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The RCA Tape Cartridge Recorder: TCR 100
First introduced at the NAB in 1969, the TCR 100 was a real breakthrough in tape handling and even received an Emmy. It could play tapes from :20 to 3:00 in length automatically which finally did away with having to juggle several reel to reel machines in each stop set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM_2upiGUO0&ab_channel=AustralianTelevisionArchive
We had two TCR-100s at WSBT-TV South Bend, IN. Very Very dependable machines, we kept them clean, cool, fed with good dry air and well maintained. Most of the problems were operator related. Sequence thumb wheels not updated, carts not loaded properly, etc. The biggest problem was when an operator would drop a cartridge on the floor…the plastic near the hinge would mush over a little and not let the door open fully when the cart went into the machine. This would cause the loading process to stop. If you were fast enough to run around to the back and flip the door fully open while the other deck was playing the cart would continue to load and you saved a break. So if you dropped a cartridge on the floor always check manually to see if the door opens fully before it loads and causes a problem! We had one particular operator that if you followed him you knew you would have at least one cart that he had dropped and he had not checked it so we would do a very close inspection of each cart as it was loaded. It was not unusual to make over 300 cart plays in a day and have no failures. Over the years we used them we had to replace a few optical sensors and we broke the belt sheer pin twice on one machine. The oldest of the machines had a video head in the A deck with over 2500 hours on it. That is 300,000 :30 second spots!
Psssh!
Na época se a Tupi com uma dessa, evitava aquele trabalhão todo para fazer a faixa de segurança.era uma correria a madrugada toda!!!!haja ternurinha?(e que trabalhão?)kkkkAbs…Jorjão….
i ran two of these (air and protection) Times Square, WOR-TV my first full time job in new york city. 1977-78
Having been the workhorse for hundreds upon hundreds of commercial “dub reels,” I would have personally loved seeing one in action in our control room, even with all its’ flatulence and other foibles.
Worked with two of them at WKYC and, as a management scab on roller skates, behind 7 of them at NBC in New York during the NABET strike in the late 80s. Also designed a Z80 based lockup time monitor for the 7 New York machines to track servo lock time. They were a PITA for engineers, a money machine for the station, and a monument to brute force engineering.
The machines like this at NBC Burbank became electronic monsters as well as mechanical disasters. They had a scrap machine to use for parts, and whereas over 99% of the commercial aired, sometimes some bizarre things occurred with this equipment. I cannot recall ANYONE who liked to run it or fix it. It was supposedly designed on the back of a napkin at a restaurant.
Oh wow, that brings back memories. We used to call it “the tractor”.
For me, it was WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, SC in 1977 followed by NBC in New York in 1978. But I actually had more maintenance experience on Ampex’s cart machine, the ACR-25. It was in every way a better machine. I kept two of them running; one at WIS-TV in Columbia, SC in 1975-76 and the other was at WRET-TV in Charlotte, NC in 1976-77. Yeah, I got around . . . . 😉
I was called to troubleshoot the TCR100 at KPRC-TV. My younger days as a pinspotter mechanic came in handy.
We had two at KSDK-TV in St. Louis. We needed two so at least one would be working at all times.
Any time you have a highly mechanical machine like this one, it is going to be high maintenance. @Neil I remember Bryant Stott at WNEV telling me how difficult a basic station break was before the TCR-100. They had to cue up all the spots on numerous VTRs and film chains. Sounds way more chaotic to me.
Even in recent history, I remember E! Would have one engineer on call at all times just to deal with ACR-225 problems.
I worked at a station with an ACR-25. It’s name was FRED. Stood for F**king Ridiculous Electronic Device.
Whoosh – Whoosh – CLUNK
Two at WBNS in Columbus. Couldn’t handle :15 or :10 spots unless they were first or last in the sequence.
Those suckers always seemed dangerous to me. At least the Ampex ACR-25 had the carousel enclosed. I worked at four stations with ACR-25s and only one with a TCR-100. The ACR seemed much more reliable. And quieter. And safer.
They were, in fact, a revolutionary workhorse for master control but in the back of my mind I often thought they could have been re-purposed as a sandwich dispenser.
And MAN were those suckers noisy!!
We had four of them at NBC Burbank. The overnight shift used to pull hundreds of carts for playback each day. Local and network spots. Network always ran a protection copy.
Started my career with this machine, 2 of them actually, at WTRF in Wheeling WV. It was one of the MOST impressive piece of TV hardware ever engineered, we called it the Cartasaurus Rex.
We had two at WBTV….
We had 7 at NBC-NY. After 8 long years of playback for Local, Network, and Sports, I still had all my fingers. Never a dull moment.
WDCA in Washington DC had one of the first TCR100s. It was full of optical sensors. One day a group of network engineers stopped by for a tour of the TCR. While it was running a break one of the fellows pulled a flashlight out of his pocket protector and flashed it around in the machine. It went berserk rotating the cassettes and even spit a few off the belt. From then on there were no flashlights allowed in Master Control.
…in the late ’70s, KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi, Texas had one of these ! ..it reminded me of a bus the way it would hiss and made flatulent noises ! ..it was a marvel to watch in action ..but it was prone to going a bit crazy sometimes ..breakdowns !
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