the time, revolutionary. For all it’s faults, that was really where the idea of complete Olympic coverage, relatively unbiased, was realized here in the States.

[Durban Sandshark]

Recently appeared on YouTube right in time for Pyeongchang 2018 this February is this rare ABC Lake Placid 1980 promo centering on America's top speedskaters Eric Heiden (the legend) and his sis Beth coming in as all-around world champion and husband-wife duo of defending 1976 gold medalist Peter and Leah Poulos Mueller. Even marking the calendar when the Winter Olympics starts so that Americans can watch, so this surely came from before the Opening Ceremony that Tuesday 2/12/1980 (before this promo sent ABC viewers back to Galatica 1980). Certainly don't make American Olympic TV promos like they used to. Then again, NBC is NOT like what ABC was in terms of marketing and promotion. Remember please this was a different era back then with not as many events as they are now, much less in nations:

Keeping Lake Placid in our minds, we see Germany's ARD resuming their Winter Olympics action on that day when the coverage wasn't quite as wall to wall, only broken up, as it is nowdays even with the Winter Olympics late on Tuesday February 19, 1980 from a classic dubbed United Artists movie transitioning to 2/20/1980 that shares that day's schedules with ZDF as German state broadcasters. As it was Das Erste's turn to broadcast as they alternated the Olympic TV coverage everyday apparently back then too starting with the previous day's summary and highlights on ARD Olympiastudio after Tagesschau and then coming back after several hours for almost three hours of Lake Placid Heute and back for more live stuff off and on up to the Soviet Union-Canada and Germany-USA ice hockey games up to early morning. Presentation of day's schedules and ARD's Lake Placid Heute intro obviously are primitive now as it led up to the ice dancing about to take place led by studio host Werner Zimmer, loving how he kicks back and relaxing in his chair, for its morning segment--you'll spot the incomplete roster at the very end starting from skating 7th. Like with so many European broadcasters, there's a channel presenter introducing the programming between hours:   

 

[panamfan]

Here is a very interesting article from The Sporting News revealing how Tamara Kline came to write the CBS Winter Olympics Main Title Theme used in 1992-1994-1998:

http://www.sportingnews.com/athletics/news/tamara-kline-winter-olympic-theme-music-cbs-1992-1994-1998-video-recording/rwe9tz1oom4418fwa2a13ifq4

The Sporting News

In appreciation of Tamara Kline’s wonderful, forgotten Winter Olympics theme

February 13, 2018 6:33pm EST
February 13, 2018 12:39pm EST

Back when CBS held broadcast rights for the Winter Games, it was a largely unknown composer for television commercials who provided the Olympic soundtrack that filled living rooms and became a nightly earworm.

Jason Foster
 @ByJasonFoster
Published on Feb. 13, 2018
For much of the past three decades, the sound of the Olympics has belonged to superstar composer John Williams, whose fanfares and melodies have become a ubiquitous presence embedded in the DNA of international competition.
But for six years in the 1990s, the sound of athletic glory also belonged to Tamara Kline.

Back when CBS held broadcast rights for the Winter Games — 1992, 1994 and 1998 — it was Kline, then a largely unknown composer for television commercials, who provided the Olympic soundtrack that filled living rooms and became a nightly earworm as it anchored CBS’ coverage.
Her theme was a soaring, uplifting piece that resonated in the way valiant sports anthems usually do — a tune you can’t escape, instantly recognizable, immanently hummable, and the kind of thing you hear in your head when you accomplish something special.
But after CBS concluded its final Olympic broadcast on Feb. 22, 1998, the theme vanished into the ether, becoming a mostly forgotten footnote in the Olympics’ musical legacy.
Despite its relative obscurity, Kline’s Olympic theme is noteworthy, not only for its quality and uniqueness but also the seemingly random way in which a virtually unknown composer landed such a major assignment.
Underrated, under-discussed and still unknown to many, Kline’s theme nobly did its part as the musical heartbeat that drove a large chunk of the ‘90s Olympic experience in the United States.
This is the story of how it happened.

Kline’s journey to her own version of Olympic glory started in 1991 when a colleague mentioned that CBS was looking for an Olympic theme for its coverage of the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France.
Kline was composing music for commercials at the time, and though she had some national spots — AT&T, Burger King and FedEx among them — she wasn’t a big name in the industry. CBS had already invited many composers, including a few prominent ones, to submit demos for consideration, but Kline felt drawn to the assignment.
“They didn’t know me, so I called and asked if I could submit a demo,” she told Sporting News. “It seemed like a one in a million opportunity, but I definitely wanted to throw my hat into the ring.”
The network wanted a memorable theme that could be molded into different styles and orchestrations, and that could be adapted to whatever mood the broadcast called for. They also wanted something grand and heroic, but wholly original. In other words, they didn’t want a John Williams knockoff.
“They wanted to try something unique,” Kline said, recalling how the network’s original fax asked for a theme that would illicit a “vast landscape of snow-covered mountains.”
“They [also] wanted a memorable melody that would capture the emotional dichotomy of the Olympics: the glory and the humility, the greatness and graciousness.”
So Kline got to work in her home studio, working up a synth mockup of an orchestral theme that she felt matched CBS’ desires. She was especially inspired by the idea of people striving for their best, facing their limitations and overcoming them.
The theme came to mind almost immediately — a melody that seems to embody the idea of reaching higher, then higher still.
“I genuinely connected to all the emotions [CBS] described,” Kline said. “I stood in my backyard and looked out into the canyons. Honestly, it was as if the theme wrote itself.”
She submitted the demo, one of about 200 that CBS received. Months passed, and she assumed CBS had already hired another composer. Then she got a call from late CBS producer Doug Towey, the man who later commissioned the network’s famous NCAA basketball theme, who told Kline her theme had been chosen.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I thought one of my friends was playing a joke on me. I was ecstatic.”
From there, it was a whirlwind of activity over a short period. Kline and a team of arrangers had roughly two weeks to come up with about 60 versions of her theme — a pop version, a traditional orchestral version, a laid-back version, a five-second bumper, a 10-second bumper, a 30-second presentation, a 60-second take, a 2 ½ minute version, and so on — before heading to England to record with the London Symphony Orchestra.
“We were still finishing some of the arrangements on the trip to London,” Kline said.
CBS used the theme in some commercials to promote the upcoming games in Albertville, but it wasn’t until Feb. 8, 1992, that Kline’s music had its national debut.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, both from CBS and Kline’s colleagues. For a composer whose music was usually competing with dialogue and sound effects in commercials, having her theme front and center before a national audience was a unique experience.
“To hear it on television, rhythmically cut to Olympic skiers and skaters, or with the beautiful CBS graphics, was absolutely thrilling,” Kline said. “It made me smile every time. And to hear it all day, every day, for 16 days in a row, was pretty surreal.”
Indeed, Kline’s theme was a constant presence. For those two weeks in 1992, then again in 1994 and again in 1998, she had arguably the most-heard tune in the United States.

But even as viewers hummed the theme during the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Kline’s anthem was already on its way out. Before CBS could secure another Winter Olympics, before the theme could further ingrain itself in America’s conscience, NBC surprised everyone in 1995 with a major winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. CBS’ time as an Olympics host was over — and so was Kline’s time as the maestro.
She hoped that CBS would find another use for the theme, or perhaps release the music commercially on CD, but neither happened. Nor did her theme’s prominence lead to other composing assignments, likely because it wasn’t exactly a “score” and wouldn’t have attracted much attention in the commercial and TV/film scoring worlds. 
Still, nearly 20 years after its strains last wafted across America, Kline’s theme has a cult-like following among fans of film and television music, and, judging by various message board posts through the years, remains a Holy Grail recording for some.
Fans have written to her to ask about a potential CD or digital release, but the chances of that happening are slim. Even Kline doesn’t have the recordings, apart from a few of the shorter renditions. But even if she did, she co-owns the music with CBS, so any proper release would have to be worked out between them.
“I brought it up a few times over the years, but CBS wasn’t really interested,” she said. “They probably didn’t think it would’ve generated much money.”
But knowing that her theme still resonates, albeit in small circles, 20 years after it left the airwaves is its own kind of reward.
“I am surprised and delighted,” she said. “It means so much to me.”
Though she still occasionally writes music and performs, Kline left the music business in the early 2000s after the industry’s culture and landscape began to shift. Budding software and other technology allowed virtually anyone to be considered a composer, which meant the amount of competition proliferated. Meanwhile, music budgets for commercials, TV shows and films started to shrink. Add it all up and it was time to try something new.
“I feel incredibly blessed to have had such a rich and wonderful career in the music business. I look back on those days with awe and gratitude,” she said. “But when music budgets and residuals started getting smaller, and I started getting older, I knew I needed to make a change.”
Kline went back to school to study clinical psychology and now works as a licensed therapist in Beverly Hills — a new life that’s worlds away from the one in which she landed that plum assignment in 1991.
But don’t think for a minute that she doesn’t still treasure her Olympic experience, even without album sales and fame. Being chosen for an assignment that was previously given to an All-Star composer like Williams was and is a true honor, Kline said.
“It’s a gold medal for me,” she said. “That’s for sure.”

© 2018 Sporting News Media and its licensors. All rights reserved.

[BTHarner]

It was a great piece of music. I didn't care for the fact that CBS didn't use the really majestic sounding piece for the primetime coverage in Nagano, but then there was a lot that CBS did in Nagano that I didn't care for.

[Durban Sandshark]

Bob Moir was among the first Olympic commentators starting with CBC's Tokyo 1964 coverage before moving into the production side of things like in executive producing Montreal, Seoul, and Albertville. During his 40+ years of CBC work, he recruited and promoted some of the most talented sportscasters and analysts in Canadian broadcasting history. He and Don Wittman once crawled under the Olympic Village fence across from the Israeli dorms to cover the tragedy in Munich. Had a love for figure skating. Simultaneously generous and demanding in his job, Moir died in December 2016 at 87. 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/former-cbc-sports-exec-producer-192335081.html

[Durban Sandshark]

On 3/23/2018 at 3:26 PM, BTHarner said:

It was a great piece of music. I didn't care for the fact that CBS didn't use the really majestic sounding piece for the primetime coverage in Nagano, but then there was a lot that CBS did in Nagano that I didn't care for.

Actually I too miss her score to CBS Winter Olympics Games coverage from the 1990s. The time is more than right to have it commercially released. Rare for the time certainly that a woman was behind this "majesty". Being spoiled with wall-to-wall coverage nowadays, I kinda wish CBS/TNT did likewise for at on the cable side in hindsight. That's the technology back then.

Uploaded recently. The Seven Network down in Australia celebrated 40 years of broadcasting the Olympics back in 1996 by presenting and recreating and juxtaposing (with archival of Australians winning) the look of the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics, the first Olympics televised certainly in Australia and globally except for North America due to rights issues (and Africa for there was no television services set up yet for many) with more present day coverage as 7 Sport was looking ahead towards Atlanta utilizing the earth tone colors of rust and black in cinematography for continuing that Olympic broadcasting tradition to Australians as "Australia's Home of the Olympics" as Atlanta 1996 studio anchor Gary Wilkinson boasting that 7 will have 400 cameras to present the "ultimate TV event" action from an "experienced" group. Do recognize Wilkinson, Bruce McAvaney, and Sandy Roberts in the squares--surely, McAvaney also did the track and field. Don't recognize the other two--the woman and the man. All were studio anchors during the nearly 24/7 coverage that started July 20, I'm sure. Ends with a coverage's sponsors promotion of McDonald's, Telstra, and Ford. Of course that was nothing compared to four years later for Seven's massive project and hype in their own backyard...

NBC prepared for its second Summer Olympics during this current era it's on for the eagerly anticipated Barcelona 1992 edition by bringing out that song We Are One, a song that was originally intended for NBC's aborted coverage of the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics during this 1-minute promo before getting a second chance when NBC got the Olympic rights again for good and I don't know who the performers were to that. Glad it's on there more fully. Do remember hearing a snippet on NBC's Seoul pre-Games preview before going to its first commercial break as primetime anchor and host Bryant Gumbel mentioned about the song. We get a montage of US Olympic hopefuls like Mike Powell, Magic Johnson, Kim Zmeskal, Karch Kiraly and the rest of the US men's volleyball team, Michael Jordan, Matt Biondi, FloJo, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Chris Mullin, and Carl Lewis. Had to have been aired no earlier in the spring of that year because we see some footage of the 1992 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando that NBC broadcasted:

 

[Durban Sandshark]

Found this out in the book Prime Time Society while on Google books. Globo's choppy (by our standards) coverage of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, mostly the pro-Brazil stuff, in its portion so as not to interfere with its famed telenovelas actually has antecedents. Back in 1984 with the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, Globo aired a lot less during primetime. Did show a daily afternoon block but not like that in primetime. Then again, there were less like in events. But anyway it seemed like Brazilians totally didn't care when watching on Globo save for their own. Neither ceremony even ranked in the top 10 in Brazilian TV's most-watched events in 1984 unlike in the USA--closing ceremony was 10th tied with V: The Final Chapter. At the time, no sports event gets lots of national attention in Brazil save for World Cups, especially when Brazil is playing, and generally at the time did less of that unlike now with SporTV, ESPN Brasil, Band Sports, and FOX Sports Brasil all in existence. Globo, obtaining the coverage feed from ABC, gave Los Angeles 1984 little attention even when Brazil sent a large delegation. It never substituted its regular programming for the Olympics like we do, ceremonies aside. Only interrupting for a few live Olympic sports events of particular interest to Brazilians (examples include swimmer Ricardo Prado's 400m IM to silver during 8pm telenovelas and runner Joaquim Cruz winning the 800m) and neglected some of the more dramatic or key events. Reporting the events was amatuerish and lacking in expert commentary to attract the novices and thus making mistakes, much less utilizing the human angles towards events and athletes like those infamous "Up Close and Personals". Judo got the short shrift there too then with Brazilians as medal contenders and no footage at all on Globo; just names mentioned on an on-screen list with results. 

Whatever the high focus was on Brazilian media with Los Angeles lied in the basketball, volleyball, and of course soccer. Matter of fact as hinted, Brazilians preferred watching the giant TV behemoth Globo's normal programming live its primetime telenovelas, popularized during military over now-defunct TV Manchete's 1984 Olympics coverage 7:1. So it made sense given the demand in the programmers' eyes there. TV Manchete, TV Bandeirantes, Record, SBT (mostly Women in The Olympics programming).

[Durban Sandshark]

The only Brazilian TV listings for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics I could find so far. Dated August 8, 1984. It's from a Brazilian blog with the free-to-air Brazilian channels at the time including both now-defunct TV Manchete and TV Bandeirantes that went all out on Los Angeles 1984 throughout the day doing the bulk of the coverage. Record Channel 7 only came in with their contribution of the day during Brazil's primetime. As would expect from the channels sharing events to broadcast was commonplace. Obviously there was no pay-TV Olympic programming back there in Brazil like SporTV:

http://ehmbdeolhonatv.blogspot.com/2017/08/programacao-antiga-8-de-agosto-de-1984.html

A well-detailed and informed piece on the history and evolution of the Summer Olympic Games on Brazilian TV starting from the 1960s with Tokyo, when the images arrived late by a few days and couldn't quite benefit with satellite transmission yet. When it gets to Los Angeles, we get more detailed on the TV networks that covered them. Subscription TV coverage arrives with Atlanta from SporTV and ESPN Brasil:

http://ehmbdeolhonatv.blogspot.com/2016/08/historia-tv-brasileira-nos-jogos.html

For Seoul 1988, Globo, SBT, TV Manchete, and Band all aired the Olympics. But SBT bucked the trend and instead of the Opening Ceremony live showed The Terminator movie unlike the others that aired on Brazilian TV for the first time under the Cinema em Casa slot, although an abridged version was shown immediately afterwards. That worked for executive Silvio Santos, who presumed the live simulcast would divide the TV ratings. Gave SBT 37 points in comparison to the combined 41 ratings points to the OC.  Plus all the broadcasters didn't show the Brazil-Soviet Union gold medal soccer game extra time portion, cut off to make way for the required political propaganda with the upcoming national election, though Band and Manchete did show the tape delay of ET. Fans had to resort to the radio to follow the live finish:

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=https://noticiasdatv.uol.com.br/noticia/televisao/em-1988-sbt-esnobou-abertura-de-olimpiada-e-se-deu-bem-com-filme-12199&prev=search

The BBC's Los Angeles 1984 Olympics promo for its BBC1 channel from 0:18-1:04 as the Olympic Channel. You'll see a montage of athletes like Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson, Allen Wells, Kathryn Smallwood (?), Chris Snode with a host of other footage some from Moscow and other events worldwide. Could've had ITV involved too but a recent strike there ruined those plans:

 

[Durban Sandshark]

Going to take a detour from past Brazilian Olympic Games TV coverage with this post as I return to my Moscow 1980 obsession. Got the long anticipated general additional details of Seven's coverage of the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics resulting from that then-record A$1 million deal struck in 1977 for exclusivity in Australia. The Seven Network planned for it to be "the biggest event in Australian television history" using live satellite footage from Moscow. According to the Television AU website, the site posted an ad from TV Guide from July 18, 1980 from Adelaide, SA detailing the general coverage, we now know that Seven aired at least 60 hours from Moscow; to me it resembled more like around 64-65 hours including the Opening Ceremony. And the coverage was choppy, which had as much to do with the spectre of the boycott involving Australia and whether Seven would go ahead with the project, as mentioned earlier here. Daily coverage on 7 was for "around 4 hours around each day for the duration of competition" with a lot of bouncing around with priority naturally towards the Aussies whenever they compete, especially if they're in medal contention. By choppy, I mean Seven structured it in segments starting it at 7-8am daily before returning with a 1-hour highlight program at 5:30-6:30pm daily from Monday-Friday and 5-6pm on Weekends ending with live coverage from 10:30pm-1am when 7 signs off for the day (all times here ACST which is 30 minutes behind the AEST time zone on its east coast since this if from TV Guide's Adelaide edition). Certainly looks like a pittance by today's standards. Had Australia fielded a larger team in more sports like including the men's and women's field hockey teams and maybe women's basketball and volleyball, the coverage without question would have been up to around 120-140 hours at least. I also do think 7 would have went a lot longer well into the late night hours if that was the case.

Seven sent a team of 100 Australian people to Moscow in production, commentary, and technical in bringing full coverage (by Australian Olympic TV transmission standards at the time) in 21 sports. Lots of bouncing around through the sports in the coverage surely. Had its own Moscow studio from the IBC with satellite access to at least the five Moscow stadiums. A couple of sponsors did indeed completely pull out from 7's coverage like Ford Motors and Westpac with others greatly reducing theirs reflecting with 7's reduced coverage. Apparently Nine wanted to slip past the door when the arrangement was that all Australian TV networks covered the previous Olympics through a shared telecast like Montreal and Munich. Ron Casey got wind of that through a contact in the Moscow organizing committee of the games and managed to secure those exclusive rights in 1977. How different it would've been had the Australian pool got together again for Moscow, how organized it would be, and who would get the rights to what sport and event. The Nine Network had nothing to do with the sponsor pullout since its major sports TV investment was securing the World Series of Cricket. Using Seven's money, Casey, as Australian Team Manager and after putting then-PM Malcolm Fraser in his place for threatening him not to go,  ended up bankrolling the Games. So much so that the Games were nicknamed "The Casey Olympics" down there. He started off hosting them from a Moscow studio and at Lenin Stadium for the ceremonies, but he was so bad like when he mispronounced names that management pulled him off air and later was replaced by Sandy Roberts as main studio anchor. Those who were around in Melbourne at the time would recognize several HSV-7 personalities on the staff.

https://televisionau.com/classic-tv-guides/tv190780

Wasn't until recently that I discovered that Britain's ITV did its portion of Moscow 1980 along with the BBC under its Olympics '80 banner. Just the BBC, I thought, with its Olympic Grandstand. ITV planned to originally show 170 hours of Moscow 1980 but greatly reduced it to just 40 with Dickie Davies serving as the main studio anchor with Fred Dinenage on site too at the Moscow studio. On this scaled back coverage presented by ITV Sport that was presented 2.5 hours every day in a mixture of highlights and live coverage during the afternoon and primetime when the BBC didn't do anything Olympics. Davies notes in this video on this day--Thursday July 24, 1980 (a sunny day)--a quartet of swimming finals that were the men's 100m freestyle, women's 100m butterfly, women's 200m freestyle, and men's 4x100 IM relay ITV covered that fell on the same day track and field starts at Lenin Stadium when the first look at Britain's athletics stars and top medal hopefuls then like Coe, Ovett, Allan Wells, and Tessa Sanderson. Following is the ITV Olympics '80 intro from that day that has nods to ancient Greece with the flame and the discus throw: 

Detailing why ITV didn't do Los Angeles. ITV was meant to broadcast the Los Angeles 1984  in conjunction with Channel 4 but an industrial strike with the late Alan Sapper, the head of the A.C.T.T. Union, on whether two or three men--and were mostly men--in those days as to handle the new Electronic News Gathering Units for short meant that ITV and Channel Four management pulled out of coverage in 1984. ITV then got double the viewing figures for the American Sci-Fi series V, which was watched by 2.4 million viewers at 2am in the morning back in 1984, leading to I.T.V. starting a phased 24 hour Regional service from Region to Region in 1985. Also began at TVam, who were going to show live coverage and highlights--apparently with Telly Savalas from Kojak commentating--but their unions wouldn't agree to the terms so they pulled out and the entire network coverage collapsed. Clive Jones, the editor of TVam, resigned in protest. 

Just started looking into Ireland's RTE Moscow 1980 coverage. All I got so far has been the team of people that were involved like the late Bill O'Herlihy (went on to cover 10 Olympics in total, all Summer, since RTE hadn't got into it until 2010), Jimmy Magee, John Kirwan, Jim Sherwin, the late Eammon O Muirri, and Brandon O'Reilly. Surely there was a RTE interview done with fellow Irishman Lord Michael Killanin, the IOC President at the time, during its coverage likely around the Opening Ceremony as he was stepping away from his post. Still discovering. 

That Los Angeles Opening Ceremony in 1984 was the first time TV Globo aired in full with Galvao Bueno and Osmar Santos that had images from Globo's own cameras coinciding with the ABC international feed in Brazil. Never mind the commercials it played interrupted the showing of several nations marching when you recall from my posting of it a while back. Before that, Gloria Maria did an interview with the great Edwin Moses tucked away in a corrider near the athletes' buses and he tells what an honor to recite the Athletes' Oath and says runner Joaquim Cruz was Brazil's best gold medal prospect:

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://memoriaglobo.globo.com/programas/esporte/eventos-e-coberturas/olimpiada-de-los-angeles-1984/olimpiada-de-los-angeles-1984-transmissao-e-cobertura.htm&prev=search

[panamfan]

Here is a new posting on youtube:

Day 8 of ESPN's coverage of the 1987 US Olympic Festival in North Carolina on July 24, 1987. Hosted by Jim Kelly and Gayle Gardner the broadcast features track and field, tae kwan do, and gymnastics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC7u-l1M_uk

 

[Durban Sandshark]

Another recent posting here on YouTube. Some 93 minutes of Israeli coverage from the Seoul 1988 Olympics from now-defunct Channel 1, at the time the only FTA Israeli TV channel until the early 1990s. Don't think Channel 1 had several hours daily devoted to the coverage at the time--and had a low budget in its rights and production. Overall, it had to be not much around 100 hours at the time. Thus it used the world feed from KBS. Nor do I think there was any Arabic used. Seems as though this was more a daily highlights package in a wraparound format intended to last perhaps 2-3 hours. It uses the Hebrew graphics for one event result (track) and was mostly on during September 23-24, 1988. Since Israel was four years away from winning a medal and had a small contingent in Seoul (19 athletes) that nobody on it there screamed medal contender, the focus was going to be on the popular and anchor Olympics sports for Israelis like basketball (USA vs. China), women's field hockey (Great Britain vs. Netherlands) coming first here, lots of track and field including the controversial but always hot anticipated men's 100m final (from 46:30-55:47) and subsequent medal ceremony with the shortest medal ceremony playing of O Canada I ever heard (1:11:52-1:15:10) and women's heptathlon and men's triple jump and women's 100m heats, and a little gymnastics. Like to know who the anchor is here presenting the highlights on Channel 1 and the sportscasters:

 

[Durban Sandshark]

It's well-known that Americans living right at the Canadian-US border have the luxury, unlike the rest of us here in America, of catching the LIVE Canadian coverage presentation of the Olympic Games unlike seeing them live in Buffalo, Seattle, and Detroit, where you can get the CBC and CTV channels. Mostly on the CBC in comparison to what NBC proper offers in this era. But in this case, I'm presenting the link from a 1992 Buffalo News article alerting Americans that they can watch the Summer Olympics on TV almost entirely for FREE and LIVE from Canada without the aid of the infamous Olympic Triplecast coming from CFTO TV-9 Toronto! Was a different era no doubt just before the Internet came along and even Canadian broadcasters weren't ready to embrace that yet at the time. More makes the long-searching info on CTV Barcelona makes it more fleshed out. Works still needs to be done, though. Not sure what TSN was doing back then if it did these Olympics.  

Coverage was 176.5 hours and mostly LIVE as opposed to (and 15 hours more than) NBC's 161 that was all but 5-8 hours of that live with at least 4 hours of daily live coverage on weekday afternoons. Thanks to this piece, I can fill in some more details. Established that Rod Black, THE man in Canadian TV sportscasting back in the 1990s, anchored the primetime segment from 6 or 6:30-9pm Canada/USA CT. Tracy Wilson, who earlier that year help covered the figure skating in Albertville on CBS, co-hosted the CTV Opening Ceremony presentation with CTV National News anchor Lloyd Robertson that went on tape delayed in primetime 6-9 pm like in the NBC version, one of the few events that did. She also shared the afternoon segment duties with longtime reporter Dan Matheson. Its daily live afternoon coverage usually came around 12-4pm during the daytime segment that usually went roughly 10am-5pm (weekdays it'll go up to 4pm). Longtime Canada men's basketball coach Jack Donohue covered basketball in Barcelona like the Dream Team games--happen to have a copy of Jack McCallum's Dream Team right beside me now while sporting a Canada Basketball Nike longsleeve T-shirt as I'm writing this. Surely, at least the first Dream Team game against Angola, the semis, and the gold medal final were shown on CTV given the huge demand for them. Lorissa Lowing did gymnastics as analyst. Hardcore followers of Olympic broadcasting like many of us here will know Byron MacDonald was at the pool with Mark Faulds, particularly when Calgary native Mark Tewksbury won a surprise gold Ron Reusch covered baseball in its Olympic debut. Don't know what CFTO sports anchor Suneel Joshi and John David "JD" Roberts, then at Canada AM, did there. Time slots (all times CT, live across Canada so no delaying for time zones like here in the US with the East and West--Mountain and Pacific)--still need help in  the fuller coverage and what sports were in each slot:

July 25, 1992--12-1pm (preview?), 6-9pm (Opening Ceremony), 11pm-1:30am (OC H/L)

July 26, August 2--10am-5pm, 6-9pm, 11pm-1:30am

July 27, August 1, 3, 8--10am-5pm, 6:30-9pm, 11pm-1:30am   

July 28-31, August 4-7--10am-4pm, 6:30-9pm, 11pm-1:30am

August 9--10am-5pm, 6-9pm (Closing Ceremony, surely that was shown up in Canada in full unlike what NBC did)

https://buffalonews.com/1992/07/23/wnyers-can-watch-it-live-for-free-on-ctv/

https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1992/7/27/live-from-barcelona#!&pid=40

[Durban Sandshark]

Just this afternoon I went over thanks to a Google search to see some TV schedules that contained some past Olympics in its listings. So I spotted some Buenos Aires ones on the forum from Radio Discussions' website representing Argentina during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, you know the Centennial Olympic Games. I'll write them down if needed here; there's only a few of them right now. America 2, Telefe, and Canal 13 all were involved in the free-to-air Argentinian TV portion of these Games. Telefe is Channel 11 down there. America 2 ceased operations, I guess. What these channels did was emulating what neighboring Brazil, which was an interesting thing at the time. Not like what Argentina broadcasters do now and have just one Olympics broadcaster involved as an OTA'er. Multiple OTA channels from Argentina airing it, which certainly had a lot to do with Argentina soccer airing on all channels, often simultaneously with Argentina. And it was because of soccer, the most important sport in the nation but also aired other sports that are popular in Argentina like basketball, field hockey, and volleyball. Especially along with any other Olympic sport, mostly whenever there's Argentinian Olympians involved with a few popular foreign teams thrown in. America 2's, Telefe's, and Canal 13's coverage all weren't always nonstop, although America 2 came close to doing that but not without a break for a hour or even three before resuming to the action. Certainly had the bulk of the coverage with the other just appearing for a few hours everyday and covered both ceremonies. 

By contrast, TyC Sports, Argentina's premier cable sports TV network, aired more than 14 hours daily live from Atlanta from 10am until midnight Buenos Aires time and was more comprehensive with its roster of sports broadcasting most events involving many nations not just Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Something like 240 hours including the Opening Ceremony and pre-OC soccer games

 

[Durban Sandshark]

Tokyo is where NBC continues its Olympic TV broadcasting streak. Tokyo was where NBC got started in the American Olympic TV broadcasting now 56 years ago. Well, would be come October, more accurately.  NBC showed 15 hours in total coverage over 15 days that was conducted in an average of 45 minutes daily highlights package a few hours after the competition for the $1.5 million price tag (first time an Olympics surpassed the $1 million barrier). At the time, it took advantage of the latest communication tech advancements like using the Syncom 3 satellite for direct broadcasts and the advent of color TV, which NBC's opening ceremonies showing in 1964 marked the first color broadcast televised live via satellite from 12-2am US CT back to the United States and that itself took a few hours. Yet NBC's Olympic competition airing itself was broadcast only in black-and-white. Outside the Syncom 3 satellite, videotape canisters were flown across the Pacific Ocean and were broadcast to American viewers the following day.

Serving as NBC Tokyo 1964 anchor was Bill Henry, then NBC News Tokyo bureau chief, who had extensive experience in both print and broadcast news. Play-by-play commentators included Bud Palmer and Jim Simpson, while former Olympic gold medalists Rafer Johnson (track and field) and Murray Rose (swimming) served as analysts. If there's anything NBC is remembered for out of the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics with the competition, it's the excitable "Look at Mills! Look at Mills!" call on hard-charging unknown Billy Mills' huge upset on heavy faves Australia's Ron Clarke and Tunisia's Mohammed Gammoudi in the men's 10,000m final. NBC track analyst Dick Bank brought all the drama and shock with that screaming above call with Bud Palmer more oblivious to what was unfolding until slightly too late. For that seeming lack of professionalism, Bank got fired.

NBC's Tokyo Olympics 1964 logo was pretty nice. Even if it was just in B/W. Although NBC's current Tokyo 2020 broadcast logo is very good with the Japanese caliagraphy-inspired design, maybe an updated version could've been interesting to use as we look back under a callback mode. Very interesting now there were sponsorships with Kent Cigarettes, Schlitz beer, and Texaco.  

Needless to say and my oh my, lots of technological developments and advancements came forth in between these Olympics.

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2019/10/10/nbc-1964-olympics-tokyo-broadcast/

[danderson4500]

I'm surprised that ABC didn't devote it's prime time schedule to the 1980 Winter Olympics.

[danderson4500]

I still remember in Nanago in 98, watching CBC and I could hear the anger in Brian Williams's voice(the CBC guy) because the snowboarder from Canada was disqualified. I just cant imagine McKay or Gifford during the ABC era being that mad over a decision like that.