IN 1972 WHEN I WAS 10 Saturday Night was pizza and Coca Cola and Creature Feature on KTVU; Bob Wilkins and the cigar as a back drop and a scary movie in the mix, you couldn't beat it; only Saturday Night Live three years away would challenge your schedule...WHILE SOME OF YOU feast on Ken Wayne, I got to watch Dave McElhatton in his prime; Van Amburg and Jerry Jensen in their element; Pete Giddings skiing down Tahoe mountains and introducing the "Letter from Home."...YOU get a dose of Henry Tannenbaum and the Foodie Chap; I watched Bob Jimenez and Evan White --and Eddie Alexander and John O'Reilly. Sure, they weren't all that great but they had character and gizmo --just by that fact alone, they were entertaining. We didn't know it yet because we were too busy eating our TV dinners and chewing down the last piece of Banquet chicken and cranberry crap disguised as desert; oh well, at least it was hot...While you have a thing for Amber Lee, I got to watch Karna Small write backwards on KGO; while you figure out Gary Radnich, I watched Wayne Walker do the sports, never blink an eye after a few hoists at Paoli's --miraculous on its own front but it was highly spirited and damn inconceivable but Wayne pulled it off and then some...While you were playing footsie I got to come home from school every day and experience "Charlie and Humphrey", a visual double duo that brightened the sky for kids my age growing up in the Bay Area in the 70's and at times, we were deluged with horror stories like the Zodiac; Patty Hearst kidnapped in Berkeley and the Zebra Murders; SLA was enemy number one and Oakland Schools Chief Dr. Marcus Foster was in the crosshairs --a guy named Donald Defreeze became Cinque and Patty changed her name to "Tanya"; VAN AMBURG said there was a "severed penis" discovered on a railway track...You thought the '89 earthquake was a rattle and roar I saw Sheriff Richard Hongisto take over the International Hotel and it wasn't pretty but it made for compelling, killing, arduous TV News watching --good thing the Raiders were winning a Super Bowl and the Doggie Diner were full-stocked of the 49 cent cheeseburgers and Bill Graham was beginning his Days on the Green...WHILE YOU may have been facebooking your aunt's latest fondue I was eating, salivating really, my first Black and Tan at Fenton's --post crab sandwich of course; while you tweeted away sweet nothings I challenged anyone to a game of Scrabble; knocked you and everyone else with a wipeout "Q.U.I.Z.Z.I.N.G.--Triple Word Score!! Goodbye, have a nice day, thanks for coming...THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND
Ah, wonderful post. It harkens me back to 1 month ago when you closed the website and one person so eloquently posted the following comment...
ReplyDelete"This one reporter at this one station had sex with somebody, and it had all the gravitas of going number 2 in the restroom of a Lodi Arby's. Dot Dot Dot.....Summer of 1978: The Giants were in first place, the horrors of Jonestown and Dan White lay in an unknown future, and I almost did it on a long lunch hour with Newscene 7's Valerie Coleman in the back seat of a '75 Pinto parked in front of Doggie Diner on Sloat, but she called it off because my farts were stinky, and reminded her of Pete Giddings.
For more of this insightful coverage, give me all your money now, or die."
Rich,
ReplyDeleteI don't watch the local news, just a little CNN at night, unless the Warriors are playing and shut down the volume, because Fitz does not offer any thing I don't know already. and listen to morning and drive time of the Game. Just curious, not sure if you watch news from other markets, but curious how the other bigger markets compare to our market on news talenT, do they all suck or is just us. Funny I will go to South Fla a couple of times a year and I like their talent better, and every weather person is a very attractive women.
You have got that right. Try watching Good Day LA (Fox11--LA) as well as your Florida channels on the Internet.
DeleteBetter talent, and yes, attractive weather and traffic females. Or for a weather guy, try Dallas Raines, ABC7--in LA, or Kai Goldberg (KTLA).
THOSE were the days! I remember getting my first TV, which is a 12" one (Still have it and still works) and watching Action News on 2 at 10pm then turning it to 7 for News Scene at 11pm.
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember in 79 when ABC started the 20 minute "The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage" update broadcast which the following year became Nightline. Some of us in school called the show "Iran Update" too.
Memories.
Yep. Sounds like my childhood. I was born in 61, and have fond memories of laying down on the floor in front of the TV with my dad (R.I.P) and brother every Sat night watching Creature Features. My dad would crack up constantly at Bob Wilkin's dry, often political humor, but me and brother weren't sophisticated or informed enough to get it. We loved Godzilla, Mummy, Invisible Man and of course Frankenstein. Even Night of the Living Dead which all us kids at school talked about the next day at recess. Great times!
ReplyDeleteSame here. Great job Richie.
DeleteCharlie and Humphrey? Pat McCormick was the voice of the two characters. I also liked KTXL-40's Captain Mitch.
ReplyDeleteDave McElhatton--what a nice guy he was.
Oh Rich, you missed what our family ate for Saturday dinner...Minute Steaks, frozen with a pad of butter and the "steak" looked like tenderized hamburger. Package of six for less than a dollar. You got what you paid for and did we ever. Thanks for the trip down mid 1950's nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteWilkins: "...and Richard Nixon as the Thing."
ReplyDeletePeople who weren't around at this time probably wonder why did Karna Small write backwards. She did it because she was the Weather Gal and she stood behind a pane of glass with maps and so on of the Bay area and country. She had to write backwards so that the camera read it correctly. She was so good at it that you would not notice that she was doing it.
ReplyDeleteAlso who can forget watching Son of Godzilla or Night of the Living Dead for the first time on Creature Feature. Good times
Ah Yes, Rich, Thank You for the lovely memories. Times such as when Mark Pitta serenaded Leslie Griffith with “Hot Monkey Love” on Mornings On 2 will bless us forever.
ReplyDeleteBefore Karna Small there was Linda Richards, the first of the weather girls on KRON (who was better at writing backwards). Anchor Ed Hart teared up on camera at Linda's last broadcast. So Karna graduated from weekend weather girl. And who followed Karna at the glass? A very young and adorable Terry Lowry.
ReplyDeleteI'd be curious what people think is actually better in local news and radio than it was back then.
ReplyDeleteI say, bring back the "Cigar" to Live TV.
ReplyDeleteEver since your self-imposed hiatus, the content has been top drawer. Keep up the good work. However, I'm waiting for the first non-Bay Area native or a tech 20-something to make some snarky comment about living in the past.
ReplyDeleteMore time off, and less posts seems to improve the blog.
DeleteSonny Barger of the Hells Angels had a great influence on why Charlie wore the Raider shirt and necklace.
ReplyDeleteMy bad. Humphrey Ham bone. Sucks to get old. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYes, these were great times for pretty good local media in those days. I even remember WABC-NY grabbing Rogers Grimsby in the late 60s before the Van Amberg dynasty started.
ReplyDeleteBut give inspiration some credit -- this column reads like a 415 Media homage to the Sunday Herb Caen nostalgia pieces ...
- Hard to believe that Wilkins actually did double duty on KTVU...he was the 10:00 News Weather Anchor before McCormick took over
ReplyDelete- McElhatton, 23 respectable years at KPIX. Hard to believe that Bastida is closing in on 20.
- I always remember that Van Amburg, as an ex-sportscaster, was enough of a stickler to run through 5 sportscasters (O'Reilly & Martin Wyatt the longest tenured; still howl at the "give Jim Celania 6 weeks" and Circle7 afterwards showing a promo congratulating Celania on making it to six weeks, though he wouldn't last much longer under Amburg)
- Jimenez & Evan White, both unforgettable. White was a rare one in that he worked at all 3 major SF stations - PIX in the 60s, KGO in the 70s, and KRON in the 80s & 90s, with the latter being his best years. Since retiring, White has avoided the lights like plague.
- As Small transitioned from KRON to KGO, remember when she and of all people, Radio Morning Anchor Jim Dunbar, did a 5PM News Scene broadcast before Amburg & Jensen aired at 6?
- I remember when viewers transitioned from the Linebacker to the Bentley as the 80s wound down. Wasn't pretty, and was absolutely night and day in comparison.
- Never touched alcohol in my life, despite great vineyard families and respected brews and spirits Bay wide....couldn't stand the smell or taste of it, not to mention the abuse horror stories. So my next beverage of choice after water, milk, and soda was a milkshake. And nobody makes them like Fenton's! And still nationwide, only Philadelphia's Franklin Fountain tops Oakland's ice cream institution in chocolate milkshake popularity!
- And never was a good Scrabble gamer. Better at Monopoly & Life. Strong at word searches, and can handle a crossword or two.
- I remember when Dallas Raines was at CNN! One of the longest tenured weather anchors maybe ever!
- Yep, Wilkins couldn't stand Nixon. Of course he wasn't alone.
Charlie and Humphrey are dead ringers for Murph and Mac.
ReplyDelete