¥ 5 THE POST, FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1952 PAGE SEVEN 'MAGIC CARPET’ TO CARRY MILLIONS TO Viewers to Get Ringside Seats Tour Chicago Area by Camera Some seventy million Americans will travel to Chicago this month aboard the magic carpet of television. By a mere flick of a switch they will be on their way: to tour the Loop, visit the top hotels and meet the next President of the United States face to face. To most laymen, the plans for television coverage of the political conventions are right out of the Arabian Nights. Four networks will transport the residents of hundreds of American cities into the International Amphi- theater where the Republicans and Democrats will assemble. Historic Audience The camera will give them a bird’s-eye view of the entire gather- ing, then whisk them close enough to a single delegate in the con- vention hall to spot the soup stains, if any, on his necktie. The vast spectacle of ‘American democracy at work will be viewed by more people than any other event in the history of the world. As Sig Mickelson, CBS Television executive in command at (Chicago, says: § “The effects of televison on this convention may shape the destiny of the nation.” A battery of seven cameras will record history as it unfolds within the walls of the huge Amphitheater, located in the heart of the famous Stockyards district. Doors Covered Two will cover the main entrances to the building, catching mnotables as they come and go. Five will be set up on special platforms in the arena, at locations from which they can peer into every inch of the convention hall. TV viewers also will visit con- vention side-shows, such as press conferences and parades, and travel to Chicago’s municipal airport and railroad stations to see the arrival of prominent politicos. CBS, for instance, has assigned two mobile units, complete with cameras and equipment, to cover the entire Chicago area. On Constant Call Like. prowl car police, the unit crews Will be on constant call to rush to the sceme of action when a news event breaks. It has been pointed cut that the television audience will see more of the conventions than even the dele- gates or the individual television reporters in the hall. Monitor System CBS viewers on most stations will | see the scene selected for them out of fifteen being recorded by cameras and filtered through a staff of five directors. Here is the operation, as it will unfold: Don Hewitt, veteran CBS news- man, presides at the network master control roof in the Amphitheater. He is in constant communictation with four other directors stationed at key news points: one covering the actual convention program, one directing the mobile units, one as- signed to the CBS studios in the convention ’hall, and the fourth located in the special CBS studios at the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Each field director monitors the cameras at his news spot and selects the picture to be fed to the CBS master control room. Final Choice Hewitt sits before a panel of four HISTORY'S STAGE—The eyes of the nation will be focused on the International Amphitheater, pictured above, as the political parties meet here to select their candidates for the White House. Television cameras will cover every os ea of the delegates. = inch of the convention floor. Special radio and television studios have been installed in the building. A new air- conditioning system has just been installed for the comfort SEATTLE SALT LAKE CITY | SAN FRANCISCO LOS ANGELES SAN DIEGO PHOENIX SYRACUSE, UTICA-ROME ___\_ SCHENECTADY ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLS ROCHESTER 7 ay tr] GRAND RAPID: SURFALD / 3. novorics MRWAUKEE Apne DETROIT ERIE BINGHAMTON, fh a] Govino NSRSTER new vorx AMES CHICAGO. 50 TOHNSTOWN PHILADELPHIA PirtseurH Jf WILMINGTON OANA DAVENPORT _mcowmsus BALTIMORE INDIANAPOLIS, ORATION WASANGION ncoan BLOOMINGTON HUNTINGTON RICHMOND KANSAS CITY NORFOLK S1. tours toursviue > GREENSIORO TULSA NASHVRLE CHARLOTTE ATLANTA DALLAS BIRMINGHAM GORY WORTH JACKSONVILLE HOUSTON WNEW ORLEANS SAN ANTONIO. MANE TRANSCONTINENTAL—The convention television net- works will span the nation, as the above map indicates. The CBS network will criss-cross the country, with outlets on the west coast at Seattle and San Diego and on the east screens and selects the one to be transmitted to the vast audience across the nation. The arrangement is unprece dented in television, history, and contrasts with the usual studio situ- ation where one director in the control room monitors three or four cameras from which he makes his selection. CBS studios in the Amphitheater will be located on the upper level of the North Wing, less than fifty feet from the convention stage. Persons to be interviewed can leave the convention floor, walk up a few steps and be before the camera in a matter of seconds. Hotel Studios The special studios at the Hilton Hotel will be in the very thick of the ‘‘smoke-filled room” atmos- phere, since both political parties are establishing their convention headquarters there. Most of the leading candidates also have set up campaign offices at. the Hilton, so that press conferences and interviews all will be within range of the (CBS cameras. In charge of this vast network op- eration is Sig Mickelson, Director of News and Public Affairs for CBS Television. Only 39, Mickelson is a former teacher and newspaperman. At Chicago he will direct the activities of a staff of 300 men ‘and women that will include everyone from page boys to such famous broadcasters as Edward R. Marrow, CBS ACE—Edward R. Murrow, ace CBS newsman, is shown here board- ing an airplane for one of the many jaunts that have taken him round the world to the scene of headline events he has covered. Murrow will be a key man in CBS coverage of the conventions. BE AT THE CONVENTIONS Wit A CROSLEY coast at Boston and Miami. The 1948 conventions at Philadelphia, the first ever telecast to the public, were viewed by only six cities in the east. Estimates of the '52 convention TV audience go as high as 70 million. Lowell Thomas, Robert Trout, Eric Sevareid and David Schoenbrun, Railroad Caravan Mickelson’s “caravan” will com- prise eleven special cars on the Twentieth Century Limited that will transport broadcasters, cameramen, engineers, maintenance men, secre- taries and office employes from New York to Chicago. Although the Philadelphia con ventions of 1948 were telecast to the public, for the first time, the job done there amounted only to a test Gets League Trophy Huntsville Church Lewis W. LeGrand, chairman of Back Mountain Towa and Country Branch YMCA, presented ‘the ‘Church Basketball trophy to the Huntsville Christian Church at last Sunday's morning Church service. Mr. LeGrand was [presented to the congregation by Rev. Charles H. Frick. He commented on the splendid record and sportsmanship of the Christian Church Basketball team, which, after losing its first game went through the balance of the season to win 10 straight games, and win the Championship. The trophy was accepted by Fred Williams, on behalf of the Hunts- ville Christian Church, and will re- main in the Church on display until next season. CONVENTIONS run for the coming operations in Chicago. Cameras Improved Cameras have been geatly proved since then, with the notable addition of the Zoomar lens, which im- can “zoom in” from long range on a subject for an intimate closeup. The Chicago conventions will be the first ever covered by radio and television under commercial spon- sorship. In Political Sterm © REPORTS from London say that in- creasing pressure is being brought to bear on Prime Minister Win- ston Churchill (above), 78, to have him relax his tight grip on the reins of state. Conservative members of Parliament have openly expressed views that he should turn over more of his pow- ers to Anthony Eden, who is his heir apparent. @ (International) F YOU ACT NOW WE CAN INSTALL YOUR CROSLEY IMMEDIATELY Free Installation—Save $50 to $75 Now / PHONE FOR FREE SURVEY—NO ONE CAN BEAT THIS OFFER GUYETTE'S TRUCKSVILLE RADIO-TV SERVICE Phone 286-R-9 Main Highway, Trucksville | NOTE: Anyone now on cable reception will receive 6-month FREE RENTAL with this offer!
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