What was it like to be in the ABC Sports Control Room during the network’s coverage of terrorism at 1972 Munich Games

Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Audacy

News, Business News, Sports, Sports News

4.3 • 721 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 454 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Geoff Mason and Sean McManus. Mason was the lead producer for ABC Sports on Sept. 5, 1972 when Israeli athletes were taken hostage. McManus, the longtime head of CBS Sports, is the son of ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who anchored the coverage to the American public. McManus was in Munich with his father for those Games. How ABC Sports covered terrorism at the 1972 Munich Olympics is the subject of a new motion picture, “September 5.” The movie features both Mason and McKay extensively. In this podcast, Mason and McManus share their experiences being in Munich; how closely the film parallels the reality; McManus discusses how his father processed the experience during and after; Mason and McManus examine the moral and ethical dilemma that comes with cameras showing the terrorists and hostages; how the American public treated McKay after the Olympics; the telegram McKay received from Walter Cronkite, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:09.0	Get Adobe Express for free.
0:11.0	Search for Adobe Express to find out more. Welcome to the sports media podcast. I'm your host, Richard Dyche. My producer Patrick Antonetti, two guests this week. But this will be an interesting podcast, particularly for those of you who are Olympic devotees. There's an upcoming feature film, September 5th, which focuses
0:41.0	on the ABC Sports Control Room during the 1972 Munich Summer Games, as that group was
0:47.8	reporting live on the Israeli athletes who were taken hostage on September 5th, 1972, and obviously ultimately killed.
0:55.7	The film was told through the people who were in that control room at the time.
1:00.3	And that includes one of my guests, Jeff Mason, who is a major character in the film, along with Rune Arledge.
1:06.1	I think people would know who that is and other ABC staffers.
1:09.8	My other guest today is Sean McManus, the long-time
1:12.6	CBS Sports Chairman and also the son of Jim McKay, who anchored that coverage to the American
1:19.9	public. I had known this, but people will learn this as well. Sean was in Munich for those
1:24.6	Olympics. I think he was a teenager at the time. And so the film debuts this
1:28.8	month and it opens wide next month. And with that, I bring in and welcome Jeff Mason and
1:36.2	Sean McManus. Welcome guys to the sports media podcast. Thank you, Richard. Great to be here.
1:41.2	Good to see you after a while now that I am officially retired, but it's good to see you.
1:47.0	John, I mean, you're not sure you're really that retired. It seems like you get 64 jobs in your retirement. So well, not.
1:52.6	I've got a lot of time. Thank you, Richard. Good to see you. I am not retired. So it's good to see you now that I'm full time, as always. All right, Jeff, let's start here.
2:01.0	And you're going to, you know, as you do your press circuit, you'll be getting this question a lot.
2:06.9	But I want to start with you on this.
2:08.5	How did being in that control room change your life, Jeff?
2:11.9	And you're welcome to answer that either professionally or personally or both.
	...

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