XVI Olympiad

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 902, 16 November 1956, Page 6

XVI Olympiad

HE NZBS team covering the Games in Melbourne will have very little time for sightseeing; they will be working through from nine in the morning till midnight six days a week. Though called a team, the members will very rarely be together, except first thing every morning, when the day’s coverage of the Games will be discussed, "Ensuring complete coverage of the Games will be no picnic," was the comment made to The Listener recently by Ashley Lewis, who will co-ordinate the programme broadcast from VLR daily. "For the past few weeks," he said, "we have been working out a plan of coverage that the NZBS team can follow. The paperwork involved is very heavy, including the production of day-sheets for the period of the Games, checking and cross checking." He explained that to have a precise timetable of events as they would be broadcast was literally impossible for a variety of reasons. On any one day of the Games they would be broadcasting descriptions of all the main events, but it would often happen that events which they wished to cover would all be going on at the same time. "At this point we have to decide which of the events. we will broadcast direct, and which will be recorded for broadcast later. To do this we have to evaluate the events in the light of their potential interest, always allowing for the unknown factors, of course-for if something unusual happened we’d probably have to make a split second decision and drop all priorities." Roughly, priorities would go something like this: the event in which a

New Zealander is competing with what is thought to be a good chance for success; also general New Zealand coverage. Then there is the event in which there are no New Zealanders competing, but which is of world interest; for instance, a heat in which Zatopek and Chataway might be competing. Again,' there i8 the heat in which a time put up may have a bearing on the chances of a New Zealand representative who has won an earlier heat of the same event. There are also many events which are significant, if not in themselves, then as measuring sticks for New Zealand chances. On Friday, November 23, for instance, there will be interest in New Zealand, in the result of the hockey match between Pakistan and Belgium, for on the following day New Zealand in turn plays Pakistan. "All recordings made will be played back as soon as possible,’ said Mr. Lewis, "so that New Zealand gets its commentary even though it is delayed. But you will see that it’s impossible to have a rigid schedule." All events, therefore the NZBS team’s coverage, are based on the Olympic timetable. Commenting on this fact, Lance Cross, NZBS Head Office Sports Officer and leader of the broadcasting team going to Melbourne, said that any upsetting of the timetables would also naturally upset the broadcast scheduling. "And it’s almost impossible to keep to timetables. First of all, since entries do not close until fifteen days before the event takes place, though the Olympic Organising Committee know how many countries are entering, they don’t know the number of entries in each event from any one country — which (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) can vary from one to three.- It is obvious that this flunctuation could have an effect on the number of heats. "In arranging our present programme schedule we have made a conservative estimate of entries. In the event of there being full entries we would find it difficult to adhere to the projected schedules." Apart from the question of entries, there are several other factors which make pre-scheduling of broadcasts rather hazardous. Mr. Cross here mentioned an incident in the 1950 Empire Games at Auckland, where Pettie, the Canadian representative, was disqualified in the 100 yards final for repeated breaking. While Pettie stood on the sideline watching the remaining finalists getting down on their marks to start the final without him, the Canadian manager came across the centre of the arena to lodge an immediate protest. "The start of the final was consequently held up for half an hour while the argument went on, after which

Pettie was allowed to compete in the final. In this instance the competitors. and officials spoke English. Imagine how much greater the delay if the protest was discussed in seven languages, which could happen if such an_ incident occurred at the Olympics." Another incident, this time at the 1936 Olympiad: The qualifying final for the high jump went on into the night under floodlight, because there were more people of a higher standard than expected, and eliminations were conse quently slow. Heavy rain could affect field events in the track and field section, as anyone who has held a pole or a slippery shot in pouring rain can testify. "It is said that events will go on regardless of weather conditions, yet heavy rain can slow down events near enough to complete stoppage." Absence of weather (or at least a near dead calm) could throw the yachting out, for the rules provide that unless the leading competitor averages at least two knots for the full course, the race is declared no-contest and must be retrun. A fourteen-knot course at this minipou speed would take seven hours to tun! Similarly, the hockey rules state that should a hockey, score be tied at the end of a normal playing period, two periods of ten minutes each will be played, and if at the end of this time no decision has been reached play will continue until a goal is scored. Two evenly matched teams under such circumstances could keep going well outside the expected duration of a match. If VLR was committed on the live commentary of such a match, the transmission to New Zealand of the hockey would have to continue, for it would be unpardonable to leave the New Zealand team on the brink of victory or defeat, to say nothing of the listeners following the game. Yet in that extension of time something else important could well be happening. *So it is obvious," Mr. Cross concluded, "that many unexpected things can happen to upset the programme schedule of broadcast times from the Olympics.* All the schedules, however, will be held to whenever the Olympic programme itself runs to plan." During the seventeen days of the XVI Olympiad the ABC will be host to 41 radio teams from other countries be-

sides New Zealand, providing them with a temporary broadcasting organisation which will be the largest of its kind in the world, This service will be in addition to the ABC’s own coverage of the Games for home listeners. The radio teams will have the use of 200 microphone points at 19 different locations, seven short-wave transmitters, 48 studioettes (two for New Zealand), and among other facilities a section to maintain recorders and issue tapes that will be providing over 300 recorders and 12,000 tapes. The planning and organisation of these facilities have been spread over more than three years.

So far as VLR is concerned, test transmissions from Melbourne to New Zealand have been carried out by the ABC to make sure the signals will be received satisfactorily, All is now in feadiness for the big day. On Thursday, November 22, the XVI Olympiad Opening Ceremony will be performed by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh at Melbourne. At 4.45 p.m. that afternoon (1, 2, 3, 4YA) Winston McCarthy and Bob Irvine will describe this Opening Ceremony in VLR’s first transmission of the Games,

*See programme pages