Monday, March 18, 2013

TV coverage history of the NCAA Tournament (1969-present)

Last year, I compiled a 3-part historical summary of the TV coverage of the NCAA tournament from 1969 to the present. I recently made some updates and this week is an appropriate time to post the revised version.

10 comments:

  1. On the 1982-90 entry, they talked about the Selection Special being introduced.

    I think that got it's start in the late-70's. On the 1978 UNLV-UK broadcast, the NBC announcers said that the tourney pairings would be announced at halftime the next day during the Mich-UCLA telecast.

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    1. Yes, NBC would quickly run through the pairings during halftime of the last regular season game starting in the late 1970s. However, the 1982 CBS Selection Show was the first time that a separate TV show existed for that purpose.

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  2. i wonder how nbc was able switch games in the 70s and 80 since they were being fed via phone lines

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    1. I'm not sure they did much switching at all prior to 1981.

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  3. i have seen a few examples on cbs during their 70s nba coverage

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  4. I swear I watched the 1966 historic title game on TV. But, all the research I've done says TV coverage didn't start until 1969.

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    1. The 1966 title game was indeed televised. Many NCAA title games prior to 1969 (such as the 1966 contest) were syndicated on TV in several markets. I chose to start his series in 1969 as that was the first year of network TV coverage on NBC.

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    2. I watched NCAA championship games on TV as early at 1963 (Loyola-Cincy) and I know I saw the 1966 Texas Western game on TV (Bobby Jo Hill's steals) but they were all one-offs and I don't remember any systematic tourney coverage, which always frustrated me. But I lived in the NY Metro area so we had access to lots of stations. I believe I've seen the tourney final on TV ever since '63, except on a couple of occasions when I attended the event in 1981 and 1992.

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  5. Jeff
    It looks like the 506 forum is no longer available. I remember reading through that part of your research like a kid opening presents on Christmas as I had started watching the tourney in 1968 because of Houston's run to the Final Four.

    Is that painstaking research of yours available anywhere else?

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    1. The forum is still available, but the URL changed a few months ago. The new URL is https://506forums.com/

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