Rex Mays 150 June 1969 TV?

[Belanger99]

Sid mentions during the 1969 radio broadcast that he and Rodger Ward would be doing TV at Milwaukee the next weekend, right before he interviews Irv Fried about the June Langhorne event. Anyone know much about the Milwaukee telecast? I have a feeling it was a syndicated network deal, rather than one of the Big 3.

[JThur1]

Yep, TVS. I recall watching that. TVS televised races a few races in 1969 and 1970: Milwaukee, Continental Divide and, IIRC, Langhorne.

[Belanger99]

Yep, TVS. I recall watching that. TVS televised races a few races in 1969 and 1970: Milwaukee, Continental Divide and, IIRC, Langhorne.

Thanks JIm. I wonder how many televised auto races are lost to history, as I doubt there is an existing film.

[jandj]

From nascarman’s video on YouTube:

[jandj]

[lotuspoweredbyford]

As I mentioned at the time that video dropped, I really enjoyed it, but some of those aren’t “lost” and some don’t exist due to damage.

[JThur1]

Obviously, I should have recalled TVS' later schedule, through 1972, as I definitely remember the Michigan telecasts, but...at the time I posted, I did not I also recalled the Trenton race.

[JSJLW]

Could you tell me more about TVS? Just out of interest.

[Martyj]

I actually remember watching this broadcast (I lived in Indianapolis at the time. I was unaware if it was shown elsewhere.) There was a big multi-car pile up and it had to be stopped. I don't think I stuck around to see who won, though. Strange I can recall something so specific from when I was 10 years old, but live races on TV were pretty rare in those days, so it gets stuck in ones mind. That's probably why I also remember that year's Canadian GP. They joined the broadcast with the race already in progress, Jackie Stewart having already retired and Jacky Ickx having built an unassailable lead. I also wandered away from the TV set before the end. It was a big ask to get a 10 to give up two hours in front of a black and white TV on an afternoon when kids were playing outside. In retrospect, in those days I got more excitement from reading race reports in magazines after the fact than watching the events live on TV. The power of what the written word brings to the imagination, I suppose.

[JThur1]

Could you tell me more about TVS? Just out of interest.

The Wikipedia entry for TVS is pretty good, aside from not mentioning their auto racing coverage.

Eddie Einhorn went on to own part of the Chicago White Sox.

[aracefan]

Could you tell me more about TVS? Just out of interest.

TeleVision Sports Inc. was founded by Eddie Einhorn in the early 1960s, centered around college basketball telecasts. He had put together a radio network for the NCAA tournament in the late 1950s and saw this as a gold mine, as there was little competition except in the Big Ten (SNI, Sports Network Inc.) and ACC (C.D. Chesley Productions). He was right.

TVS went on the map with the 1968 UCLA-Houston game at the Astrodome, which many network affiliates carried in place of Saturday night prime-time programs. It also introduced Dick Enberg, the voice of UCLA basketball, to a national audience.

TVS would grow to have multiple college conference telecasts each Saturday, seen in their area of interest, and eventually add a national-interest early game on Saturday (1 p.m. Eastern) followed by the regional game at 3 p.m. Eastern. Notre Dame would often be on the early telecast. So many NBC stations picked these up that NBC, which had the NCAA tournament rights and did some national games on Sunday after it dropped the NHL in 1975, partnered with TVS to carry the packages on the network. TVS also carried an occasional bowl game and the 1974 WFL season.

I remember in Chicago, the TVS auto races were on the NBC station on a one-week delay. Neither of the other major syndicators did racing. SNI concentrated on golf in the summer, and also fed local telecasts from out-of-town parks and arenas to local stations, Chesley's non-basketball feature was tape-delayed Notre Dame football.