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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that gives a quick look it's something that

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Speaker 1: happened a long time ago. Today I'm Gabe Bluesier, and

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Speaker 1: today we're talking about the time when NBC pulled the

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Speaker 1: rug out from under sports fans during the infamous Heidi game.

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Speaker 1: The day was November. Football fans got an unwelcome surprise

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Speaker 1: when a televised game between the New York Jets and

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Speaker 1: the Oakland Raiders was interrupted in its final minutes by

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Speaker 1: a made for TV movie adaptation of Heidi. The film

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Speaker 1: was based on the classic children's novel of the same

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Speaker 1: name by Swiss author Johanna Spiery. It told the story

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Speaker 1: of a young orphan girl who goes to live with

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Speaker 1: her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. It's very different from football.

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Speaker 1: In nine televised sports weren't yet a sacred institution in

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Speaker 1: the United States at the time. Live football games usually

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Speaker 1: got three hour time slots when aired on television, and

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Speaker 1: that was more than enough. If a game did run long,

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Speaker 1: then oh well, the network just moved on to whatever

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Speaker 1: program was next on the schedule. That was standard procedure

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Speaker 1: in most cases, though networks did occasionally stick with a

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Speaker 1: long game if it was an especially close one. But

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Speaker 1: on November the timex Watch Company didn't want to take

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Speaker 1: that chance. They had paid NBC seven hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: to be the primary sponsor of Heidi, and they insisted

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Speaker 1: in no uncertain terms that in order to keep that money,

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Speaker 1: the network had to start the movie on time at

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Speaker 1: seven pm Eastern Standard Time. NBC executives agreed that even

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Speaker 1: if the game went long, they would cut away to

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Speaker 1: Heidi no matter what. The network was gambling that the

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Speaker 1: game would wrap up well within its three hour time slot,

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Speaker 1: as most games did, but this time would be different.

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Speaker 1: The game in question pitted the New York Jets against

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Speaker 1: the Oakland Raiders. At the time, they were two of

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Speaker 1: the best teams in the American Football League. This was

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Speaker 1: just prior to the a f l's merger with the

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Speaker 1: National Football League during the nineteen seventies season. That evening,

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Speaker 1: there were ten future Hall of Fame players spread between

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Speaker 1: the two teams, including quarterback Broadway Joe Namath for the

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Speaker 1: Jets and wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff for the Raiders. Having

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Speaker 1: that much talent on the field made for a heated game.

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Speaker 1: By the last two minutes, the teams had traded the

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Speaker 1: lead eight times, pushing the match to the very edge

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Speaker 1: of its time slot. Then, with just one minute and

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Speaker 1: five seconds left on the clock, Jim Turner kicked a

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Speaker 1: twenty six yard field goal, giving the Jets a slim

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Speaker 1: lead of thirty two to twenty nine. Meanwhile, in the

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Speaker 1: NBC control room, producer Dick Klein was nervously watching the clock.

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Speaker 1: He saw Turner's last minute field goal, and then as

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Speaker 1: the two teams set up for the final plays of

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Speaker 1: the game, he switched the feed over to Heidi. Klein

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Speaker 1: would later discuss this pivotal moment, saying, quote, I waited

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Speaker 1: and waited, and I heard nothing. We came up to

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Speaker 1: that magic hour and I thought, well, I haven't been

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Speaker 1: given any counter order, so I've got to do what

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Speaker 1: we agreed to do. But unbeknownst to the producer, the

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Speaker 1: executives at NBC did change their minds. They had been

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Speaker 1: desperately trying to call Klein to tell him to stick

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Speaker 1: with the game until it ended, but they couldn't get

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Speaker 1: through on the phone. All the lines were busy. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the phones at NBC were so flooded with calls from

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Speaker 1: confused viewers that the switchboard shorted out, And funny enough,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't just angry football fans calling in. Klein later

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Speaker 1: told Newsweek, quote, there were equal numbers of people calling

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Speaker 1: in to find out if Heidi was going to be

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Speaker 1: on time as there were football fans who wanted to

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Speaker 1: know if we were going to see the end of

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Speaker 1: the game. They collided on a switchboard that blew up.

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Speaker 1: Most of the country was caught up in the drama,

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Speaker 1: but viewers on the West Coast actually got to see

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Speaker 1: how the game ended and what it ending it was.

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Speaker 1: In the final fifty seconds of the game, the Raiders

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Speaker 1: made a comeback, scoring two touchdowns and ultimately beating the

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Speaker 1: Jets forty three to thirty two. Adding insult to injury,

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Speaker 1: NBC put that final score at the bottom of the

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Speaker 1: screen about twenty minutes into Heidi. This sparked a new

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Speaker 1: wave of angry phone calls, not just for NBC, but

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Speaker 1: for the telephone company, The New York Times and the NYPD,

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Speaker 1: as well as humor columnists Art buck Wald put it, quote,

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Speaker 1: men who would not get out of their armchairs for

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Speaker 1: earthquakes made their way to the phone to call into NBC.

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Speaker 1: The uproar even crossed the Atlantic to London, where the

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Speaker 1: ten year old actress who played Heidi was informed that

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Speaker 1: she was now the most unpopular girl in the United States.

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Speaker 1: That actress, Jennifer Edwards, reflected on the day many years later.

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Speaker 1: She said, quote, I remember one caption in some newspaper

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Speaker 1: that said something about the little brat in white stockings

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Speaker 1: that ruined the football game. I remember feeling that, well,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't my fault. The actress went on to say

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Speaker 1: that she did eventually meet Joe Namath on a plane

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Speaker 1: and that when she brought up the Heidi game there

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Speaker 1: appeared to be no hard feelings. It was certainly a

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Speaker 1: memorable event for the players, the viewers, and the employees

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Speaker 1: of NBC, but it also had a lasting impact on

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Speaker 1: televised sports. Shortly after the Heidi affair, the NFL added

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Speaker 1: a clause to its TV contracts guaranteeing that all games

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Speaker 1: would be broadcast in their entirety in their home markets.

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Speaker 1: As for NBC, the network changed its policy see on

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Speaker 1: ending coverage of football games and installed a new phone

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Speaker 1: in the control room to make sure this kind of

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Speaker 1: upset could never happen again. The phone had its own

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Speaker 1: exchange and a private switchboard. It was lovingly dubbed the

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Speaker 1: Heidi Phone. I'm Gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to keep up with the show, you

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Speaker 1: can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t

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Speaker 1: d i HC Show, and if you have any comments

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Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can send them my way at this

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Speaker 1: Day at i heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler

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Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day

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Speaker 1: in History class. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio,

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