GROWING UP IN THE 70'S I fanatically watched all the TV stations mostly for their news; KGO-TV (Circle7) was atop my list not necessarily because they were perennially #1 and beat the heck out of their competition, more so just because "NewsScene" was so darn addictive and Channel 7 in particular had an all-star cast of anchors and reporters, so successful in fact, they really were star-like.KGO's newscasts were vintage 1970's and centered on "Happy Talk" and industry tag lines like, "If it bleeds, it leads." It seemed KGO was at the scene of every grizzly Bay Area murder with reporters with their distinctive "Circle7" logos emblazoned on their jacket. It started out looking corny but as time marched on it was sort of cool in a bizarre way.
David Louie circling everywhere; Rigo Chacon in the Southbay; Peter Cleaveland on the streets of San Francisco. All of these guys became household names and developed fan clubs.
KGO was the most successful TV News station in the 70's and its newscasts scored big ratings and lots of money for the station. It wasn't ordinary news more extraordinary news and sports anchors that made for a star chamber at KGO's old studios in the Tenderloin. Anchors as celebrities so huge the station made globs of money off the news shows which in those days was quite unique. |
| Rigo Chacon |
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| Jerry Jensen (l) and Van Amburg |
Now, if David Louie were starting out today you'd be complaining he's some kid from the Fresno 7-Eleven with no experience and he looks like he's 20 and he shouldn't be in this market, etc.
ReplyDeleteWow! David Louie had hair back then!
ReplyDeleteBack in the 70s, I'd watch both channel 2 and 7 news. Especially at 10pm I'd flip on Action News, then when 11pm hit, over to 7. They did have a star team, unlike the mess we have now.
Surprised Vic Lee, David Louie and Cheryl Jennings has not been let go by the current management. The older, the highest paid, the ones most want to let them go.
ReplyDeleteLouie, Tyler, Jennings remain from the Van Amburg Era. Chagon is another Hall of Famer from Circle7's greatest years; the biggest reporter treasure in the Silicon Valley. Still believe Van never got over Jensen's cancer death; proof was in his last 4 years at KGO. Deanno at PIX is the only meteorologist at Giddings' level (hard to believe the lesser Hackney once backed up Pete).
ReplyDeleteO'Reilly, Sanchez, Janis, Celania, Wyatt, at least 2 or 3 others sat at the sports desk for often strict ex-sportscaster Van.
Finally, while I vaguely remember Cleaveland (didn't stay long), I do remember when KGO Radio Icon Jim Dunbar sometimes filled in on TV during the mornings and when the newscasts were 5-6-11, he filled in at 5 when Van did field work. And if any of you remember any other future famous faces from other ABC affiliates like Geraldo when he was at WABC following John & Yoko to SF, I would love to read that.
Van was great, but he was also old school. No one could use a telepromter on the set when he was anchoring.
DeleteJan Carson eventually joined the team. She was very good.
The novelty of local TV news is long over. We've grown up and moved on. The breathless excitement of a severed penis along the railroad tracks is no longer so exciting. We're numb to the nonstop parade of freak show antics masquerading as meaningful journalism. TV news is deader than a Van Amburg/Jerry Jensen picnic over at the old People's Temple on Geary.
ReplyDeleteDepends whose penis it is...
DeleteThere weren't many grizzly attacks in the seventies, were there?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I forgot to post was in the movie "The Candidate" Van appears in parts of the movie, including a part from NewsScene.
ReplyDeleteRrrrrrigo Chacon, gotta love and remember the way he always signed off his stories
ReplyDeleteSouthbaybureau....Channel SEVEN News.
DeleteI was there during those years. The most important reason for circle 7's success wasn't just the quality and celebrity of it's anchors and reporters. It was the sense of respect and appreciation, the common purpose, of all the staff. News camera men and women, editors, writers, assignment editors, all felt part of a team. Management always asked for input and suggestions for stories and appreciated everyone's contribution. Everyone was welcome at the morning story meeting and many times a cameraman or writer would suggest a story and the news director, Pete Jacobus, or Harry Fuller, would say go do it. It wasn't top down thinking based on "research" that is so prevalent today. Reporters and anchors listened to the police and fire scanners in the units and would call the desk with breaking news. Do news units even have scanners today if they do, do the reporters and camera people even know the codes? Are the scanners even on? It was also a lot of fun working there. The holiday parties would get everyone fired today. One staff member held an annual end of the year costume party, "come as your favorite person in the news", that required everyone to dress as someone famous or infamous from that year's stories. Anchors, reporters, along with all newsroom personnel were invited and showed up. Try organizing that in today's politically correct environment.
ReplyDeleteGreat memories - thanks Rich and Anonymous
DeleteWhat is EVAN WHITE up to these days? Rich - when are you going to catch up with him?
And right downstairs on Golden Gate Avenue, you had more News pros: Jim Dunbar and Ted Wygant; City Hall reporter Dick Leonard; South Bay bureau chief Lee Schell; East Bay bureau chief Greg Edmonds; reporter Carl Haeberle; Sports with Joe Starkey/ Red Rush/ Monty Stickles; On your money with Gary Conway; Weather with Leo Ciolino; Traffic with Lu Hurley. What a lineup, what an era!
ReplyDeleteRich, you and I are the same age and great up watching the same news channels, I would watch the evening news Circle7 with my pops after he got home. I also enjoyed switching over to KNTV with Doug and Maggie,I've always been a news junkie.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago my wife and I were at a local iHop and she says hey isn't that Rigo Chacon? Sure enough the, he looked fantastic.
Someday Rich I'd love to hear about your Superbowl experience.
I was here in the 70's. Did not own a TV. In the 70's most bars did not have TVs. We wanted music and conversation. Got all my news from Dave McQueen on KSAN.
ReplyDeleteDavid Louie went ape-shit when his bags were delayed on a flight from Mexico, threatened us with bad press. Talk about a schmuck, what a douche bag.
ReplyDeleteDavid Louie is also a frequent "flier" to Cambodia/Thailand never married, umh....seems to love those trips abroad.
DeleteI must admit I did that once when I was on KSAN (country format at the time with humongous ratings). Hated myself for doing it but they did get those bags to the radio station in a taxi before I hit the air. Yeah, I was nice to them on the air!
DeleteI preferred Fred LaCosse,Kirsti Wilde, Eddie Alexander (later John Brodie), Terry Lowry on weather and George Redding on KRON. Not just because they were good but the KRON reception on our rabbit ears antennae was better than the others.
ReplyDeleteDavid Louie and his family were celebrities in our Oakland neighborhood. His father owned a grocery store at the corner of Allendale and 38th Avenue. Hard working family and proud of their son's success.
ReplyDeleteI second AnonymousSeptember 3, 2018 at 7:22 AM ... worked there then too and it was the entire team ... on camera and off that made it a great place to work. It also helped that there was a lot of real news going on in the 70's... but we all worked together.. argued, cursed, yelled and screamed.. then went out an had a beer only to do it all over again the next day...one of my great tv news memories...
ReplyDeletePete Giddings was an egotistical jerk that was an ass to my mom one time. No love for him but, channel 7 news was the only news I watched back in those days.
ReplyDeleteGreat memories. I remember John O'Reilly having a melt-down about the wrong footage being shown during his sportscast and Van telling him things were okay, and to relax.
ReplyDeleteRich, great photos. I have an old KGO Radio staff shot taken for a newspaper ad that I think you'll like. Sending as soon as I dig it out. (How old is it? It's from the ABC days, uses "Radio 81" and everyone looks really young!)
ReplyDelete