{"id":4768,"date":"2026-05-11T12:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/?post_type=csat-story-chapter&p=4768"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:47:24","slug":"broadcasting-the-games","status":"publish","type":"csat-story-chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/en\/story\/broadcasting-the-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadcasting the Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tD\u00e9tails de l’image — <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Weekly TV listings supplement, T\u00e9l\u00e9 Presse. Comment regarder les jeux \u00e0 la t\u00e9l\u00e9<\/em><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t
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<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To broadcast the Games around the globe, CBC\/Radio-Canada created the Olympic Radio and Television Organization (ORTO). Its mission was straightforward, but ambitious: provide audio and visual coverage of the Games to both Canadian and foreign broadcasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the event sites, approximately 3,000 radio and television professionals, from 125 different countries, speaking more than 30 languages, worked side by side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to ORTO, over 1.5 billion people <\/strong>tuned in to watch and listen to the Games\u2014a record for the time!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tD\u00e9tails de l’image — <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Five\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Members of ORTO in the crowd at the Olympic Stadium, July 1976<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t
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<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To offer the audience a cutting-edge experience, ORTO introduced several new ways of operating. For example, installing mini-consoles at the event sites meant commentators could be close to the action. Also, lightweight cameras and new techniques made it easier to capture images of the athletes in action. In short, ORTO showed no lack of creativity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1,600 ORTO staff members<\/strong> were easily recognized by their brightly coloured shirts and jackets emblazoned with the new CBC\/Radio-Canada logo. This logo features a stylized letter \u00ab\u00a0C,\u00a0\u00bb radiating in all directions to represent radio and television broadcasting. The shirt was created by designer Jean-Claude Poitras<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t

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ORTO uniform shirt<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t
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An ORTO technician aboard a helicopter linked to an autocamera, July 19, 1976<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t
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More lightweight equipment<\/h2>\n \n

Back in 1976, there were no drones. To capture live footage of the competitions, ORTO used an autocamera<\/strong>, a car stripped of its shell, piloted by a professional driver. These vehicles replaced the motorcycles that had been used up to then and enabled the cameraman sitting in the back to film striking close-ups of the athletes’ faces as they competed. The footage captured was then transmitted to a helicopter flying 1,000 feet above the vehicle, and then relayed to master control for broadcast.<\/p>\n \n

All of these innovations impressed the team in charge of the upcoming Moscow Games, and the Soviet Union decided to adopt a similar set-up.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tD\u00e9tails de l’image — <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"A\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Driver Ken Hill at the wheel of an ORTO autocamera, July 19, 1976<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":4769,"template":"","class_list":["post-4768","csat-story-chapter","type-csat-story-chapter","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":4768,"fr":1732},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/4768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/csat-story-chapter"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/4768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6350,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/4768\/revisions\/6350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}