not a single computer or phone (then called ''mobile phone's'') in use or sight (or even mentioned) - for reference, i just saw back to back episodes of a 1976 MTMS followed by a 1973 IRONSIDE w/raymond burr & joseph campanella, where computers and phones were heavily used through out the episode - kind of odd the newsroom was so behind the times on MTMS :)
shareI think it was a running joke with the show about how low budget and behind the times WJM was from other news stations of that era.
shareThat's funny because had I read this a couple days ago, I would have paid more attention to the MTMS I 'watched'/listened on/to Sunday afternoon while busy with a million other things, OK, so, what I know I DID see was, for some reason ... that I missed, Mary was in a big city (Chicago?) newsroom that had all the latest gadgets & gizmo's and it was very sophisticated and a little snobby, I'm going out on a limb here but I'm thinking she went there with HER newsrooms blessings & best wishes, seeking a new job, but of course it didn't pan out OR she elected to stay at WJM ... my point is to contribute to your comment on 1970's office computers, etc. which we never see at WJM, yet are plentiful to be sure in the episode of "Ironside" that you mentioned.
shareI think you're thinking of the episode where she starts dating the newscaster from another Minneapolis TV station. She goes to visit him at his station and it's so much more sophisticated and updated compared to WJM.
shareAlso when Rhoda's parents visit, Mary is giving them a tour of the newsroom. The highlight is showing them the color carousel that the art guy uses. Martin and Ida go on and on about one of the tours that they went on where it was really thrilling.
Al - Alicia
An - Andrew
Jo - Joseph
Be - Benjamin
The show's run (1970-1977) seems too early for a small, local news station to have had any kind of "computer" other than a hand held calculator.
Likewise, the closest thing to a cell phone would have been a "mobile radio telephone," which was, more or less, a powerful walkie-talkie that could call into a telephone exchange. I used one of these in the late 1980's, and it was not very reliable.
The show does mention that WJM had a "mobile unit" truck in the first season episode, "The Snow Must Go On." The truck might have had some kind of radio.
The transition from film to video was occurring in the 1970's, which would make remote broadcasts possible, but WJM still seemed to have to wait to develop their 16mm motion picture film before it could be put on the air.
I can tell you that KTLA, the largest independent station in Los Angeles, was still using 16mm film on its local news shows as late as 1980.
I miss 16MM film during the news..............😖
"In every dimension , there's another YOU!"
are you kidding a calculator in the early 70's cost as much a used car, computers were strickly for the very rich, most people didnt even see there first computer until the late 70's
shareI wouldn't say that computers were just for the "very rich" at that time. There was no reason* for anyone to have a personal computer and work computers, in most cases (as several posters have written) were specific to accounting and other data crunching type uses. The only journalists I see using them would be newspapers or the wire services and then just as word processors that would then send the copy out or to be set for the printer.
Even newspapers were still just starting to use them. If you watch All the President's Men (1976) you only see a few terminals in use. The set was a near perfect replica of the actual Washington Post newsroom. This was set during the same period as the early seasons of the MTM Show.
* Reason here meaning there was no web, personal e-mail didn't exist for most, no software to do your taxes, keep books, etc..
Many real life offices still primarily used typewriters well into the first half of the 1980's.
In the 1970's only the big major organizations and government departments used computers (as they were hugely expensive). They were also the big bulking analogue driven types that took up half the office space and made so much noise that it drown out everything around it.
By the second half of the 1980's, desktop computers were being installed across many companies as the technology was rapidly improving and by the dawn of the 1990's they were practically in use everywhere
WJM-TV by comparison was a small network with a limited budget and limited capabilities. I would say it would have been reflective of many rural based stations at that period of time.
I'm trying to remember if Lou made any mention in early episodes of Lou Grant the fact that the Tribune city room had more computers and tech then WJM.
shareLou Grant was one of the first programs that showed how offices at the time were changing. You see typewriters being used but you also see the gradual introduction of computers as well.....
shareIn the 1970's only the big major organizations and government departments used computers (as they were hugely expensive). They were also the big bulking analogue driven types that took up half the office space and made so much noise that it drown out everything around it.
By the second half of the 1980's, desktop computers were being installed across many companies....
I'm happy to watch a show with no computers or cell phones. I miss the time when everyone wasn't obsessed with electronics.
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