Word: nbc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...chief continuing dispute between the contenders was over the temperature in the studios. Nixon wanted it low to check his tendency to perspire. Bobby Kennedy spoofed the problem at one point by walking into NBC's Washington studio, pulling his sweater up to his chin and waving his arms to increase circulation. For the split-screen debate, temperature was no problem: Nixon had his Los Angeles studio chilled to 58°; a continent away, Kennedy enjoyed a more normal environment...
...balloting on rule 16c, Temporary Convention Chairman Robert Dole ordered reporters off the floor, while the delegates cheered. CBS Floor Producer Don Hewitt immediately phoned Dole to protest, but television reporters and their bulky equipment were not back clogging the aisles at full strength for nearly an hour. When NBC Reporter Tom Pettit's earphone antenna was banged and bent by an unidentified flying object during a Wednesday-night Ford demonstration, David Brinkley remarked: "You get ten points for hitting a reporter. There have been conventions in the past where you got 20 points...
...NBC's Douglas Kiker fought his way to Betty Ford in a dead heat with CBS's Sylvia Chase, but gracefully let her go first. Even NBC'S Pettit, a raging bull at Madison Square Garden last month, was a model of courtliness, standing by patiently while Mudd of CBS beat him to an interview with former Missouri Representative Thomas Curtis. "The kind of abrasiveness that was customary and sometimes necessary in 1968 is out of place now," explained Dan Rather. "We're a little cooler headed...
...until 1980, and whether convention coverage has by now frozen into a mold, are open questions. "We have reached such a point of sophistication that the changes become less major every four years," says CBS Executive Producer Ross Bensley. "We won't change, but the parties might," predicts NBC Executive Producer Gordon Manning. "Do they really need four days...
...most expensively troubles television. A mere 30% of the nation's sets were tuned to the Republicans on the first night of the convention, though this was a slight gain over the Democrats' 26%. Is gavel to gavel (even with all the interspersed commercials) worth it for NBC and its advertised "team of 550"? As competitive sports go, the Olympics far outdrew the conventions. Of course, networks have other motives. Conventions are their most conspicuous "public service"; they are also television's own Olympics, with their news departments' prestige at stake. Besides, there is the adrenaline...