The evolution of Olympic TV coverage mirrors technological changes that have transformed broadcast media — and society — over the past 50-plus years.

Consider these facts: For the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, NBC devoted 45 minutes per day to on-air coverage, and 12 total hours for the 16-day extravaganza.

Perhaps no announcer was more synonymous with increased Olympic coverage over the decades than American Jim McKay, who, starting at the 1960 Rome Summer Games, worked in 12 Olympiads (first for CBS, then 10 for ABC, and his final one, the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, for NBC.