[QuadList] Passings--Ampex Quad & GVG engineer Bill Barnhart at 88--
Tim Stoffel
tim at lionlamb.us
Tue Oct 22 00:05:32 CDT 2013
I am planning on attending as well.
Tim Stoffel
--
-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Hall <listk7age at gmail.com>
Reply-to: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Passings--Ampex Quad & GVG engineer Bill
Barnhart at 88--
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 11:43:41 -0700
I did not know about the SMTPE meeting. Sounds like a plan.
Randy
On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Ted Langdell
<ted at quadvideotapegroup.com> wrote:
Hi, Randy,
You're welcome and thanks for passing it on.
Bill had been suggested as someone to be asked about doing an
oral history with QuadList member James Snyder.
Are you planning to attend the SMPTE meeting Oct. 30 at the GVG
cafeteria?
Ted
On Oct 19, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Randy Hall wrote:
>
> Ted
>
> Thanks for the posting. I forwarded it to many of the old
> Groupies.
>
> Randy
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Ted Langdell
> <ted at quadvideotapegroup.com> wrote:
>
>
> Television and videotape engineer Bill Barnhart—who
> played several roles in the famous color video
> recording of the Nixon-Kruschev "Kitchen Debate"—has
> passed away in Grass Valley, California.
>
>
> http://www.theunion.com/news/obituaries/8396446-113/bill-nevada-barnhart-broadcast
>
>
> Barnhart was 88, and extended early amateur radio and
> WW II US Navy training in radar into a long career in
> television broadcast product engineering.
>
>
> After graduating from Stanford University in 1950 with
> a degree in Electrical Engineering, Barnhart began his
> career at pioneering Los Angeles television station
> KTLA, where television was live and local, unless it
> was part of a "never been done before" event like
> covering an atomic bomb test in Nevada via multiple
> microwave hops over desolate desert and high
> mountains.
>
>
> Barnhart's Ampex experience began in the mid-1950s as
> the pioneering audio recorder company was pioneering
> the development of the Quadruplex video recorder.
>
>
> In 1959, Barnhart was in Russia supporting the Ampex
> VR-1000 Quad VTR being shown at the American National
> Exhibition in Sokolniki Park in Moscow.
>
>
> He is seen running the recorder as Soviet Premier
> Nikita Kruschev and US Vice President Richard Nixon
> engaged in what came to be called "The Kitchen
> Debate."
>
>
> Stories are told about how the tape smuggled out of
> Russia, and Barnhart regaled Sacramento SMPTE section
> event.
>
>
> Member Pete Challinger recalled the telling in a post
> to the Telecine Internet Group in 2006:
>
> Kruschev and his handlers were not aware at
> the time that the exchange was recorded, or
> most likely even that it was possible it could
> be recorded.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> After it was over the Ampex engineers realized
> what they had and discussed how to get it
> home, knowing that sooner or later someone
> would realize what had happened.
>
>
> It so happened that Joe Roizen and another
> engineer were scheduled to return home that
> day. Bill spooled off the tape and wound it
> tightly around a pencil then Joe took the
> pancake back to the hotel and hid in his dirty
> socks while packing to come home.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> By the time they were heading for the airport
> speculation was spreading amongst the Russians
> that something was going on. Fortunately by
> the time the Russians had worked out there was
> a tape and that Americans were leaving Moscow,
> the plane was in the air.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> After our meeting of course we all kicked
> ouselves recognizing the irony of failing to
> preserve the retelling on videotape!
> See the July 26, 2009 QuadList post "[QuadList]
> Kitchen Debate Video turned 50 this weekend--Pictures
> from an Exhibition" for more and a photo of the event.
>
> In 1967, Barnhart became Grass Valley Group's twelfth
> employee, and was a cheery fixture at NAB and other
> trade shows demonstrating Grass Valley's range of
> video processing and switching equipment.
>
>
> Barnhart was tapped to be part of a celebration of the
> 50th anniversary of Videotape, as the Society of
> Motion Picture and Television Engineers presented an
> All Day Historical Seminar on Saturday, Oct. 21. 2006,
> joining engineers from the CBS, NBC and ABC who
> installed and ran early Quad machines, and former
> Ampex Quad development team member Ray Dolby, who
> passed away a few weeks before Barnhart.
>
>
> The 2006 Conference's co-chair Bill Hogan said at the
> time, "The innovations these individuals and companies
> produced decades ago profoundly changed the television
> industry. Their seminal ideas are present even in the
> devices we use today. The pioneers' perspectives and
> remembrances will enhance what is going to be a
> fascinating day-long look at motion picture and
> television history"
>
>
> https://www.smpte.org/news-events/pr/smpte-historical-seminar-celebrate-vtrs-50th-anniversary
>
>
> Barnhart had a love of recorders—the musical kind—and
> while at Ampex founded a group in Palo Alto:
> http://www.mpro-online.org/DetailedHistory.htm
>
>
> In Grass Valley, he was part of the Nevada County
> Concert Band, and in 1978, co-founded the Sierra
> Community Symphony.
> http://www.nccb.org/pdfs/NCCB120990Program.pdf
>
>
> Barnhart was married to the late Nevada County
> Supervisor Ilse Barnhart, until she passed away in
> 2002.
>
>
> He is survived by son John of Elk Grove, California,
> daughter Shirley Rodriquez of Reno, Nevada, niece
> Nancy Struble of Nevada City, nephew Dirk Miller of
> Incline Village, Nevada and eight grandchildren.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Ted
>
>
> Ted Langdell
> (530) 301-2931
> ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
> Secretary for the QuadVideotapeGroup.com:
> Preserving Tape, Equipment and the Knowledge to use
> them, in conjunction with the Library of Congress
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Ted
Ted Langdell
Secretary
Skype: TedLangdell
e-mail: ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
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