History
From 1939–1951, Mutual covered the Indianapolis 500 with live segments at the start, the finish, and live updates throughout the race. Bill Slater was the anchor. After losing its sponsor, Perfect Circle Piston Rings, Mutual did not return. In 1952, the Speedway took radio broadcasting rights in-house, utilizing talent mostly from WIBC. The format largely followed the Mutual setup, with live coverage at the start, the finish, and updates during the race. Starting in 1953, the talent pool was extended to all stations in the area, and expanded to featured the first live flag-to-flag coverage.
Through 1985, the IMS Radio Network was the exclusive provider of live coverage of the Indianapolis 500. With the exception of MCA's closed-circuit television broadcasts from 1964–1970, there was no live television of the race until 1986.
In 1994, the network began broadcasting the Brickyard 400. Starting in 1996, the network began covering all events of the Indy Racing League. The network's name was changed in 1997 to the Indy Racing Radio Network to reflect the expanded content. The name change, however, was short lived. In 2000, the network also began covering the Formula One United States Grand Prix.
Read more about this topic: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history in German intellectual life.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)