How's about Al Neuharth in a steel-cage match with Gorilla Monsoon? (My dough's on Al...that's one tough cookie)

And speaking of Poor Ole Pappy, how about commercial jingles that stuck with us for decades? Like:

"The whole town's talkin' about the Reeves boys,
TV boys, the Reeves boys,
The whole town's talkin' about the Reeves boys,
If you didn't buy at Reeves, you probably paid too much!"

It continues to amaze me that these things stick in our minds, but I can't remember if I mailed the bills last week.

Other nominees for local jingles that won't leave the brain pan?

By the way, I second Mike's admiration of the Newseum--it's one of the best change-of-pace attractions for DC visitors when you think if you see one more neoclassical column you'll explode. The Newseum is highly hands-on, great for kids, and grownups seem to enjoy it too. And it's all inside and air-condition, which is no small attraction when you've been wilting in 90 degree, 90 percent humid DC summers on the momument trail. Good TV production facilities, too...we've taped a couple of shows there where we needed a large studio audience space. Dunno if they have any ex-Tulsans on staff.

To Mike Bruchas:

Which cage will Al Neuharth be in?

More Okies in CA in TV management.

Contributor Don Lundy - GM at KERO-TV in Bakersfield, advises that he got a letter from Bob Grissom who worked at KTUL after our hitch there.

He saw an article about Don in the OSU J-School alumni magazine and noted that he,too, went to OSU, graduating in 1971 and worked at Channel 8 from 1977-1984.

(Any ex-OSU J-school types able to scan us a copy of this article?)

He' s now GM at KEYT, the ABC afffiliate in Santa Barbara (The Young + The Restless' Mike Denney's home town).

Don's station is an ABC affiliate and he hopes to meet brother Grissom at the ABC affiliate meeting in NYC in a couple of weeks and share stories. Maybe get him to drop TTM a few lines.

Tis a smaller world and us Okies is a'takin' over!. Don

Hey, Tulsans!

Get thee to Mohawk Zoo starting tonight thru 5-8 for the Newseum's "NEWSCAPADE" mobile museum visiting Tulsa.

Interactive displays, mock chroma key news sets for kids, travelin' news stuff!

Al Neuharth - founder of USA Today and a semi-journalism legend will be there tonight (Wed.) yakking with VIP's!

Next time in DC - DO go see the real Newseum (a name coined by Neuharth) here in Arlington, VA - will blow you away.

Watch their TV shows on PBS or see the more restrained(?) branch in New Yawk City.

Magurk or McGuirk?

I talked with Jeff Archer today about the misspelling of Leroy's name in my story. Jeff said that, in doing his research for his book on professional wrestling, he saw Leroy’s name spelled in various ways, particularly “Magurk.” He wasn’t even sure of the correct spelling, which of course is McGuirk.

Regarding my assertion about Gorgeous George getting his ideas for wrestling from his college graduate work, Archer said that I may have indeed heard or read this (Hell, George might have even told me that during our interview.), but that it was just part of the hype of bogus stories that were passed around for publicity purposes.

It’s all part of the “theater.”

The rasslin' circuit.

From the guys that often dropped over 2" tapes on their way thru OKC at KGMC in '80 and cadged a free soda or TV station cuppa coffee before driving on to Ardmore or Enid - it was not glamorous, they did hit the Armory in tank towns. Every country girl had a crush on them but havin' a fling was taboo. They DIDN'T stay at the Holiday Inn, more likely the cheapest motel in town or slept in their cars and showered at the "arena". They WERE conscious of their public image. Regretably, I can't remember the names of the guys that stopped by. Either now they are mega-stars or sellin' insurance, I'd guess. Rasslin' was again in a period of not being campy but a blue collar sport.

Channel 34 often had "sworn to the death" opponents splitting up driving the circuit together and stopping by. Many lived on speed and caffiene to do it all - more like long haul truckers, not "entertainers". Usually the guys dropping off tapes were NOT Cowboy Bill Watts but undercard folks.

Well ya gotta "make your bones" in any job, I guess...

When Ken Broo and I had lunch last year, he reminded me that the pesky loudmouth 8-year-old brother Billy that Barbara Goldberg used to bring by KOTV while she was working on production crew is now Goldberg, the grappler. I just recall the kid hanging around the sports room and being a fly. I guess that's MISTER Fly, now.

A remarkable part of the story is that some of these guys are pretty long in the tooth and still manage. Ric Flair came by our studios here back around 1992, and, while he still had the moves, in-person you see there are a lot of miles on the guy, and not all interstates, either. And 8 years later, he's still pluggin.'

Inspired by this thread, I did a web search last night, and found a bunch of web sites for ole-time pro weestlers, including one listing the demises of various grapplers. As you'd expect, heart attacks (sometimes even in the ring) brought a lot of those guys down in their middle years, an indication of both how hard it was on the road and the likely use of steroids and other drugs. Seemingly, the second leading cause of death was auto accidents. Nor surprising, as these guys drove from match to match, in tank towns five or six nights a week.

Until about 20 years ago, when WWF consolidated the regional circuits, this was the last form of retail live entertainment in a town like Vinita, or Okmulgee save the donkey basketball game that came through once a year. But for the performers and the promoters, the dollars were small, the roads were long and sometimes unpaved, and the work was hard.

When I was a wee lad of 12, having just moved to Tulsa, I took a paper route which took me in the area of 1st street and Archer, downtown. It was spooky for a kid to see at 3:00 or 4:00 am. A big event that had the street buzzing one day, was about a gang fight that took place in the "American Bar" a favorite hangout and fighting arena for Native Americans. This morning, as usual, the fight was raging and the cops were called. Two officers showed up and the crowd turned on them. One of the officers was Leroy McGuirk. Witnesses said he had brawlers stacked up like stove wood, in front of that bar. I didn't see it...but I believe it. Years later, I took my turn in the subterranean studios of KAKC. When the wrestlers came down looking for "Mr Sam", they were sure to catch your attention...particularly one called "The Swedish Angel". If you ever saw him, you'd never forget him...I haven't.

If you have seen "Plan 9 from Outer Space" by Golden Turkey Lifetime Achievement Award winner, director Ed Wood, you have seen the Swedish Angel, aka Tor Johnson. "Plan 9" also starred the psychic Criswell, remembered on this site by former mayor Terry Young: "Never have seen anyone wear as much make-up in my life". Criswell appeared once on "Generation Rap", produced by Terry, and starring the twin psychologists Jan Kizziar and Judy Hagedorn (see the Other Kiddie Shows page on this site).

You can also read about Vampira, another star of "Plan 9" on Tisha Parti's site in L.A., Local Legends.

Piggybackin' on rasslin' stories - former Tulsan Larry Burnett and KTUL/KOTV alumnus is married to the sister of the wrestler/sometime movie/tv star, "Goldberg".

I went to junior high and high school back in Chicago with Randy Poffo, who was a great natural athlete but then of small frame. A pretty normal kid.

His Dad, Angelo Poffo, held a Guiness Book record for number of sit-ups or push-ups done in 1 sitting for about 30 years. Angelo was a rassler on TV in Chicago in the 50's, later a high school gym teacher for years. Back then wrestling HAD been hot on TV -later was for the over 50 set and demographics skewed to blue collar, working and beer drankin' crowd.

Randy was so good an athlete, after high school and some college - he played baseball for the Cards farm teams for a few years, but I think injuries prevented a long career.

You say, Randy who? Slam down a Slim Jim, Pardner - Randy Poffo - by way of steroids and who knows what - became "Macho Man" Randy Savage - nationally known pro rassler!

My lifelong friend John Steger - now a carpenter/interior specialist at the JPL out in SFO - lived down the street from Randy. His step-kids can't believe their old man (of 49) beat up Macho Man Randy Savage.

He did and made him cry - but then they were about 9-10 years old. That makes the Macho Man about 47 - maybe time to get into movies and out of "theatre"...

Randy also was into high school wrestling - always wonder who may have beat him - in that game - and what they would think now!

Another add to Frank Morrow's stuff--I love piggybacking.

In the hallways near the wrestling rooms at the old Tulsa Central High School, pictures of onetime high school athletes adorned the walls. Among these faded relics was one showing the handsome, young Leroy McGuirk, who was good enough to be on the U.S. Olympic team in either 1932, or '36, I don't recall which. Another Brave wrestler who went to the Olympics in those years was Rex Peery, who later coached Central wrestlers for probably twenty years, then rounded out his career by coaching at Pittsburgh U. At a reunion of Lafayette College students, in Easton, Pennsylvania a few years ago,(I was just a guest)I mentioned that I had once toiled under Peery's piercing eye. It was as though I had said I had learned singing from Caruso. "Hey! This guy knew Rex Peery!" and the word was passed along through the crowd.

It seems they take their wrestling seriously in the Lehigh Valley.

I wish to apologize for the gross misspelling of Leroy McGuirk's name in my wrestling stories and E-mails. I shouldn't write those stories so late at night/early morning. No problem...fixed it up!...MR

Also, I can't find any corroboration for my assertion that it had been stated that Gorgeous George got the idea for his wrestling routine because he had written a doctoral dissertation or masters thesis on the subject. I might have mixed up George with Timothy O'Leary.

My Ph.D. supervisor would be chastising me now for such sloppy research.

How many people know that Leroy McGuirk was a graduate of Central, and was an outstanding wrestler there before World War II? A dim memory tells me that he went on to Okla. A&M and wrestled there, but I’m not sure about it. He was Jr. Heavyweight wrestling champion for a long time. I remember hearing the name of Leroy McGuirk when I was in grade school.

After he was totally blind, Sam Avey made him the promoter of the wrestling matches at the Coliseum. Whether that was a title in name only or if Leroy actually performed this function, I don’t know. I have no reason to think that he didn’t do it.

Avey would come down to KAKC at about 5 or 5:30pm the night of the matches, and would do a 15 minute program, talking about the upcoming card later that evening. Frequently, there would be one of the participants with him, particularly Danny McShain. Leroy McGuirk was there only on one occasion with Avey.

Jack Moore would stay after his day shift to do the announcing, which consisted only of an intro to Avey, reading commercials for El Wino soft drinks, and an outro. The El Wino commercials always had a tongue twister in it. “Get your favorite flavor of the flavor favorite.” Because Avey always looked intently over Moore’s shoulder while he read the commercial, Jack would improvise a little, always making our big boss squirm. Jack particularly liked to twist the tongue twister a bit. For instance, he might say, “Buy a case of the flavor favorite with your favorite flavor.” I never heard Moore stumble, probably much to the dissatisfaction of the rubber-necking Avey.

When Avey and McGuirk were out of sight, some of the announcers would do a cruel simulation of a radio broadcast of the matches. Leroy was supposed to be the color man. The announcer would say, “Well, how do things look to you, Leroy?” (Silence.) “Well, I notice that Duke Kiamuka bit McShain in the ear. Did you see that, Leroy?” (Silence.)

These were the mean ‘50s, when cruel jokes were quite prevalent. For instance, there were Little Margie jokes.

“Can Little Margie come out and play baseball with us?”

Her mother would reply, “Well, you know that Margie has no arms and legs.”

“That’s all right. We plan to use her as home plate.”

As I remember him, El Destructo was a man who wore a cardboard robot "suit" (I think) on the UFFACM. He was sort of like the '70's version of Oom-a-gog; another robot-man that permeated the Tulsa airwaves with Big Bill many years earlier. I only saw a handful of episodes featuring "E.D." I don't remember what his role was in the show, but I think he was there to perform goofy antics and create mayhem in the skits performed during the movie breaks.

Mr. Sartain, if you read this, it would be so cool to have you back on the air in T-Town. After the UFFACM went off the air on t.v., I listened to the Unfilmy Can Festival and Camp Meeting show you had on KAKC (I think) during the mid '70's.

By the way, I am a transplanted T-town electrical engineer who graduated from T.U. about 8 years ago. I would consider moving back if the right opportunity came up. So, if any one out there in TTM land is looking to hire an E.E. in the Tulsa area, please look me up!!

Just to elaborate on Frank Morrow's remembrances of "grapplers," as the newspapers frequently called wrestlers:

Gorgeous George started hitting the bigtime in the late forties and early fifties. I recall him being interviewed at KAKC in 1950, attended by the ever-present valet, and sending the girls into fits of giddiness by presenting them with his trademark "Georgie Pins" which held his curls in place.

Ed Lewis, or "Strangler," was one of the most talented wrestlers ever to have entered the ring. He was probably the last true wrestling champion in the sport, holding the title for many years. At the time he became world champion, heavyweight wrestling was nothing like what it has become. He and another top-notcher named Joe Stecher had several memorable bouts. Lewis was immensely strong in the arms and his headlock usually prevailed, but Stecher had even more powerful legs and if he got an opponent in a scissors, it was more than likely the end of the game. In those early days, the match would continue until someone was pinned or unable to go on. In one legendary match, Lewis and Stecher wrestled for something like six hours in an outdoor ring, with automobiles being brought alongside the ring as the sun went down so that the battle could be illuminated by their headlights. If memory serves, the match ended in a draw.

For a few years, Ed Lewis lived on South Cincinnati, in Tulsa, with his wife and daughter. I passed his house every day to and from school at Horace Mann Junior High. One day, I saw him on the porch and ventured a timid "hello," to which he responded with a great smile and a pleasant greeting. His wife saw that I was unsure about what to do next and asked if I'd like a Coke. I accepted, went inside, and became instantly accepted.

After that, I used to chat with Lewis whenever I saw him, but he traveled constantly and so our meetings were not that frequent. He was well past his glory days, about sixty-five, and weighing in the neighborhood of 275-pounds. His head was huge, his ears almost closed with cauliflowering, and, as Frank said, his voice was deep. But he was the walking cliche of the Gentle Giant.

One day, while I was hanging out with chums outside Quaker Drug Store, on 18th Street, Strangler and his wife showed up. He was in a sweat suit and had been running in Boulder Park. They greeted me and he put his arm around my shoulder and we talked for a minute or two before they walked away. All the guys were round-eyed at this apparition and couldn't wait to find out who the "monster" was.

I read about Ed "Strangler" Lewis in, of all places, Henry Miller's "Plexus" (I think). I sure didn't know he lived in T-town at one point.

I met three professional wrestlers during my radio career, two of whom I interviewed on the KRMG Newsmobile in 1957. Each was a memorable occasion.

The first one I interviewed was Gorgeous George when he was at the height of his career. As I understand it, after writing his doctoral dissertation on professional wrestling for a psychology degree, George decided that he could really take advantage of his new knowledge.

He was the first to invent the bizarre school of wrestling. Before he would enter the ring, he had a valet who would spray disinfectant in the ring, followed by bursts of perfume. Next, rose petals were dropped around the wrestling mat. George then would make his dramatic entrance, wearing long, glittering, expensive robes, and looking like Liberace if we all had been on LSD. He had long, curly, blonde hair, which he had "done up" perfectly before the match. George was a villain who also could be cowardly. People hated him. All this made him famous and rich.

Jeff Archer, who wrote the best book on professional wrestling—"Theater in a Squared Circle"—tells me that "George was the FIRST wrestler to identify television as the future for wrestlers creating a persona and becoming household names. According to world famous legendary wrestler Killer Kowalski, ‘Because of his antics, most people did not realize the Gorgeous George was one great wrestler. There were few who could match him in wrestling skills.’ Kowalski attributes all the notoriety he and others received to Gorgeous George putting wrestling on the TV map."

Because I was almost always scrambling for subjects to present on the KRMG Newsmobile, I decided to go out to the fairgrounds and interview Gorgeous George before the matches, which would start in about two hours. He was not the friendliest guy in the world, particularly after I asked him before we went on the air if he preferred to be called Gorgeous, or Mr. George, or a combination of each. After an introduction about the matches later in the evening, I asked him when he was going to get his hair done. His eyes flashed lightening. "It already IS done!" he snapped. The interview didn’t last for much longer.

The next wrestler I interviewed was the opposite of George. It was "Farmer Jones." He was a good-natured man from Arkansas who wore overalls with only one strap holding him in. He was an awesome sight: He was huge---well over three hundred pounds. Jones was so big that he couldn’t fit into the front seat of the VW Microbus to do the interview. I had to open the sliding side door so we could sit inside the vehicle with our feet resting on the ground. I sat down first. When Farmer Jones followed, the poor Microbus tilted so precariously that I had visions of the Titanic and Lusitania.

But it didn’t faze the jovial Jones. He said, "I shore love to scramble with the boys"---his term for wrestling (or "rassling" as it generally was known, to differentiate the "grunt and groaners" from the legitimate high school and college wrestlers). "Once I git on top of ‘em, they ain’t goin’ far."

My first contact with a professional wrestler occurred in 1952 at KAKC when I was doing my night disk jockey show, "Music for Listening." It sometimes could get a little lonely and a bit scary down in the basement of the coliseum all by yourself, with nothing to keep you company but the sounds of your music, your voice and the scrambling of the rats on the other side of the wall behind you. During such a moment I heard the buzzer from the front door. I looked through the control room window and the large studio and down the long hall to the door. I could press a button and let the door be opened, if I chose. A huge figure in a long, black overcoat was pressing the buzzer. I didn’t recognize him, and continued to look at him while trying to decide whether to let him in. He then started to bang on the door. That convinced me.

He strode toward the control room with the confident steps of a man who was used to getting his way. As he threw open the door, I saw an enormous man with menacing eyes and black, bushy eyebrows. He had very large hands which looked like they could snap anything in two. But the most impressive thing was his neck, which was larger than his ample head. There was no flab.

"WHERE'S SAM AVEY?" he roared in a deep, cavernous voice. (Avey was the wrestling promoter and owner of KAKC.) It was eleven o’clock at night. Not only would Avey certainly not be at his piddling radio station at that hour of night, he didn’t even have an office down here. This is what I was thinking. I merely told the man that Avey was not there and I didn’t know where he was.

"Well," he said, fixing me with a look which could make you incontinent on the spot, "When you see him, tell him that Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis is looking for him!"

With that, he turned and strode out of the control room, through the newsroom, and down the hall. A sonic boom accompanied his closure of the front door.

I felt my body to make sure that I was all there, and checked all my orifices to see if any further action was required. I felt lucky to be alive, having survived this encounter with the man who for many years was the terror of professional wrestling in the heavyweight class. His nickname was his signature; his technique very simple. Although he had retired, he looked like he could handle anyone, anywhere. All these images about this man are still so clearly engraved in my mind. I’ll never forget those menacing eyes, that fear-instilling voice, and particularly that enormous neck.

Maybe pro wrestling deserves its own page at this point.

Hey!!!!!!!

Does anyone out there in TTM land remember the 45 that Mazeppa recorded for Brass Monkey records back in the early 70's? The songs were "Scope Them Turkeys Out" B/W "What's So Funny?" I think I wore out my copy (and my parent's patience) by playing it so much. I remember it was available at all the ".....downtown, Southroads, T.U. (at 1417 East Eleven-teenth), Springdale, Eastgate" Greer's locations. Ahh yes, those were the good ol' days.

On another topic, didn't Peter Hardt host another late nite horror show some years after "Fantastic Theater" ended? Seems like it was in the mid to late '70's and it featured old serials from the '30's and '40's like "The Crimson Ghost" which starred the late Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore.

A number of people here have remembered that single... You mentioned "El Destructo" (a "robot" featured on the Mazeppa show) in your first note; could you tell us more about him? Or Mr. S.Artain, if you are reading this in TTM-land?

"Classic Cliffhangers" is the show you are thinking of. It was mentioned in Guestbook 13.

For Bill Hyden: I tried E-mailing you, but the msg was bounced back as an invalid address. This happens to me with specific people. I can receive from them, and can reply to them, but I can't originate a msg to them. Weird.

I have no choice but to send this to you on this web site:

Good to see you are still there. It has been such a long time between E-mails and entries in the Memories web site, I was getting worried.

I had a parallel reaction from KRMG. I offered to send them several tapes from my years there in 1956-57. I received no answer. Apparently they were not interested in the old, old days. Or, perhaps, the real reason is what happened to you: corporate HQ wanted to run everything themselves. It's another example of what happens when out-of-town conglomerates own everything.

When I was in the Navy, I referred to headquarters as "hindquarters." I guess the appellation is also applicable for the corporate big dawgs.

Ransom, Confer, Norton...et al...

Yes, I think an all-media event would attract ex-radio-TVers by the numbers. Perhaps media suppliers, etc. might even underwrite the whole thing, if organized properly... with enough lead time.

I do have some 200 addresses (including 118 e-mail) of ex-KOTV personnel...and I was involved in the 1994 KVOO and KVOO-TV reunion. We have the contact list from that.

The KOTV reunion last November was a crash program! It two solid months out of my life and I experienced 'deficit spending'. I couldn't do that again.

I had hope that some will step forward to plan another. All the contact names/addresses are readily available from me. I would help as time permits.

Since KRMG's 50th Anniversay was also in 1999, I tried to interest them in 'participating' in the KOTV gathering. I had inquiries from KOTV-exes about people who worked at other television, and radio, stations. The response I got back from KRMG (someone in the upper echelon of Cox, I think) was a message on my answering machine: "We don't want your assistance..."

I suppose my plea is for someone to step forward and start organizing a planning group. It would need at least a year of planning. People have to prioritize the event and put it on their calendar...ahead of time! We had nominal response for a summer of 2001 KOTV re-reunion...which may not be feasible now.

Two guys that could help make it happen are Norton and Confer...they helped a lot last time.

Let's gooooooooooo Tulsa..... Bill

Michael,

Thanks for the light blue letters.

You're welcome. If anyone else has suggestions, please let me know. I do things the way I THINK they'll work best, but I like to get feedback.

DC cops call it being on the bubble - for us in TV/radio - it also means, "Holidays? What holidays?".

So many of us have worked holidays forever or had Xmas on Dec. 27 or Dec. 22 because we were working Xmas Day.

I am doing it this holiday weekend, luckily I have no family here to deny my presence from.

But - ah ha - this is a holiday that has some stores closed (hello, Walmart?) and wants family members together - but you viewers need your news and entertainment, so we work.

My librarian here at GoodLife TV delivers pizzas for Domino's to supplement his unfortunately meager paycheck. He is off Sunday WITH holiday pay - the Domino's pizza franchises are giving their help Easter off!

Easter has never been a "paid" holiday for us techies or newsies. I think by mistake 1 year, a station I worked at DID give us holiday pay on Easter but nowhere else ever has. It was always tough to explain to those new in the industry that it ain't a REAL holiday to management like Xmas.

This is a busy news weekend though - I got called at 6am after about 2 hours sleep by an INS friend - who said, "Turn on your tv - NOW!". It was the press lead-in to the news conference on the Elian snatch in Miami at 5a.m. today.

I spent 2 1/2 years at INS as a contractor doing video, a/v and telephony projects - so I worked as a munchkin (low life techie - "the old AV guy" I was refered to as with brass) for the current Commissioner.

I could hear the AG's Parkinson's causing her hand to softly bang the podium mic continuously - at the long press conference this morning - so I knew she was stressed out. She IS a nice person and I felt for her.

That shot of a Border Patrol SWAT guy (finger OFF the trigger) was scarey and probably the picture of the year.

Most of the Border Patrol SWAT guys I vaguely knew were Texans/Arizonans that helped local police out West if called upon and get little p.r. - patient, good old boys or ex-Army special forces types - who don't fire first like our other federal gendarmes.

Yep, from the folks John Hillis commands here at NewsChannel 8 to WTTG Chief Photog ex-Muskogean Carlos Hernandez - it will be a long weekend covering Elian and his Dad here. Some stories never wrap up neatly....Some images do remain with us though, sadly....

Mike, I hope your work day is not too arduous. Thanks for the background. I also noticed that the finger was intentionally off the trigger in the picture on page one, something I had not been aware of from the TV coverage. Has to be a Pulitzer winner.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter.

For you Buddy Rich fans - the late drummer did a jazz suite based on the Monitor theme. I had it on disk from World Pacific Jazz from the early 70's - but saw recently that is now available on CD - check your local record stores.

My disappointment when coming to Tulsa in '69 was that KVOO - then MOR format - didn't carry ALL of Monitor all weekend long like WMAQ the NBC O&O in Chicago did. Of course about that time WMAQ went wacky and tried country for a while and lost a lot of MOR listeners in Chicago. 5,000 or 10,000 watt AMer WJJD - owned by Plough, Inc. of Memphis - makers of all that suntan oil we used to buy - was THE one and only country station in Chicago for years. I think they still beat out 50,000 watt WMAQ for the country audience!

I believe WMAQ still carried Monitor on weekends - was a great concept in radio programming!

To relate Buddy Rich to TV, I remember a Bob Newhart show in which his name came up. Bob was telling Emily that he had been in an Army band that once worked with Buddy Rich. I forget the exact setup, but the punch line was Bob recalling Buddy telling him, "Man, you stink!"

There is a CD available entitled "Celebrities...at their worst!" For one track, a disgruntled member of Buddy Rich's band secretly captured on tape a lengthy and profane tirade against the band by Buddy about how bad they stunk. Do you suppose he was a perfectionist? He was a great guest on the Johnny Carson show, though.

I remember hearing Jim Ruddle from time to time doing his network news. I was so proud to see another ex-Central, Ronan-ite make it so far in radio. I also marveled at how beautifully mature his voice had become.

We're trying lighter blue links on the black pages at Frank's suggestion...what do you think?

Monitor was a great radio program, with its readily identifiable beeping sound. Bob and Ray were regulars, along with their inimitable cast of characters--my favorite being the fashion-conscious reporter "Natalie Attired."

I got collared for Monitor duty while working at WMAQ (AM and TV) in Chicago. I had a regular network radio newscast at 8pm, Central Time, ("NBC News on the Hour") but when things got short-handed in New York, particularly in the summer, I would be asked (told) to do Monitor News on the weekend. This meant I would fly out of Chicago on Friday night, hole up in some hotel in midtown Manhattan overnight, work the noon to eight p.m. Monitor newscasts (every other hour) then go back to the hotel and sleep so that I could get up to do the eight a.m. to four p.m. Monitor trick. Then, back on the plane to Chicago so I could do my regular radio and TV workweek. Sometimes this would go on for a month or more.

I might add that, along with a lot of other clowns, I worked under an NBC boiler-plate contract that said the company had "unlimited use" of our services. There was nothing additional in the pay envelope, because everything was credited against a guarantee and it was impossible to run up more credits (by the fee schedule) than the guarantee, which, at first, was simply scale.

Noel's idea sounds good to me. But let's not wait too long. I can't get away at Christmas.

Hey, Jim, we need to get at least a picture or two of you from your radio and TV days.

Radio voices from around the world. I was addicted with my first crystal set picking up the old rocker WCFL whose transmitter towers I could see from my house as a kid. Okay they were 2 1/2 miles away but trees were shorter then. WCFL -owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL - get it?) and later based in Marina City, those twin corn cob buildings in all the movies - which was owned by the Flat Janitors Union. Yep in Chicago - "supers" were janitors and lived in your complex. Had money, too. It was a sad day when 'CFL went Christian after rocking head to head with ABC's WLS for years and was sold. Sadder when rocker and market leader WLS went news-talk. WCFL was Mutual radio, too.

Can remember hearing Richard C. Hottelot in the 50's-70's and CBS Rome's old old guy, Winston Burdett seemingly forever. Burdett I think was a Murrow "boy" from WWII and was stuck in Rome after maybe a touch with being blacklisted here as a suspected Communist fellow-traveler of the 50's - have to check Howard K. Smith's book or one of Bill Shirer's great tomes on reporting. CBS' long-running "World News Round-up" at night ran 15-30 minutes till the 80's - lotta talk for radio!

NBC's "Monitor" anthology weekend radio was an addiction till it was phased out. More up beat than NPR is now. Gene Rayburn of THE MATCH GAME was a long time personality on it.

When driving to Tulsa from Chicago in my '67 Buick Opel - we would always listen to **Arthur Godfrey** on CBS radio on KMOX if going thru St. Louis around 10am. Hard to believe in the late 60's, early 70's - he was STILL on the radio! And the shows though low budget weren't bad. Godfrey didn't sound half in the bag all the time either.

Last night heard Gaby Tabanyar (pardon the mis-spelling) from Manila on CBS radio on the big plane crash - he was CBS' guy there FOREVER. Though I also think he covered Viet Nam and Malaysia. He sounds great and less breathless as he was when younger though he must be upper 70's now. Even vaguely remember seeing him on a CBS TV a few times way way back when.

When I was at TU - we always joked about being "Morris Gindi, Cairo" as a fake announcer's name kiss-off in radio class. The REAL Morris Gindi covered Cairo for CBS and the Middle East also for eons.

You always wondered how these guys got on when NOT stringing for CBS radio or whomever.

As a comedy schtick,we would try to imagine Morris Gindi or Gaby Tabanyar doing all-talk news radio in their fast,clipped tones or helicopter traffic reports in Manila or Cairo... "We have ox cart congestion on the 405 and a bad bad waterbuffalo scat slides on Sepulveda..."....

Or reading live copy spots for places like "Country Bob's House of Satay and Felafel"..... uh huh....

The crystal set...you used a "whisker" (a bare wire insulated from your fingers) to find a sensitive spot on a galena crystal. This formed a natural diode. Then you tuned in a particular station by putting a contact arm across a wound coil.

There was also a radio in the shape of an old fashioned rocket. The diode was built-in. It had a lead wire for clipping onto a large metal surface to serve as an antenna. There was a rod with a round red knob in the nose of the rocket that could be pulled up or pushed down to tune in the station.

I think Noel Confer's idea of a general reunion (more than one TV station) is a good one, and it should be organized SOON! I just got word yesterday of the deaths of Roger McGovern, a KOTV pioneer (in news) and Don Brewer, a TU grad who went to Kansas City when KCMO (now KCTY) opened up television there!

Roger was Cy Tuma's first newswriter and plugged for me to join KOTV in l953. After he left, I started six years on the noon news.

Bill Hyden did a tremendous job on the KOTV reunion in November, but was hobbled by a bad choice of dates (Thanksgiving weekend).

Archived Guestbook 36. We talked about Tulsa radio in the Fifties, obsolete tech terms, "Jimmy Giant", TV cameras for sale, country music on Tulsa TV, King Lionel's music (from "Camelot"). Heard from Don Norton, from the latter of the two known Tulsa radio Jim Peterses, and welcomed back Erick Church.