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Logos of Olympic Broadcasters - Part 2: 1960s
Posted by Tannerman on February 8th, 2010 08:30 PM

As I noted in the Introduction, I wanted to put a spotlight on the logos of Olympics Broadcasters, specifically the networks in the United States (CBS, ABC, NBC). Each Olympic Games has its own logo tied with the host country (which we'll also showcase), but the television rights-holder for each of those Olympics also tended to create their own brand for their broadcast. Unfortunately, looking through my files as well as doing some research online, I've been unable to uncover any of the broadcaster logos from the 1960s era, which spanned 6 Olympic Games (3 Winter, 3 Summer). I'm not sure if some of these broadcasts had event-specific logos, to be honest. (If anyone finds one, please send it my way and I'll revise this post!) "But wait, Steve, I thought these series was about the Olympic Broadcaster Logos?" It is, but to truly appreciate how they have developed over the years, we need to take a look at U.S. Olympic television history and see how things got started. So for this era, I've included the official host country logos; the broadcaster logos come in due time! 1960 Winter Olympics Squaw Valley, California, United States - More Info CBS had the honor of being the first American Olympics broadcaster, believe it or not. They paid $50,000 for the rights to show 15 hours of the event. Interestingly, the host? Walter Cronkite. CBS camera at Squaw Valley Given that the Games were held in the U.S., it probably was a lot easier to be covered by a local network. Fun Tanner piece of trivia... the guy in charge of the Opening Ceremonies? Walt Disney. (Yup, I had to get that Disney connection in somewhere, right?) 1960 Summer Olympics Rome, Italy - More Info Just a few months later, the Summer Olympics were held in Rome, and once again CBS had the broadcast rights. They aired 20 hours of the Games. But this was a time before satellite TV transmission, so they had to fly footage from Rome to New York to broadcast it. There was no host in Rome for CBS. Instead, they went with a personality in New York... Jim McKay. This is where McKay started his long run of Olympic hosting. It should also be noted as the only time CBS ever showed the Summer Olympics. 1964 Winter Olympics Innsbruck, Austria - More Info The 1964 Winter Games marked the beginning of the ABC era of Olympic broadcasting, encouraged by the guy who would pioneer the coverage of sports on television, Roone Arledge. He helped bring ABC's Wide World of Sports to life. ABC paid $597,000 for the broadcast rights, which produced 17.5 hours of programming. Arledge utilized much of the staff from Wide World of Sports, including the host, Jim McKay -- who was lured to ABC from CBS in 1961. Like the Rome games, coverage was flown by airplane to the U.S. in order to be broadcast, and was in black & white. However, with many of the events taking place in the morning, the folks in the States often got to see them broadcast on the same day. 1964 Summer Olympics Tokyo, Japan - More Info So off to Tokyo we head for the Summer Games, and we've got a newcomer on the scene... NBC. This would be their first crack at the whole Olympic Broadcaster role, serving up 12 hours of total coverage. NBC's entry is notable because they introduced satellite coverage of the Games, producing more timely coverage. The Opening Ceremonies were also broadcast in color for the first time, capturing the first Olympics in Asia, though the events themselves remained in black/white. 1968 Winter Olympics Grenoble, France - More Info 1968 brought us both the Winter and Summer Olympics being broadcast by ABC. Rights fees were in the millions, with the network paying $2,500,000 and airing 27 hours of coverage from France. By this point in time, the entire broadcast was in full color and satellite enabled, providing live coverage for select events. ABC's extensive coverage of France's Jean-Claude Killy during the alpine events (he won 3 gold medals) and America's own Peggy Fleming in skating (winning the only gold for the U.S.) helped to popularize the Winter version of the Olympics in the States. 1968 Summer Olympics Mexico City, Mexico - More Info With the Games back in North America, most of the footage from the Mexico City Olympics was carried live by ABC. Their $4,500,000 rights fee allowed them to show 43.75 hours of coverage. These Games brought with them quite a few controversies, including the infamous "Black Power" salute made by Tommie Smith and John Carlos while receiving their medals for track & field. The IOC banned the athletes for life. That wraps up the 1960s. In our next installment we tackle the 1970s and actually have some Olympic Broadcaster logos to talk about! Olympic Broadcaster Logos Story Navigation Previous - Next 1 2

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Logos of Olympic Broadcasters - Part 1: Introduction
Posted by Tannerman on February 2nd, 2010 05:52 PM

With the Winter Olympics starting up on February 12 in Vancouver, I started thinking about my love for the Games. I've long been a big Olympics fan, more so the Winter than Summer (snow just rocks!) My primary window of interest was probably with the 1984-1992 series of games, back when both the Winter/Summer events were always paired and held 4 years apart, rather than the staggered schedule that started with Winter in '94, Summer in '96, Winter in '98, etc. 2010 Winter Olympics Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (NBC) Believe it or not, I was an avid Olympic lapel pin collector during this period of time, sending off tons of letters to sponsoring Olympic companies, asking to send me a pin. Most did, which was surprising! All this reminds me of the last time the Winter Olympics were hosted in Canada... back in 1988 in Calgary. 1988 Winter Olympics Calgary, Alberta, Canada (ABC) As I thought about that, I remember a different time when I watched A LOT of the Games broadcast on TV. No, it wasn't on NBC, this was back when ABC had the rights, hosted by that great sports journalist, Jim McKay. Sure, we didn't have the tons of hours of coverage that we have today on broadcast, cable, and Internet sources. But I think what that era of broadcasting had, especially during ABC's long Olympic run, was a better respect for the specialness of the event. Maybe that was because we didn't have an Olympics every 2 years like we do now... it was a bigger deal. The Faces of the Games As I looked back, it's interesting to note that in many cases, one's perception of an Olympics is framed by those who host it from a broadcaster perceptive. For example, during the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics, it was McKay's newsman persona that guided the world through the event. At the same time, when NBC acquired the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Bryant Gumbel was the main face of the experience... and was highly criticized for the way he hosted. CBS had a run in the early 90s with the Winter Olympics featuring Paula Zahn, Tim McCarver, Greg Gumbel, and eventually Jim Nantz. Most Americans now would probably associate Bob Costas with anchoring the Olympics. And though he navigated us through the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, he'll never top Jim in the "disasters at Olympics" department. While the logos and branding for all these Olympics have been well documented, one thing I think that has been greatly overlooked is the custom logos that each Olympic broadcaster created for their event, specifically here in the United States. Looking through these logos almost tells a story in itself regarding corporate ambitions, rights changing hands, dominance by networks, and various graphical philosophies. As we look ahead to the Games in Vancouver, I'm going to be sharing examples of these Olympic broadcaster logos and hopefully provide some context along the way. It should be fun! Olympic Broadcaster Logos Story Navigation Next 1 2

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It's our 8th Anniversary!
Posted by Tannerman on February 1st, 2010 09:07 PM

Hey, it's February 2, and besides being Groundhog Day, it's also our 8th wedding anniversary! That's right, on 02/02/02 at 2:02 p.m., we tied the knot! Sure, we've changed at little... ... but it's been a fun ride. Love ya, Ames! (Wait, does that mean this blog is 8 years old? Wow, I better work on a redesign soon!)

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1 John 4:7-8
Posted by Tannerman on January 25th, 2010 10:18 AM

At church, we've been studying the book of 1 John. To tie into that, our weekly Sunday night small group has also jumped into studying 1-3 John. The Kids' Praise Album (1980) So last night as we were discussing the introduction to the commentary we're studying, I jokingly asked, "so, how many of you started to sing '1 John 4:7-8' when you came across that passage?" I was shocked to find that only a couple people recognized the reference to this vintage kid's song. (Am I getting that old?) Psalty & Steve (Fall 1997) I mean, sure, the album which made it rather famous (The Kids' Praise Album) has a copyright date of 1980, but c'mon! I guess I was just too submerged in the Christian music subculture with good ole Psalty the Singing Songbook! Give it a listen, and try not to laugh at the fake calypso style of the song: Audio: I John 4:7-8 For those not in the know, Psalty the Singing Songbook was a character used on a series of Christian children's music albums (first record, then cassette, and eventually CD) throughout the 1980s. The album noted above kicked off the "Kids' Praise" series, which lasted at least 10 albums with numerous spinoffs. While pretty much irrelevant today, the music featured on those albums was very influential to me as a kid growing up. As many know, I used a lot of this music to lead worship for little kids while working up at camp during my high school/early college years... where I eventually met Amy... and led to my current job at Kidology... and you know the rest of the story. 3 cheers for cheesy music!

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Poor PhotoPass Location
Posted by Tannerman on January 13th, 2010 07:34 PM

This is a photo of the family riding Test Track at Epcot over the holidays. Test Track PhotoPass Photo I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but it isn't really a great location of a photo opportunity like this. There's nothing really happening... other than my sister and bro-in-law pretending that they each have a steering wheel! My Dad looks like he's sleep, my Mom is squinting in the backseat, Amy looks bored, and I think I'm trying to read the text off the dashboard from the front passenger seat. Talk about Disney thrills!

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