"Terrorist" was used on network television was what is now known as "the Munich Massacre"; at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany.
This is the subject of my first attempt to write a 10 minute play: 16 HOURS: September 5. 1972.
For those of us old enough to remember this tragic event, we also remember the graphic in the lower third of this play poster. It would become the definitive image of the word "Terrorist."
For those of you not old enough to be familiar with this event, AND...if this event wasn't talked about in your history classes in high school or college; then, in my opinion, your history teachers/professors, and etc. should have been fired.
It was 16 hours of network sports coverage that set precedent because it was the first and only time in television network history, a sports announcer became the face and voice of network world news; as Arab terrorists snuck into the Israeli apartments of the Olympic Village, kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes (2 were killed immediately) and held them hostage. The end result - all the Israeli athletes were killed.
It would also be a broadcast that from the second the story broke, ABC network execs in New York, would hound ABC sports producer, Roone Arledge, to replace sports announcer, Jim McKay, with a real news anchor...Roone Arledge said, No!
As tragic as the outcome was, what fascinated me, and what is the content of my play, was the mayhem that went on inside the ABC control room during the broadcast.
ABC was the only television network to hold the license to broadcast the 72 Olympics.
The camera coverage of the day was limited to one camera, mounted on a tower. The technology of that time was limited to walkie talkies and Jerri-rigged phone patches through the walkie talkies and land lines, to get the what was breaking on the air.
That is the story I tell in 16 HOURS.
Feel free to check out the zoom production done my Rough Magic Shakespeare Company. Zoom doesn't allow for portraying time lapses, but you'll get the idea.
Kudos to their actors and my appreciation to them for choosing 16 HOURS to perform!
One final trivia note: when the story broke, sports announcer, Jim McKay, was relaxing in a sauna. It supposed to be his day off. When he got the call to come in to do the broadcast he immediately got dressed and reported to the ABC control room.
18 hours later...a tired, Jim McKay got back to his hotel room and got undressed to take a well deserved shower. That was when he realized that he he had never taken his swim trunks off after he got out of the sauna.
Thanks for reading my blog!
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