Dave MceLhatton, (Mac), Wendy Tokuda, Joel Bartlett (weather) and Wayne Walker (sports)--what a team.
*Tokuda had Bay Area roots and gravitas. She wasn't exactly great reading her copy and had frequent issues with flubbing her lines but she made up for it in the field with generally decent reporting.
*Mac was about as solid as it gets. In every sense of the word. News chops galore.
*Wayne Walker, smooth, gravitas, chops, the works and a real character. Ask the bartender at Hunan. (When it was there.)
*Bartlett: how he flipped that sharpie night after night, one only knows.
Even the worst the newscast of that era would be way better than anything you'd see now. What does that tell you? None of the shit on local TV is any good. A sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteI so miss Van Amburg and Jerry Jensen. What a team. I do not watch local news (OK, occasionally) but
ReplyDeleteonly when a big story breaks.
Oh, Rich! Major faux pas!No mention of Kate Kelly? Tsk tsk.
ReplyDeleteKate Kelly was beautiful.
DeleteI miss Wendy Tokuda and Dave McElhatton. Yamamoto and the Donkey are horrible.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Wayne would turn on all the electronics whenever Mac was around; Mac’s pacemaker would go crazy, and Wayne would giggle in the corner.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I still remember fondly, the best morning team of John Kessler and Sydnie Kohara. I mean, they had complete chemistry, were friends outside the bidness, heck they even went fishing together! And Sydnie put up with John's complete fascination with "blowed up" or when buildings at various places around the globe, would be blown up. He always giggled with glee in watching one of those. And while they both read the news, they also knew how to have fun with it. I'll bet they are laughing their heads off now, at the situation with KPIX!
ReplyDeleteThey were my favorites too. Brian Hackney reminds me a little of John Kessler, which is probably why I like him. Smart, funny guys.
DeleteJoe Bartlett is the news guy on WOR in the morning with Len Bermen & Michael Riedell. Listen from 3-6am pacific if you are up. Better than any Bay Area radio.
ReplyDeleteRich, what every happen to this group? Are they still around?
ReplyDeleteMac and Walker passed away, Tokuda is still around, as far as I know, so is Bartlett.
DeleteThey call them news readers for a reason and Wendy failed miserably on a daily basis
ReplyDeleteLast time I watched Channel 5 news Ken Bastia looked like he wanted to blow his head off on live TV. Maybe he was having a bad day because most of the time I didn't have a problem with him him. He was over weight, balding with blotchy skin but he read the news rather professionally and I found him sonewhat refreshing but as I said after that one day I couldn't watch him anymore. Hope he's doing well.
ReplyDelete3:57 am.... agree �� that John and Sydney were excellent.... entertaining and the news...a very nice way to start your day while getting some information. The beginning of the end for kpix when they let them go. Met Sydney on the street one day and was the same nice person she seemed to be on air. John same thing.
ReplyDeleteAnother testament to the glory days of Bay Area news teams then vs now. Is it really so hard to get great on air news talent these days? The bad news about Bay Area news? They all stink and we all know it.
ReplyDeleteDetroit Lion doing sports for the Niners
ReplyDeleteWendy kept her spot,because she was passed around the newsroom, if you know what I mean!!!
ReplyDelete