The Track & Field listserv, via Univ. of Oregon server, shared this week's USATF website version of the NBC-TV schedule for Olympic coverage, noting that all times are Eastern (and subject to change). The network's website <nbcolympics.com> had previously displayed its full USA telecast schedule which stated that all times are Eastern AND Pacific. The same information and a full TV schedule was published earlier this month on pages 14-15 of "Parade," an unbound magazine section inserted into the Sunday edition of many U.S. newspapers. Both of those media sources show track and field included in multiple time blocks, daily from Sep 22 through Oct 1 except for Sep 26 rest day. These blocks total 73.5 hours with a daily range of 5 to 13 hours. For serious track fans this will require a lot of VCR tape or skipping work some days to watch TV. The basic format indicates qualifying rounds in the earliest telecast session, 10 a.m. to noon most days. Prime time sessions every evening, and afternoons of Sep 23-24, list finals and specifiy which events. However, most dates show Track & Field as only one of the "featured sports." The listed finals for each date match "Sydney Schedule" at page 52 of the October "Track & Field News." Every Olympic event for both men and women is listed at some date and time in both the web and print versions of NBC schedule. The amount of time devoted to each T&F event has yet to be chronicled. Track and Field finals are also indicated for the night owl telecast session from 12:41 to 2:11 a.m. on Monday, Sep 25. Veteran TV watchers will be wary of this because past experience could include finding such TV on the day following the listing date; that night owl telecast may actually be early Tuesday morning, Sep 26. The same caution could be applied to the 0041--0211 telecast listed for Sep 28. T&F TV schedule summary, using 24-hour clock: 22 Sep: 1000-1200, 1900-2400 23 Sep: 1200-1800, 1900-2400 24 Sep: 1000-1800, 1900-2400 25 Sep: 1000-1200, 1900-2400, 0041-0211 26 Sep: no T&F 27 Sep: 1000-1200, 1900-2400 28 Sep: 1000-1200, 1900-2400, 0041-0211 29 Sep: 1000-1200, 1900-2400 30 Sep: 1900-2400 01 Oct: 1900-2400 One final alert, particularly for those who depend upon later viewing via VCR: Parade gave start/finish times for those post-midnight telecasts that were six minutes earlier (0035-0205) than the NBC website. James Fields <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
