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| Randolph Hearst and wife Catherine |
Amburg didn't let it go to his head (the KGO contact told me)--instead he reported it as just another story but he also understood its massive stature as one of the most surreal stories of the 70's and its impact on lives throughout the Bay Area and beyond. A real, honest-t-damn drama for the ages. I'll never forget and if you were around, you won't either.
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| Van Amburg |
DURING THE PATTY HEARST SAGA --a media nugget you'll only get HERE...
In the period when Patty's Hearst's parents held news conferences outside the Hearst estate in Hillsborough, Randolph Hearst (pictured) made sure KGO's Van Amburg was able to watch the presser and report on it during the 6 PM 'NewsScene" program.
It was told to me by a veteran Circle7 news contact that the elder Hearst was comforted by Van's presence and that he wanted Amburg in on the news at the time.
Not that Hearst and his wife, Catherine, were knocking the Bay Area news media --they weren't. They just felt Amburg and his news savvy were more in tune to Patty Hearst and her travails --they thought Amburg was the most serious news journalist out there and watched him religiously during the whole saga and it was a saga.
JUST ANOTHER STORY --BUT IT WASN'T
What a time during those frightful days.
Fred Van Amburg's "Happy Talk" is way better than getting the news from "Aloha Means Good Bye" on ABC7 or the Bickerson Women on Fox2.
ReplyDeleteIn all the years I delivered the old Palo Alto Times newspaper as a kid the only headline I remember reading while folding the papers for delivery was the day after Patty Hearst was kidnapped. Even as a young teenager then I can remember it riveting the Bay Area. Crazy time.
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