[BC] When famous people are in the news

[Tom Bosscher]

    Boy, do I remember when Ford was nominated to become the VP. The 
media was in a frenzy, with the Watergate scandal breaking, and with 
the resignation of Agnew, things were full tilt. I think Nixon 
nominated Ford on a Friday. Ford was our representative for the Grand 
Rapids area, not "even' a senator. As our representative, he was 
scheduled to be in Cedar Springs the following Saturday for the 
annual "Red Flannel" parade. The decision to continue to go home was 
made on the following Wednesday, and the management of WOOD radio, 
here in Grand Rapids, decided to carry his first press conference as 
the Vice-President nominee at a chapel in Cedar Springs, live.

    This was all in 1973, way before any fiber feeds, 2 GHz microwave 
links, KU uplink trucks, ISDN, and cell phones. My boss at WOOD 
radio, Jerry Vandersloot called Michigan Bell on Wednesday afternoon, 
and they got a 5 kc broadcast loop, and a talk line,  installed by 
Friday noon. Jerry assigned me to accompany the news department, and 
make sure this thing got on the air. At 8 am in the morning, we were 
the first people at the chapel. No mult boxes in those days. We put 
our mic right smack dab in the middle of the pulpit. Not only did we 
air the press conference live, we hauled a production Ampex 600/610 
to record a backup copy. On a recording medium called magnetic tape. 
The secret service showed up about 30 minutes after we did. They let 
us sit off to the side of the stage, with one guy keeping an eye on us.

    Then the media came. WOW, did they come. 16 mm film cameras by 
the ton. Heavy stuff for a 20 year old!
In the weeks to come, Ford was in and out of Grand Rapids. WOOD radio 
back then was still in the same building at CH8, the NBC affiliate. 
They had the only coax from a TV studio to the AT&T facilities. The 
only way to get a video feed out of town int hose days. PBS flew in a 
Cesium time standard, and I remember talking to PBS tech as he 
tweaked the vernier knob to sync that box to PBS national. Then at 
some point, CH8 took a slight glitch as they switched their sync over 
to that unit. Remember, time base correctors were not really 
available. While CH8 did their local newscasts, CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS 
people were in CH8's production studio. All equipment, all people 
were on duty. Secret service was everywhere, (Ford was in the 
building). I distinctly remember meeting Tom Brokaw, who was the road 
political reporter for NBC. He was trying to drink some bad coffee 
back in the break room. Nice guy.

    Big stuff for a twenty year old.

    tom bosscher