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The Macy’s Parade…How It’s Done & How It All Started

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

The Macy’s Parade…How It’s Done & How It All Started

Our friend Joel Spector will be playing all the music today for the broadcast, just like he has for over 25 years. That alone is a massive undertaking, but just one of many parts to one of television’s largest jigsaw puzzles.

This video should start at 1:44 and this segment covers the pre production and rehearsals, that start at midnight. At 21:54, the parade’s history segment starts. Mat Lauer says the television coverage began in 1948, but that’s not exactly right. Network coverage began in ’48 on CBS, but local experimental coverage was done by NBC in 1939. NBC also carried the parade locally in 1945, 46 and 47.

Although the parade began in 1924, it didn’t become widely known until after it was featured in the 1947 film, ‘Miracle On 34th Street’, which included footage of the 1946 festivities. At first, network coverage was only an hour long. In 1961, the telecast expanded to two hours, then 90 minutes beginning in 1962, before reverting to a two-hour telecast in 1965; all three hours of the parade were televised by 1969. The event began to be broadcast in color in 1960.

NBC airs the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live in the Eastern Time Zone, but tape delays the telecast elsewhere to allow the program to air in the same 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. time slot across the country. The afternoon playbacks started in 2008.

Just ahead, some early footage of the parade. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving! -Bobby Ellerbee

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6 responses to “The Macy’s Parade…How It’s Done & How It All Started”

  1. Bill Parinello

    Joel is great at the music playback position.

  2. Bob Batsche

    For those who live on or near the parade route: Our daughter has her apartment on 34th Street–one block East of Macy*s. Several days before the parade, the NYPD held their emergency rehearsals late night or early morning depending how you look at it, then the band rehearsals, NYCFD and Medical/First Aid, etc. all with loud speakers at night. Liz is at our AZ home away from the sleepless nights that were experienced in the recent past. This parade is not a one day event. To be safe, plans must be in place and tested/upgraded!

  3. Bob Batsche

    Now the real fun takes place—the equipment breakdown in the cold and/or rain/snow when your butt is dragging. I’m sure it’s easier with today’s equipment but still……………

  4. John Gillespie

    too much Broadway and not seeing enough floats, bands, etc.IMO

  5. Jenet Lynn Dechary

    Thank you!

  6. Bob Batsche

    I worked on this parade once in the 8H control room–around 1979? I decided it was not worth the long extended broken up assignment. It was two very long days with a 15 minute break that ended our continued tour of duty that saved NBC $$$ but didn’t give us any rest at all. I could understand working on this event if the “pot of gold” was there but that 15 minute break provided nothing except company savings. Therefore I always took a vacation day until I retired to be at home with my family. I was requested to work on this the next year but enjoyed the day off! Another example that if we stuck together, that 15 minute break would have gone away. But it just wasn’t that way even back then.

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