Flashback Friday is hosted by Camille. (Click on the badge to visit her blog, which is the home of Flashback Friday.) Won’t you consider joining in the fun?
Today’s flashback rolls back time for five decades the year was 1963. I was working my first full-time job as a TV cameraman at WMSB, the TV station for Michigan State University. At that time we shared transmitter time with a commercial station on Channel 10. Later, after I had left, the university sold the transmitter and gave up their rights to shared time for enough money to purchase, license and install a transmitter system on channel 23.
A member of the publicity team snapped this shot when sportscaster, Jim Adams (on the left) interviewed MSU alum Chuck Davey the boxer (far right). Davey boxed for MSU, and for team USA in the 1948 Olympics. Chuck had a professional boxing record of 42 wins (26 by KO), 5 losses and draws. Chuck was also the boxing commissioner for the state of Michigan. I believe he held that position at the time of this interview.
When I was in High School I had watched Chuck Davey a couple of times on TV, so this was a big deal for me. I was glad to stand behind the camera. It was even better to meet the man and shake his hand.
Sorry I’m late posting today, I’ve been very busy. Hope you all have a great weekend. We’re looking forward to having my three sisters come to visit us tomorrow. I’ll tell you about that next week.
That’s a cool job and a GREAT photo of you working! My brother used to be a cameraman…and still does it every now and then. Tough job to land these days.
What a great memory that is. I like the behind story. 🙂
The best memory was when I worked the Detroit Auto Show. A New York production company was in charge of the TV coverage. They hired a couple of us to man the cameras. It was great equipment the latest top-of-the-line cameras and mounts.
My best job ever involved sitting in a windowless office and editing technical books. I was never happier. 8)
What a great memory/resume item!
Parts of that job were interesting and parts of it were only to be endured. 😕
IMPATI, and I don’t remember what it stands for, was an educational program/channel which educational programs were taped at various universities and played back on a UHF channel transmitted from an airplane at 30,000 feet over Indiana which covered a lot of the Midwest. We taped some programs at MSU and I ran a camera. Gosh, that’s been a long time ago. Wonder if I could run a camera again? I hear that a lot of them are now remote controlled.
Oh my! Does that bring back memories. Remember the IMPATI operation? Yeah! 50 years ago! And what would you have done differently? And I have to tell you, I still have television dreams…most of them nightmares! And, I’ve been out of broadcasting for almost 40 years.
No I don’t remember IMPATI. I can understand why you say nightmares. The smartest move I ever made was to to get out of broadcasting. But it did seem like a good idea to get in back when we got in. 8)
Note for others: Bill and I were classmates at MSU majoring in TV, Radio and Film. That was a few years ago. :angel:
Boy, I hate comin’ in on the middle of the movie! What did I miss? WOW! How interesting, you were an actual cameraman on a TV show? :up: Totally cool! Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories with us. I love that pic! Have a great weekend!
I was a cameraman at a local TV station operated my Mich State Univ. A couple of years later there was an opening on the engineering staff and I moved into that slot. Changing my direction away from the production side to the engineering side of things. Hope you have a wonderful weekend too. 8)
All 3 sisters at once? Woo hooo!! Happy visiting!!
And that’s an awesome first FT job (go State!!). 😉 :yea:
Thanks. I’m sure it will be a great time together. :cheer:
Broadcasting is not the best career choice for a guy like me. :surrender: However, it was a very important step in building for my last career stop. :frolic: