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Jeff, it looks like if you lived on the west coast, you had a bit more than a three hour delay in some cases:
http://www.metnews.com/reminiscing.htm go to the "reminiscing" page, then "early television" the first article is called "snowy kinescopes-two weeks late" He has some neat articles on his early tv experiences. |
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Quote:
I'm not sure how, in the 1950s-'60s before video tape, West Coast affiliates of the major television networks handled delayed broadcasts of shows that originated at, for example, 5 a.m. on the other coast, or how they handled other time differences for the Mountain and Central time zones. That would mean the West Coast stations would either have to broadcast the show live (at 2 a.m. Pacific time[!]) or videotape it so that they could show it later in the day. Of course, before videotape this would have been impossible except for systems such as the DuMont Electronicam, but then again, there would be the usual two-week delay before the stations out West could broadcast the program. Videotape made things easier for the stations in the West, I'm sure, but the time zone bugaboo was still a problem. Even today, with the networks all uplinking their programming to satellites for distribution to affiliates, stations in the Pacific time zone often must videotape the programs to fit their schedules. I recently saw a promo for a program on NBC that announced the show would be seen live everywhere in the US; the program aired on the network at some ridiculously early hour of the morning Eastern time. How on earth was it possible for all the US to see this program live? If the show were aired at, say, 6 a.m. Eastern time, it would be seen in the Central time zone at 5 a.m., the Mountain zone at four a. m., and out west in the Pacific zone at three a.m.! Who is going to get up at three o'clock in the morning in the West (for example) to watch a program, unless it is something of national importance such as a space mission? This would also be the only time TV stations would stay on the air all night in those days, before infomercials were thought of. I often wonder who actually watches those paid programs and infomercials that air on most stations from roughly two to four thirty or five a.m. on most networks. I can see the importance of such things as early morning newscasts (all three major networks have them), but those infomercials and paid shows seem to me to be a waste of time, money and RF power for TV stations. It would save the stations quite a bit of money, IMHO, if they would sign off after the last network talk show went off the air, then sign on again at 5 a.m. for their early morning news. That system worked for TV stations in the '50s through the end of the eighties; why not now? My best guess is that the stations' management feels they can make more money for their stations by running paid shows and infomercials after the networks sign off, but the question in my mind still remains: Who actually watches these things, which are nothing more than television commercials thinly disguised as half-hour shows?
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-04-2009 at 07:10 PM. |
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