I worked there at the time. What you're looking at is a "slide" created by the news graphics department. There were many such wonderful ones. The graphic artists were an exceptionally gifted bunch. We also used these slides for credits on newscasts., but without the logo on the photographs, all of which were taken around the NY metro area.
What type of slide projector was used by WCBS (and CBS network operations at the Broadcast Center) at the time? I know it wouldn't have been an RCA TP-7 slide projector. (Plus, GE PE-240 film chains all over the place.) Also, what was the type switcher used that had the effect of fading out and in during transitions from one slide to another, rather than cutting as at other stations? I seem to remember that type of transitioning used by CBS as early as the '50's.
@@wmbrown6 I wasn't an engineer. I can say it was always mandatory to fade out and in between everything that wasn't broadcast content. The switchers had the basic rockers. Two types of slides were used. Some were 35mm, which is what this was. Then there were RPs, rear projection slides, which were like glass sandwiches, thin glass with manually created art in between. They were maybe 4" by 5". Lower thirds were not keyed. They were printed on black and faded in. We used the terms slide chain and film chain. The lower third things were called telops. They were also fist size and loaded into long strip holders.
@@ericsamuelson5656 I began working with and writing for Jim my very first day. He had an aura of charisma I have only seen in one other person: Nixon. Jim was tall and really handsome. That gruff voice was his TV voice. He would call somebody in to his office to shoot the sh-t and be relaxed and low key, typically rueful with dark humor. He had a wonderful deep laugh in the back of his throat. I don't recall smoking because everybody smoked. He did smoke cigars now and then after the show. He loved to play baseball in the show league, he was a great pitcher and practiced in the hall. However, I knew Jim Bouton very well, and never heard a peep from Bouton about Jensen's pitching. Jensen had a wild temper. It was not unusual for him to arrive at the office mid afternoon, pick up a really heavy steel chair and hurl it at a wall. He also loved killing off potential co-anchors. Any time the bosses tried to put somebody next to him, he would pepper that person with questions on air, and humiliate them. Then come downstairs with a devilish expression and a chuckle. I liked him very much. He was one of the very greatest. On camera he was magic.He enjoyed very very many ladies.
@@dancooper Dan these are fascinating stories and quite a look into the late night/early morning mystique that channel 2 had. I don't quite know what I was doing up at those hours or even how or why I had a TV on but for some reason, those movies, commercials, bumpers, voices, sign ons, sign offs and every other moving image that aired on channel 2 in those wee hours are burned into my childhood memory! Thanks for helping to make it happen.
That font is the ITC Serif Gothic which was the Ch. 2 logo from 1973-85. It was also used on KNXT Los Angeles from 1973-84 before renaming KCBS and WBBM Chicago used it from 1975-78.
WCBS-TV had a minute of silence between the fade-out of the test pattern (and the nearly 400 Hz audio tone) and the showing up of one of the ID slides to cue the announcer to commence the sign-on. This procedure (TP to black to sign-on) was also in place at WNBC-TV. WABC-TV, WOR-TV and WPIX all had their respective TP's up for one minute after the tone ended, then cut to the ID slide where the announcer read the sign-on.
1977???-Wow. That year is one year that me and everyone else who lived here or was here will never forget. With the Son of Sam serial killer, the blackout in July of that summer, the death of Elvis Presley in that summer, and the capture of the Son of Sam killer on August 10the of that year. It was also the year when I graduated with my classmates from elementary school-I could really cry since I remember 1977 so vividly.
I remember before the WNBC-TV sign-on, they would play some instrumental easy listening music with a test card for about 15 minutes... anyone else remember that? It was always the same tunes. I have never been able to find that music since. This was in the late 70s-early 80s.
In Chicago, WBBM's sign-on and -off sermonettes were called "Meditation." It was under that umbrella that these would have been seen. (And all CBS stations aired sermonettes from bishops, priests, rabbis, etc., from their five 'hubs' - Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles; those from New York would have had 'Produced by WCBS-TV' below the "Give Us This Day" title as aired here.)
It was remarkable. In the late 60s and very early 70s, news director Lee Hanna hired many star reporters from the defunct New York Herald Tribune. At the same time he hired talented young people right out of college like me as writers. The staff was brilliant, accuracy and objectivity demanded. We socialized every night. When Ed Joyce was news director he hired a stunning group of future network stars. He was not pleasant to work for at all. He cheapened the quality of the product. But it remained a social pleasure, a joy to work with each other, and we did great innovative work.
So here it is 5:54 am on a Sunday morning in 2020 and I'm awake. Wishing I could turn the TV on and see this!!!!
I worked there at the time. What you're looking at is a "slide" created by the news graphics department. There were many such wonderful ones. The graphic artists were an exceptionally gifted bunch. We also used these slides for credits on newscasts., but without the logo on the photographs, all of which were taken around the NY metro area.
What type of slide projector was used by WCBS (and CBS network operations at the Broadcast Center) at the time? I know it wouldn't have been an RCA TP-7 slide projector. (Plus, GE PE-240 film chains all over the place.) Also, what was the type switcher used that had the effect of fading out and in during transitions from one slide to another, rather than cutting as at other stations? I seem to remember that type of transitioning used by CBS as early as the '50's.
@@wmbrown6 I wasn't an engineer. I can say it was always mandatory to fade out and in between everything that wasn't broadcast content. The switchers had the basic rockers. Two types of slides were used. Some were 35mm, which is what this was. Then there were RPs, rear projection slides, which were like glass sandwiches, thin glass with manually created art in between. They were maybe 4" by 5". Lower thirds were not keyed. They were printed on black and faded in. We used the terms slide chain and film chain. The lower third things were called telops. They were also fist size and loaded into long strip holders.
@@dancooper What was Jim Jensen like off camera? How many packs did he smoke a day? I can tell by the sound of his voice he was a heavy smoker.
@@ericsamuelson5656 I began working with and writing for Jim my very first day. He had an aura of charisma I have only seen in one other person: Nixon. Jim was tall and really handsome. That gruff voice was his TV voice. He would call somebody in to his office to shoot the sh-t and be relaxed and low key, typically rueful with dark humor. He had a wonderful deep laugh in the back of his throat. I don't recall smoking because everybody smoked. He did smoke cigars now and then after the show. He loved to play baseball in the show league, he was a great pitcher and practiced in the hall. However, I knew Jim Bouton very well, and never heard a peep from Bouton about Jensen's pitching. Jensen had a wild temper. It was not unusual for him to arrive at the office mid afternoon, pick up a really heavy steel chair and hurl it at a wall. He also loved killing off potential co-anchors. Any time the bosses tried to put somebody next to him, he would pepper that person with questions on air, and humiliate them. Then come downstairs with a devilish expression and a chuckle. I liked him very much. He was one of the very greatest. On camera he was magic.He enjoyed very very many ladies.
@@dancooper Dan these are fascinating stories and quite a look into the late night/early morning mystique that channel 2 had. I don't quite know what I was doing up at those hours or even how or why I had a TV on but for some reason, those movies, commercials, bumpers, voices, sign ons, sign offs and every other moving image that aired on channel 2 in those wee hours are burned into my childhood memory! Thanks for helping to make it happen.
That font is the ITC Serif Gothic which was the Ch. 2 logo from 1973-85. It was also used on KNXT Los Angeles from 1973-84 before renaming KCBS and WBBM Chicago used it from 1975-78.
Bravo
WCBS-TV had a minute of silence between the fade-out of the test pattern (and the nearly 400 Hz audio tone) and the showing up of one of the ID slides to cue the announcer to commence the sign-on. This procedure (TP to black to sign-on) was also in place at WNBC-TV. WABC-TV, WOR-TV and WPIX all had their respective TP's up for one minute after the tone ended, then cut to the ID slide where the announcer read the sign-on.
The Television Seal of Good Practice was phased out in 1982.
The seal of good practice I really miss that
1977???-Wow. That year is one year that me and everyone else who lived here or was here will never forget. With the Son of Sam serial killer, the blackout in July of that summer, the death of Elvis Presley in that summer, and the capture of the Son of Sam killer on August 10the of that year. It was also the year when I graduated with my classmates from elementary school-I could really cry since I remember 1977 so vividly.
I remember those days 2,living in the Bronx in Riverdale.
There is a pretty good chance that I was working the transmitter that day.
With Pat Connell at the announcing booth. (As he was on the sign-off.)
Pat Connell was one the prominent voices of CBS, and its flagship station in New York City.
In the 60s the breaks would say "Best in view, Channel 2" .
So much for the seal of good practice.
Seals do get old and dry rot
I know the way that 1965 SOGP variant was shown on WCBS differed from all the other stations.
I remember before the WNBC-TV sign-on, they would play some instrumental easy listening music with a test card for about 15 minutes... anyone else remember that? It was always the same tunes. I have never been able to find that music since. This was in the late 70s-early 80s.
Must've been the time period you said, as my memory of WNBC's pre-sign on was a tone (around 425 Hz) accompanying their test pattern.
I remember this, this was done after the National Anthem was played & before "Give Us This Day " which was CBS's answer to "Sunrise Sermonette ".
Wsb-tv had sunrise sermonette during the 1970's until 1982 when they start broadcast 24 hours a day.
In Chicago, WBBM's sign-on and -off sermonettes were called "Meditation." It was under that umbrella that these would have been seen. (And all CBS stations aired sermonettes from bishops, priests, rabbis, etc., from their five 'hubs' - Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles; those from New York would have had 'Produced by WCBS-TV' below the "Give Us This Day" title as aired here.)
It's a sign-on; the audio begins a few seconds into the clip.
OK, so... do you have the prior written permission of CBS, Incorporated? ;P
Or if before 1974, "the Columbia Broadcasting System"?
@garrisonskunk Wow, "The Patchwork Family"!!! What great weekend mornings!!!
I haven't thought of "Patchwork Family " in forever.
I remember that logo from a lot of older shows,never knew what it meant lol
It meant we took pride in art and design, which came down from Bill Paley, Frank Stanton and Lou Dorfman.
@@dancooper - Sounds like older graphic designers at CBS would have taken their cues from Paley, Stanton, and William Golden (the CBS eye's designer).
Neat! How was it working for channel 2 back in the day? I used to watch this every morning Saturday before Patchwork Family started! :)
It was remarkable. In the late 60s and very early 70s, news director Lee Hanna hired many star reporters from the defunct New York Herald Tribune. At the same time he hired talented young people right out of college like me as writers. The staff was brilliant, accuracy and objectivity demanded. We socialized every night. When Ed Joyce was news director he hired a stunning group of future network stars. He was not pleasant to work for at all. He cheapened the quality of the product. But it remained a social pleasure, a joy to work with each other, and we did great innovative work.
Has something gone wrong with the soundtrack? I got no sound at all -- just the visuals.
Audio is definitely there but it's a mono track so you might not be picking it up due to that.
@@robatsea2009 - Let me guess. Only one track?
Exactly.
But if you still have an analog set, at least you don't have to see that crap anymore!
I would rather watch this on mute for 2 hours than to watch all the worthless crap that's on the TV today.
What were the sign off and sign in times?
At that point, WCBS signed on at 6:05 A.M. Sign-off varied, from anywhere between 5 minutes to one hour before sign-on.
@@wmbrown6 Thanks for that info and taking the time to reply.