Reverend Isaac Bruce on GMFB this morning

[BostonBlackie]

I remember my dad saying to me while watching Bruce in his rookie year with the Rams about midway through the season, this kid is going to be not only one of the great receivers in LA Ram history but one of the top 5 in the history of the game. And coming from my dad who had watched every Ram game from 1948 until he passed on back in 2009, that's saying something.

How'd he manage that?

NBC was the first major television network to cover an NFL game, when on October 22, 1939, it broadcast a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers; the network was still only in its infancy, with only two affiliates, the modern day WRGB (now a CBS affiliate) in Schenectady and W2XBS in New York City. Portions of that game still survive via films, but the film is not footage from the telecast (recordings of television broadcasts did not begin until 1948). The use of a sideline camera, the sole camera used in the 1939 broadcast, would become the standard for all future NFL broadcasts until 2017; the angle is particularly suited for estimating yardage, compared to more mobile camera angles that began to appear in the 21st century.[1]

Regular broadcasts of games began after World War II and the first NFL championship to be televised was the 1948 match between the Eagles and Cardinals.

In 1950, the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins became the first NFL teams to have all of their games—home and away—televised. In the same year, other teams made deals to have selected games telecast. The DuMont Network then paid a rights fee of US$75,000 to broadcast the 1951 NFL Championship Game across the entire nation.

From 1953 to 1955, DuMont also televised Saturday night NFL games. It was the first time that NFL fixtures were broadcast live, coast-to-coast, in prime time, for the entire season. The broadcasts ended after the 1955 season, when the DuMont Network folded. DuMont was a less than ideal partner for NFL broadcasts: with only eighteen affiliates in 1954, it was dwarfed by the amount of coverage the "Big Four" (later the East Division of the Canadian Football League) had with its contract on NBC, which had 120 affiliates at the time.[2]

By 1955, NBC became the televised home of the NFL Championship Game, paying $100,000 to the league. The 1958 NFL Championship Game played at Yankee Stadium between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants went into sudden death overtime. This game, since dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played," was watched widely throughout the country and is credited with increasing the popularity of professional football in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

CBS began to televise selected NFL regular season games in 1956.

By 1959, big-market teams such as the Bears and Giants had all their games televised, but small-market ones like the Packers and 49ers still did not. Upon becoming NFL commissioner, Pete Rozelle worked to ensure that every team got all its games on TV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Football_League_on_television

 

[Farr Be It]

How'd he manage that?

:rant:"Smartest guy in the room is here! Everyone sit up straight!"

Bad start douche. Come over here to discuss the Super Bowl all you want. Not to show up our members.

 

[BostonBlackie]

:rant:"Smartest guy in the room is here! Everyone sit up straight!"

Bad start douche. Come over here to discuss the Super Bowl all you want. Not to show up our members.

He was close though.

The Rams' first heyday in Southern California was from 1949 to 1955, when they played in the pre-Super Bowl era NFL Championship Game four times, winning once in 1951. During this period, they had the best offense in the NFL, even though there was a quarterback change from Bob Waterfield to Norm Van Brocklin in 1951. The defining offensive players of this period were wide receiver Elroy Hirsch, Van Brocklin and Waterfield. Teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Tom Fears, Hirsch helped create the style of Rams football as one of the first big play receivers. During the 1951 championship season, Hirsch posted a then stunning 1,495 receiving yards with 17 touchdowns. The popularity of this wide-open offense enabled the Los Angeles Rams to become the first pro football team to have all their games televised in 1950.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams

 

[Mackeyser]

He was close though.

Then again, radio announcers of that bygone era were so good you felt like you were there.

LA had to HoF, best ever announcers like that... Chick Hearn for Laker Basketball (going all the way back to the Minneapolis Lakers) and Vin Scully for the Dodgers.

It was VERY common in the 80s for folks to still just listen to the radio for those games and when you watched the highlights it was EXACTLY as they described.

Both in accuracy and poetry.

Announcers today can barely get the words out in most cases.

And if there was a guy in his garage playing a radio, he probably had on the Dodger game or KLOS, the LA rock station which played a pretty wide variety of rock.