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When we sat down with the station manager and the programdirector, everyone recognized that there was a format problem. Theywere using 16mm film for local news and 2" tape for network feeds,and we were using 1/4" tape.With our tiny equipment budget we'd bought a video systemfrom Akai that could use open reel videotape or audiotape. It waslightweight and the picture was good but there weren't very many of them in Canada. CHBC executives liked the show, they liked theidea of getting a Revelstoke audience, but they didn't think the showwould stand up to broadcast. They called in their technician.When he walked in he looked like someone who spent more timewith a wrench than a soldering iron. He also looked like someonewho'd been doing this for a long time. He watched the tape, rolledthe vertical hold, paused it and then said it should work with animage buffer.As it turned out CHBC was broadcasting bingo games but thecameras weren't stable enough for transmission so the picture wentonto a TV that could lock onto the shaky signal, and a big broadcastcamera then photographed the image on that TV. The combinationof the tolerant TV with the precise camera was put into a box andthe box was called an image buffer. The technician said it workedfor the bingo so it should work for us, and it did.
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Now we needed a hockey game that wouldn't go into overtimeand again we were lucky. If you want success in life it's veryimportant to be lucky. It was also a close game. Next followed thenational commercials. Afterwards came the local commercials. Then
Kootenay and Elk Railway
came on.After the broadcast we called the mayor of Revelstoke. He wasecstatic. He and the council had watched the show at City Hall. ATV was also set up down at the union office. We had good word of mouth and we got a big audience. Besides, people in Revelstokelike to watch hockey.In the end no new rail line was built. The Kootenay and Elk Railway became a footnote in industrial history. Bill King was later elected to the provincial legislature where he served many years asan MLA. Coal trains still wind through the mountains from Fernieto Revelstoke, from Revelstoke to Vancouver; and years later whencoal was found in north-eastern BC it was shipped to Vancouver because port facilities were already in place. Eventually a big jettywas built at Roberts Bank where today entire coal trains areunloaded as they roll through without stopping.I'm not saying all this happened because CHBC-TV had animage buffer, and because we got a story that was too remote for anyone else, but I am saying people feel powerful when televisiontakes them seriously. That does make a difference.
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