Legends Behind the Lens: Peter Larsson Through wireless cameras and microphones, the Aussie has been blowing sports television viewers minds for decades By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Thursday, June 4, 2020 - 12:00 pm
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The story of American sports television is engrained in the history of this nation, rising on the achievements of countless incredible men and women who never once appeared on our screens. During this pause in live sports, SVG is proud to present a celebration of this great industry. Legends Behind the Lens is a look at how we got here seen through the people who willed it to be. Each weekday, we will share with you the story of a person whose impact on the sports-television industry is indelible.
Legends Behind the Lens is presented in association with the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the SVG Sports Broadcasting Fund. In these trying times - with so many video-production professionals out of work - we hope that you will consider (if you are able) donating to the Sports Broadcasting Fund. Do so by visiting sportsbroadcastfund.org.
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By Jason Dachman
Today, sports-TV viewers are accustomed to sitting in the driver's seat with Jimmy Johnson as his No. 48 car tears around Daytona Motor Speedway at 200+ mph. Or peering over Tiger Woods's shoulder as he crouches to read his final putt on the 18th green at Augusta National. Or sailing aboard Oracle Team USA's yacht as it slices through the waves at the America's Cup in pursuit of the Auld Mug.
Without the efforts of Peter Larsson, however, these mind-blowing perspectives would never have been available to viewers at home. The co-founder of Broadcast Sports Inc. (BSI) and the wireless-camera and -audio systems he has helped create over the past four decades have brought sports fans inside the action in ways never thought possible.
To be able to create equipment and technology that actually change the way we watch a sport is very rare. And Peter Larsson [has accomplished that] in two sports in particular: NASCAR and golf, says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Chairman and 2014 inductee Ken Aagaard, who has deployed BSI systems on countless CBS Sports productions. Whether it's from a camera inside the car or a handheld right behind the golfer, Peter Larsson has [pioneered] those technologies.
The Early Days Down Under: Creating the Racecam
The Sydney native earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of New South Wales. To fulfill the three months of industrial experience required to complete his degree, he landed a job at Australian broadcaster Channel Seven and then was hired on full-time as an ENG engineer upon graduating.
By the late 1970s, Larsson had begun working with fellow Channel Seven engineers John Porter and Dave Curtis to develop wireless microwave camera systems to assist in the broadcaster's coverage of the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race. The trio quickly realized that the RF system could be applied to auto-racing coverage and, in 1979, deployed the first-ever on-board Racecam on Peter Williamson's car at the Bathurst 1000 in New South Wales. Though capturing an in-car perspective never seen before, the system weighed more than 70 lb. and offered only a locked-off shot. Over the next two years, Seven's Racecam would decrease in size and add full pan-tilt-zoom capability.
Larsson, Porter, and Curtis's big break came in fall 1980, when a CBS production executive on location Down Under covering the Miss World Bodybuilding Championship stumbled on Seven's broadcast of the Hardie-Ferodo 500. Spotting the onboard camera system, he immediately saw it as a perfect tool for the Tiffany Network, which had presented the industry's first flag-to-flag coverage of the Daytona 500 a year earlier and was looking to expand its tools for live NASCAR coverage.
We were very lucky at CBS, says longtime CBS Sports director Bob Fishman. Racing coverage was never the same after that. When you think of Peter Larsson, you think of a brilliant innovator, an engineer who helped design a camera system that changed auto-racing coverage by putting the viewer in the driver's seat during a race - a place where viewers would like to be and few other sports have achieved.
A NASCAR Star Is Born: CBS Discovers Its On-Board Camera
A year later, Larsson, Porter, and Curtis found themselves at the 1981 Daytona 500, deploying their on-board cameras inside the car of Richard Childress and Terry Labonte for CBS Sports' live coverage. The in-car camera became a sensation two years later, treating viewers to a driver's-seat perspective of Cale Yarborough's winning race at the 1983 Daytona 500.
Peter had the passion and vision to develop and implement a technology that took a sport from minor-league status to major-league status, says veteran Fox Sports director Artie Kempner. I don't believe NASCAR would have attained the same level of prominence in American sports without the in-car camera. It took the viewer into the driver's seat and created those wow moments that have been memorable for almost 40 years. And Peter's passion and vision were behind that from the beginning.
Peter isn't a toy guy. It's never about him or his ideas; it's always about the sport, the fan, and the show. He has always been a collaborative creator. Artie Kempner, Fox Sports director
Today, NASCAR coverage would be almost unrecognizable without on-board cameras. Nearly four decades after their debut, three or more on-board cameras (usually driver, roof, and bumper) are typically deployed on four to six cars for an average Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and Xfinity race; even more are deployed on high-profile races.
Peter deserves to be in the Hall of Fa
