In Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC Prefers Balloons to Surprises

Bill Bracken hasn’t had Thanksgiving off in years, but at least he can sleep late. He reports for work Thursday at 2 a.m. Most of his co-workers have to be there at midnight.

Bracken is the supervising producer of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade telecast on NBC--a TV event that stretches back half a century.

This is the eighth year Bracken has joined executive producer Brad Lachman to create the paradecast, and they began planning their Thanksgiving feast in August.

Since then, they have rallied a crew of more than 100 NBC engineers, camera operators, sound technicians, lighting personnel and stagehands. They have welcomed back as hosts the “Today” show’s Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Al Roker. They have let anyone who asks know that the Sept. 11 attacks won’t stop the parade.

Based at NBC in Rockefeller Center, they face the challenges of this 75th annual cavalcade.

These include: 15 giant character balloons, more than two dozen floats, 12 marching bands, 21 themed clown groups, 14 entertainment groups, as well as celebrities, the Rockettes and, of course, Santa Claus--all coursing down a 2those-mile route from Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Herald Square, the site of Macy’s flagship store.

“We can’t say, ‘Stop! Back it up!’ Once it starts, that parade keeps coming, no matter what,” says Bracken, 41.

That’s why, in the wee hours before the parade, almost every part of it is given a dry run.

From midnight to 3 a.m., crews set up final camera positions as well as the host platform at 34th Street and Broadway.

From 3 to 5 a.m., each band does a practice march in Herald Square.

From 5 to 7 a.m., a caravan of golf carts--each labeled as the float for which it’s subbing--pass before the cameras for a start-to-finish technical rehearsal.

At 7 a.m., ensembles from the four featured Broadway musicals rehearse.

At 8:15, the big opening number has a final run-through. Then, at 8:30, there’s a practice ribbon-cutting uptown.

“Then everybody takes a break until 8:55,” says Bracken, “and we’re on the air at 9.”

Couric, Lauer and Roker arrive about 6 a.m. after days of poring over a dictionary-thick briefing book of facts and descriptions.

The hosts, Bracken says, “have to know what’s coming in the parade, and ... adapt when something changes. They’re not just reading the TelePrompTer.”

The parade starts at 77th Street and Central Park West. At 10 a.m., the procession reaches Herald Square. There, NBC deploys 11 cameras as well as broadcast trailers and trucks.

One trailer contains the control room of Lachman, Bracken and director Gary Halverson. They track the parade’s progress, and make moment-to-moment adjustments to keep the show on schedule.

The occasional glitch adds to their fun. Bracken remembers how, one year, the audio board went silent just before a commercial break. Engineers had 150 seconds to fix the problem. They did, with seven seconds to spare.

Three hours after it begins, the show is over. The broadcast is still unreeling on tape-delay for each of the westward time zones. But at 12:01 p.m. Eastern time in the production trailer, “hopefully, there will be a lot of congratulations and backslapping,” says Bracken.

A good show--just another reason for him to be thankful.

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The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade can be seen Thursday at 9 a.m. on KNBC.