Gilbert Wyland, 87; Engineered First Rose Parade, Winter Olympics Telecasts

Gilbert P. Wyland, whose achievements during a five-decade career in television included helping to put on the first telecasts of the Rose Parade and the Winter Olympics, died Dec. 2 at his Valencia home. He was 87.

Wyland had a history of heart problems, but the cause of death was not disclosed.

A longtime executive at CBS, he also oversaw the construction of Television City in Los Angeles, and led innovations in electronic news gathering and editing.

Wyland grew up in Nebraska and studied engineering at Creighton University in Omaha.

He was working at the Don Lee Broadcasting System in Los Angeles in 1939 when he helped put the Rose Parade on television for the first time. The parade aired on W6XAO, an experimental station in Los Angeles.

That same year, CBS bought Don Lee Broadcasting, launching Wyland’s 46-year career at the network.

In 1953, after Television City was completed, Wyland moved in as studio and field engineer in charge of technical operations. In 1959, he became manager of studio and field operations. Among the shows he worked on during this period were Edward R. Murrow’s weekly program “Person to Person” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

He also was the engineer on major sporting events, including the first televised Pebble Beach Golf Tournament.

When bidding opened for the right to broadcast the 1960 Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley, Wyland spent days examining the site and climbing the mountains to devise a plan for coverage.

CBS was outbid by NBC and ABC, but that did not mean the rival networks knew how to do the job. Telecasting from Squaw Valley meant figuring out how to get the cameras and crew in place for challenging events such as downhill skiing and how to keep the equipment from freezing. ABC and NBC could not solve the technical problems and gave up.

“So we did it,” Wyland said last year in an interview with the Daily News of Los Angeles. “But the only reason we did it was because we didn’t know it couldn’t be done.”

CBS won an Emmy for its coverage, which was anchored by Walter Cronkite. Wyland, as director of operations for CBS’ coverage of the Squaw Valley Olympics, accepted the award on his network’s behalf. CBS also received a Peabody for the broadcasts, which aired over a two-week period.

Wyland’s other major assignments over the years included directing operations for CBS coverage of the 1960, 1964 and 1968 presidential elections.

From 1968 to 1977, Wyland held executive positions in CBS’ general engineering department in New York and directed the development of electronic video-recording technology. In 1974, he became chief engineer of all the CBS-owned and -operated stations and was involved in the development of electronic news gathering.

He returned to California in 1977 to oversee videotape operations at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. He retired in 1986.

Last year, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized Wyland’s accomplishments with an Emmy for outstanding achievement for engineering development, also known as the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wyland is survived by a daughter, Gail Laing of Lancaster; and a grandson, Kenneth Laing.