Sports Graphics…Back In The Day
Long before there were digital graphics gizmos, there were analog graphics gizmos. This piece of hardware was used at WHDH in Boston for Celtic’s basketball in 1964.
In ’64, colorcasting was trying to break out, but networks and stations that originated major sports broadcasts, would always take along a black and white camera to shoot either flip cards, or mechanical graphic boxes like this that would be super imposed over the field of play shots.
ABC Sports always had a TK60 along in their color trucks and at times, would use the utility truck as the “graphics studio” with lights, the TK60 and the flip cards set up in the truck’s cargo area. My how times have changed! Thanks to Maureen Carney for the photo.
When I worked at WMT-TV in Cedar Rapids in the late 70s they used camera cards for lower thirds because the group owner wanted a distinctive font which could n’t be produced by early character generators. They offered any flavor you wanted as long as it was Helvetica.
Here’s an ABC TK60 in the “Graphics Studio”, the back of the utility truck at a college football game in 1968.
I remember shooting so called animations off a light box with a polarizing filter appearing to make the graphic animate…