Wayne Shannon, hard to believe, was at one point one of the biggest and well-known SF TV news personalities in the Bay Area.
The former KRON commentator in the mid-to-late 80's was a sort of curious, but always compelling local fixture who had a habit of irritating many viewers and colleagues alike with his brash, snippy sarcastic little 90-sec bits and pieces on everything from Oakland city life to the burgers at Bill's place.
He was best known for his "Bible Belt Unbuckled"spoofs of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, his cracks about Milpitas and a feud with an East Bay columnist whom he called "pond scum"-- (I believe that was HuffPost blogger Bill Mann)
Shannon left KRON in 1988 embroiled in a contract dispute with news director Herb Dudnick, (in those days, the money was pretty good--ask Van Amburg, late of KGO-TV and KFRC)
Shannon briefly toiled at CNBC in 1999-2000 before heading back to the Seattle area where he now lives and according to my spies, has retired.
Good god! This was a forgotten voice from the past. Shannon always reminded me of Oliver Hardy with a sharper tongue and a dome of grey hair.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne Shaw has re-appeared on NBC's local station doing editorials (remember how we use to see those editorial spots on KTVU in the 1970s?). She still looks great and like she hasn't aged a day since she gave up the regular news gig.
Any word on where are they now for....
Emerald Yeh
Elaine Corral and her acting career
Pat McCormick (he's still with us, correct?)
The late great Bob Wilkins passed away in early 2009 after his bout with Alzheimers.
Shannon changed his name to Karel in 1996 and now lives in Long Beach.
ReplyDeleteGot rid of his toupe in 1988.
I was on the studio crew during Wayne Shannon's 15 minutes of fame. He was fine when he was scripted, but he couldn't ad-lib his way out of a paper bag. One night at 11, the prompter went out just as Wayne's commentary segment was beginning. Wayne froze. He hemmed, hawed and stammered incoherently for a minute or so with that deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes. Finally, mercifully the show ended.
ReplyDeleteIn those days KRON had a taped replay of the 11 o'clock news that aired in the wee small hours. That night the talent and crew stayed over to record Wayne's commentary so we could edit it onto the replay tape.
Terilyn Joe?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wiki, Shannon hasn't changed his name and lives near his hometown of Spokane. And that mop couldnt have been fake...could it?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.edrants.com/wayne-shannon-a-case-study-for-the-internets-failings
ReplyDeleteMy father, Gerald Wayne ‘Shannon’ Schetzle has passed away.
ReplyDeleteA service is being planned for the weekend of the 19th of this month in Eugene, OR, where his mother, LaVonne Shannon was laid to rest last year.
If you would like to attend to pay your respects, please contact me. My email address is chris.schetzle@live.com. If you send me an email I will respond with further details.
He was loved and will be missed.
– Chris Schetzle
REALLY sorry to hear this bad news. :( His commentaries were great.
ReplyDeleteChris, I'm sorry for your loss. I remember watching your dad when I was a kid. I always liked him.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching Wayne, too.
ReplyDeleteHe was of a now-gone breed of TV journalist. He had a sense of humor. He didn't take himself too seriously...or act like it (the phony ones put on a sad face, and nod or shake their head as a colleague comments, or a video or audio clip is played...you know the kind).
With Wayne you always felt that you knew where he really stood on what he discussed. He's been gone from Bay Area TV jouirnalism for years, but he's been missed. I am truly sorry for the loss of your father, Chris.