Hi, Dave,
Bicycling! Another one of those terms that have more than one meaning
And that meaning's about as dead as RCA Broadcast.
One of the things I hope to do as time and opportunities arise is to videotape the people involved in early videotape.
Charlie Anderson, one of the original five members of the Ampex Quad development team works at the Reno PBS station with a friend, Tim Stoffel.
Tim is the Asst. Chief at KNPB and the proprietor of "
Quadruplex Park."
(That'll keep you busy for a while!)
Now in his 80's Charlie is still an active guy and is working with Tim on a Quad transfer project.
I hope to talk to the gentleman who is seen bending over the VRX-1000 checking the tape of Douglas Edwards at Television City in Hollywood.
There are some folks in their early 50's that have extensive time with Quad, and work with it every day like David Crosthwait in Burbank or Peter Brothers on the other coast.
Or like Ed, Don and Dan Einstein, have been involved in restoring early tapes.
There are folks that are now retired, but still have the knowledge of where to tap, what to tweak and when to pray (and what prayers to say) in order to successfully record and play Quad tapes.
If we can preserve the machinery to transfer tapes, the knowledge of how to use them and the skills to keep them running, we may be able to watch some of the shows stuck in a vault when it becomes easier to clear the rights involved.
I'd suspect that's the major reason you don't see them in wide release: Artist, musician, music or other performance rights may be hard to clear. Especially if the paperwork regarding who's owed something is not in order or available.
It might be hard to track down some of the orchestra musicians on some shows in order to pay any residuals due. Or permissions to use certain elements or performers may now cost way too much.
I can tell you that hearing and seeing the restored Eisenhower and Edsel tapes at Television City was a real cause for appreciating just how good things could look and sound... and I think there's a market for broadcast and DVD releases of this vintage of material. How much of one is a ??
I'll be posting more about the TVC visit in the Quad History section this week (7/09/08) so check back over the weekend.
Ted