Lifetime Medical Television

In my earlier life (the one after the wedding but before the child), I used to work in production, especially electronic graphics. Originally we had an ancient form of character generator called The Compositor. I ran one of them, for years.

Then along came a production that wanted the high tech graphics machine and they would rent it for the day. That is how I came to learn how to operate a Chyron 4.

I was trained by a freelance operator, who was assigned to do the '84 Olympics and thus, not available for the summer. Note NBC was able to book every operator a year in advance and thus, KCET had no one they could get as a substitute. So, there I was, someone who did graphics for the station and I could be trained on this "Latest" invention, the Chyron 4.

It was an interesting thing to learn and as a matter of fact, I went to Chyron school in Melville, NY (on my own dime) and got even better at it. Trust me, the money I earned with these freelance gigs, help pay for the down payment on our house.

One of the shows I was trained to operate the Chyron for, was called Physicians Journal Update. It was a show that was broadcast on the Lifetime Network, which at the time was called Lifetime Medical Television. The shows were broadcast specifically on Doctor Sunday.

It was a show that discussed techniques in surgery and trends in health care and quoted articles in publications called JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association).

Way over my head, but all I had to do was spell whatever they gave me, correctly. :-)

The other show that we did was called Specialty Update. More of the same, in my humble opinion.

I went looking for anything on the Internet, that discussed these shows and I did find an article and a video (which is where I got the screen capture). The person was lamenting the loss of this early form of the Lifetime Network and I agree that it brought back memories of a time and a place...and running bumpers.

I was so glad to have had the chance to learn professional Character Generator operation. Thanks to Lifetime...and the '84 Olympics.