Since 1924, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a part of many families’ holiday traditions, and in my household, it’s no different. For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has always started off with the parade on TV at around nine in the morning and continued on until about midday, when more people would be in the house, preparing food and chatting and occasionally watching the program. It’s a comfortable memory that repeats itself annually, but this year, I can already feel the Parkie in my brain taking over.
I’ve never really thought about it before, but a lot of effort must go into producing this yearly piece. Between performers, floats, balloons, and the crowd, there are billions of things that could be focused on at once, and each also holds the potential to completely malfunction and throw off the plan of the day. In making live television, there’s no telling what will happen, so the people behind the parade broadcast must have some way of dealing with such a high-stress situation.
With a little help from everyone’s best friend, Google, I’ve come to find out some of the tricks of NBC-TV’s production when it comes to the Macy’s Parade. Over the span of a two and a half mile parade route, twenty-two cameras are stationed, including steadicam and helicopter mounts, with audio reception set up at each. Over two hundred crew members work on location for the big show, and are also required to rehearse both with and without talent for days before the event (these workers are legitimately doing run-throughs and checks up until fifteen minutes before the start of the show). Planning for the parade starts approximately three months in advance, which includes things from organizing the performers to pre-production for the broadcast. When it’s actually go time, the program is live switched in NBC’s New York HQ, with cameras and audio routed through the AMV truck.
The first hour of the parade focuses on the starting point and utilizes the cameras there, with occasional cuts back to hosts in a booth. The next two hours are more focused on the live performances farther down the parade route by Broadway groups, dancers, and marching bands, which go up until the end of the show, at which time Santa reaches his final destination in Herald Square (where, of course, cameras are waiting).
Knowing all of this, I’m probably going to watch the parade a little differently this time around, and will most likely keep a running commentary on what happens behind the scenes to family members who want to find out what kinds of things I’ve learned in school. At some point or another, I can assume I’ll be asked by a cousin to shut up for a poppy musical number, but until then, I’ll be calling shots as if someone at a switcher can actually hear me.
Have a good Thanksgiving, everyone, and enjoy break!
