view raw text
Nearly 50 Million to See Derby TV to Carry Big _ Race Nation-Wide Six Cameras Cover Classic; Millions Others Listen In On Radio Around World By LEO MISHKIN An estimated audience of between 40,-000,000 and 50,000,000 people in this country will watch it on television, and an around-the-world audience of untold millions will listen on the "radio, when the Columbia Broadcasting System puts the 84th running of the Kentucky Derby on the air this afternoon. The simulcast is scheduled for 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. CDT. In the Chicago area, it will be seen over WBBM-TV Channel 2. Calling the race will be Fred Capossela, veteran turf announcer. .Bryan Field, has been assigned to handle the color commentary, describing the background and the tradition of the Run for the Roses, while Phil Sutterfield, of WHAS-TV, Louisville, will take charge of the interviews from the winners circle. Heard First on Radio in 1938 The CBS-TV network will utilize six cameras for the extensive coverage of the classic, with more than a mile of camera, microphone and telephone wires and cables placed throughout Churchill Downs to relay the event. In charge of the production for TV will be Judson Bailey, executive producer for the CBS-TV Sports De-1 partment, while James M. Dolan, executive producer for CBS Radio Sports, will supervise the radio broadcast. The first national radio coverage of the Derby took place in 1938, when CES broadcast-it coast-to-coast for the first time. ■CBS television entered the scene in 1949 when it provided live coverage for the Louisville area, and filmed the classic for subsequent showing the following night. In 1950, .with the coaxial cable extending across the mountains, CBS -TV chartered a plane to carry the TV report from Louisville to Dayton, Ohio, where it was put on the air only a few hours after the winner crossed the finish line, "but still, "however, on film. The first national live coverage of the race took place in 1952. with a steadily increasing audience and a steadily expand- ing network ever since. This afternoons running of the classic will be carried by 180 TV stations .and 205 radio stations, the latter also, serving the coast-to-coast network of the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and for overseas, the Armed Forces Radio Service. Just preceding the running of the Derby itself, CBS television and radio will broadcast its annual "Kentucky Derby Preview," from 4 to 4:15 pjn., during which Bud Palmer, sportscaster, will interview celebrities and veteran racing authorities on the Derby scene and warm up for the main event.
