I can still hear the intro very well.... "And now, Dave McElhatton, Wendy Tokuda, Wayne Walker on sports, and Joel Bartlett with the weather... This is Channel Five Eyewitness News." Late at night, it was "... this is Eyewitness News Nightcast." For a while, I would primarily watch KGO as I enjoyed Van Amburg, but got "hooked" on channel five, because I really enjoyed Joel Bartlett. I still remember the one show when he tossed his pen in the air and actually dropped it. It was the first time I had seen that take place (and apparently it was one of the first). These four are what made KPIX so good and a leader in quality journalism. It is sad that is not the case today...
Joel was pleasant, entertaining, and quite accurate with his forecasting. If I recall correctly, there was a period where he even graded his forecasting on-the-air.
Not only was he not annoying but represented the best in local sports and had the highest Q scores among all news talent on any station during that period of time .. Class act forever
In college, I worked at Lee & Carol's Pool Supply on El Camino in San Carlos. McElhatton used to come in all the time to buy chlorine for his pool. Nice man. The other notable figure I'd see is there was a Lyon' s Coffee Shop across the street and blues legend, John Lee Hooker, used to pull up every Sunday in his Cadillac and get dropped off for lunch.
Right on three of four counts. Wendy Tokuda was an amateur. My high school English teacher used to play clips from election night returns when Wendy used to say, "Gavin Newsome is out ahead, and Matt Gonzalez is trailing behind." She was used as an example of how NOT to speak!!
Channel 11 is amateur night, Channel 7 is workmanlike but boring, that leaves Ken Bastida and the girl with the scary eyes. I just look away when it's her turn to speak.
When I have to get to bed early I watch the Channel 2 news.
You mean when newsrooms weren't filled with idiotic women posting puppy pictures and YouTube videos to Twitter? You know, tanking what little is left of the business.
I grew up in a household where we might as well have not had a channel tuner(in he pre-remote control era), because my dad watched channel 7 news, and most other ABC programming,with rare exceptions(mostly for sports, or later in the '80s, NBC Thursday sitcoms). It was Van Amburg/Pete Wilson every night. My mom tended to watch KPIX on another TV. McElhatton struck me as kind of a 'Dick Van Patten' type...inoffensive, somewhat entertaining, but boring in large doses. We weren't into 'Dallas' or the other CBS soaps, so, other than 'MASH'and 'Newhart', we rarely had KPIX on for prime time, either. CBS's ratings, aside from the aforementioned, plus 'Magnum PI' and 'Simon and Simon', were garbage in the 80s, and maybe because of that, I perceived KPIX to have a 'weak' newscast.
I worked at 'PIX in the 80's thru the mid-90's as a writer/producer. (no longer in the biz nowadays). When I first got the job, I remember telling myself, "OK, prepare yourself to deal every day with main anchor guy, Dave McElhatton. Just smile/play along with whatever he says/ignore him when he pulls any diva shit).
Boy--was I wrong.
Mac was the kindest, sweetest man I ever worked with in the business. If he made any corrections in his script, he would actually walk over and tell me, "...I just re-worded it a little bit--but nice job on the structure." After the 6pm news, he'd also tell flying stories (he was a pilot)...he actually didn't go out to dinner a lot. Many times I'd find him back in the Editor Bays chatting up the Editors and Photogs.
Growing up in the 1980's this was THE team. KTVU only had 10pm. KRON tried and failed with the Sylvia Chase-Jim Paymar experiment. Van Amburg and eventually up and coming Pete Wilson kept KGO in the race. This was the only game in town and the best part was the team chemistry they had. Once Joel was sent packing for Brian Sussman, the chinks began to show in the KPIX conglomerate. Then Wendy took off for LA dreams. Sure Kate Kelly & Anna Chavez were great but just weren't the same.
Having done a high school internship with Joel Bartlett, the guy was an absolute class act. And most importantly, he knew his stuff. No ego, did his job and no bull kapookie.
Boy, I remember... this was the local news I watched. Mac's weight loss then was a big deal. Tokuda had fanboys, 35 years ago (I was not one; Lowry for me). Joel was like Ringo, affable & competent. Walker was unmatched (in the pic, it looks like he's on his way to grabbing something, but someone was posing him). Look how Tokuda's dressed; that was the norm. Nowadays even the "serious" networks are overpopulated with helium-chested chicks. 'Cause, y'know, it ain't about the news. But I guess it wasn't by then, either (think Channel 7 News Gang).
I met Joel Bartlett in the '80s at an auto body shop in Marin County. He was really very pleasant. I had watched his weather report for years. Wendy Tokuda was good. Her father-in-law was Monty Hall from Let's Make a Deal. And I loved Dave McElhattan. He reminded me of my dad. I miss the days when news was news. They didn't analyze it for us and they didn't need to entertain us.
Love me some McElhatton.
ReplyDeleteDave! Loved Big Mac!
DeleteI can still hear the intro very well.... "And now, Dave McElhatton, Wendy Tokuda, Wayne Walker on sports, and Joel Bartlett with the weather... This is Channel Five Eyewitness News." Late at night, it was "... this is Eyewitness News Nightcast." For a while, I would primarily watch KGO as I enjoyed Van Amburg, but got "hooked" on channel five, because I really enjoyed Joel Bartlett. I still remember the one show when he tossed his pen in the air and actually dropped it. It was the first time I had seen that take place (and apparently it was one of the first). These four are what made KPIX so good and a leader in quality journalism. It is sad that is not the case today...
ReplyDeleteJoel Bartlett was told to stop twirling his pen at Channel 7 - shortly thereafter, he "retired". At least that's what the rumors were at the time.
DeleteJoel was pleasant, entertaining, and quite accurate with his forecasting. If I recall correctly, there was a period where he even graded his forecasting on-the-air.
Delete7:12,
DeleteIf you recall, Joel was also needled a lot by Carolyn Johnson, Dan Noyes, and Larry Beil. I have wondered how much of that was really "good natured."
Rich
ReplyDeleteWho is the good looking Asian girl on Mornings on 5. Not De La Cruz.
Maria Medina
DeleteBut the ratings still sucked.
ReplyDeleteTokuda: Meh. Her chemistry with McElhatton was good, though. The other three were great.
ReplyDeleteWayne Walker was more annoying than anything else.
ReplyDeleteNot only was he not annoying but represented the best in local sports and had the highest Q scores among all news talent on any station during that period of time .. Class act forever
DeleteDisagree. Wayne Walker was the last really good sports reporter we've had in the Bay Area.
DeleteOf course, after Milt Kahn ANYBODY would be a step up.
Walker was the best I've seen in this market.
DeleteWayne Walker was well regarded. You are in the minority.
DeleteIn college, I worked at Lee & Carol's Pool Supply on El Camino in San Carlos. McElhatton used to come in all the time to buy chlorine for his pool. Nice man. The other notable figure I'd see is there was a Lyon' s Coffee Shop across the street and blues legend, John Lee Hooker, used to pull up every Sunday in his Cadillac and get dropped off for lunch.
ReplyDeleteFour genuine, likeable and professional people.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rich.
Right on three of four counts. Wendy Tokuda was an amateur. My high school English teacher used to play clips from election night returns when
DeleteWendy used to say, "Gavin Newsome is out ahead, and Matt Gonzalez is
trailing behind." She was used as an example of how NOT to speak!!
Did I ever mention that Joel and I had the same 9th grade French class, taught by Mr. Benoit @ Wakefield High?
ReplyDeleteNo? Well, stay chooned, I may tell you again.
Those four weren't all that fabulous. None of them were especially talented. They seemed to be nice people and they read the news. That's about it.
ReplyDeleteUnlike today, it was a time that the public relied on local broadcasters for all their news. That's changed, period, end of story.
Hmm...I could have sworn there was a guy named Cronkite doing news who was not among the local broadcasters.
DeleteGeronimo, Bitch!! Let's Go!!
ReplyDelete"...Escapade...we'll have a good time...Eacapade...leave your worries behind..."
Kick Ass!!!
Just cut the goddam bullshit!
ReplyDeleteChannel 11 is amateur night, Channel 7 is workmanlike but boring, that leaves Ken Bastida and the girl with the scary eyes. I just look away when it's her turn to speak.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have to get to bed early I watch the Channel 2 news.
Other than KGO and KTVU, who really has an identity these days?
ReplyDeleteYou mean when newsrooms weren't filled with idiotic women posting puppy pictures and YouTube videos to Twitter? You know, tanking what little is left of the business.
ReplyDeleteBased on the crap on TV these days, you won't see professionals like this anymore. In any market.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Things have changed.
DeleteThat's why I don't understand the incessant complaints about the local stations here on this website. It's not unique to this market..
Isn't it time to accept the reality that the world keeps changing instead of clinging to fond but over-sentimentalized memories from the past.
It'd not uniques to
KPIX women also spend too much time taking silly photos and posting them on social media. Grow up already!!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a household where we might as well have not had a channel tuner(in he pre-remote control era), because my dad watched channel 7 news, and most other ABC programming,with rare exceptions(mostly for sports, or later in the '80s, NBC Thursday sitcoms). It was Van Amburg/Pete Wilson every night. My mom tended to watch KPIX on another TV. McElhatton struck me as kind of a 'Dick Van Patten' type...inoffensive, somewhat entertaining, but boring in large doses. We weren't into 'Dallas' or the other CBS soaps, so, other than 'MASH'and 'Newhart', we rarely had KPIX on for prime time, either. CBS's ratings, aside from the aforementioned, plus 'Magnum PI' and 'Simon and Simon', were garbage in the 80s, and maybe because of that, I perceived KPIX to have a 'weak' newscast.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, women on air didn't need to show their bare arms.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Wayne fondling Wendy's arm?
ReplyDeleteI worked at 'PIX in the 80's thru the mid-90's as a writer/producer. (no longer in the biz nowadays). When I first got the job, I remember telling myself, "OK, prepare yourself to deal every day with main anchor guy, Dave McElhatton. Just smile/play along with whatever he says/ignore him when he pulls any diva shit).
ReplyDeleteBoy--was I wrong.
Mac was the kindest, sweetest man I ever worked with in the business. If he made any corrections in his script, he would actually walk over and tell me, "...I just re-worded it a little bit--but nice job on the structure." After the 6pm news, he'd also tell flying stories (he was a pilot)...he actually didn't go out to dinner a lot. Many times I'd find him back in the Editor Bays chatting up the Editors and Photogs.
Just a great, great guy.
Growing up in the 1980's this was THE team. KTVU only had 10pm. KRON tried and failed with the Sylvia Chase-Jim Paymar experiment. Van Amburg and eventually up and coming Pete Wilson kept KGO in the race. This was the only game in town and the best part was the team chemistry they had. Once Joel was sent packing for Brian Sussman, the chinks began to show in the KPIX conglomerate. Then Wendy took off for LA dreams. Sure Kate Kelly & Anna Chavez were great but just weren't the same.
ReplyDeleteHaving done a high school internship with Joel Bartlett, the guy was an absolute class act. And most importantly, he knew his stuff. No ego, did his job and no bull kapookie.
Boy, I remember... this was the local news I watched. Mac's weight loss then was a big deal. Tokuda had fanboys, 35 years ago (I was not one; Lowry for me). Joel was like Ringo, affable & competent. Walker was unmatched (in the pic, it looks like he's on his way to grabbing something, but someone was posing him). Look how Tokuda's dressed; that was the norm. Nowadays even the "serious" networks are overpopulated with helium-chested chicks. 'Cause, y'know, it ain't about the news. But I guess it wasn't by then, either (think Channel 7 News Gang).
ReplyDeleteI met Joel Bartlett in the '80s at an auto body shop in Marin County. He was really very pleasant. I had watched his weather report for years. Wendy Tokuda was good. Her father-in-law was Monty Hall from Let's Make a Deal. And I loved Dave McElhattan. He reminded me of my dad. I miss the days when news was news. They didn't analyze it for us and they didn't need to entertain us.
ReplyDelete