Tulsa TV Memories GroupBlog 267

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May 26 2008 at 11:35:26
Name: Jeff H
Topic: Movie Alert and T.V. ?
Email: Wishing I had a sack of Coney Islands!
Comments: The movie "UHF" is showing today (Monday) on MGM HD at 4:20 P.M.,channel 385 on the Dish, not sure about Direct or Cox.

Does anyone know what is going on at OETA?, the picture is in a different format. Anything to do with the conversion to digital broadcasting? I could not find anything on their website.

Also, Hope everyone has a great and safe Memorial Day!




May 26 2008 at 10:07:31
Name: Mike Bruchas
Topic: "Back Home in Indiana"
Comments: Am down here and saw the Indy 500 parade Saturday and sat thru THE RACE with Don Lundy. None of our faves won, but we had a good time. Some guys from Wichita sat behind us and recognized Don's OSU hat and we chatted quite a bit. They had never been before. Good folks. We seemed have been with a lot of "normal folks". Did see somebody playing bookie with some other folks before the race. The gal who won "Dancing with The Stars" with Helio Castroneves murdered the National Anthem, Florence Henderson singing God Bless America was not quite there, and Jim (Gomer) Nabors did his normal. Back Home in Indiana. Slash from Guns and Roses was everywhere, in the parade and at the track. At the Chip Ganassi gift trailer, ran into some "Bartians" and had a good yak.

Today we are grooving to WABC on WiFi radio with 1960s rock n roll. Don Lundy was saying yesterday that XM or Sirius needs to do genre stations like 40s, 50s, 60s music with DJ voices of those eras, but we guess that it will never happen.




May 25 2008 at 19:30:01
Name: Mike Miller
Topic: Gatorade
Comments: Just joking, Peter. We also have a small lake behind our house and named our gator, "Al." (I know, not very original.) He's about four and a half feet and growing larger every day, even without human assistance. We back up to a wildlife sanctuary and also have lots of wild turkeys. Yes, it's a slow news day here in Jacksonville.




May 25 2008 at 17:46:39
Name: Peter D Abrams
Topic: Jax? Weird?
Email: pabrams sorta at allteldirtnet
Comments: Mike, I'm up in the boonies south of Callahan, and we don't get our share of gators. We get armadillos instead. Tunnel diggers that can ruin a house foundation in a month.

When we were in NPR (Tampa), there was a lagoon out back, and we had our own Alligator In Residence. Named him Wally, of course.

A few times, he'd come up on my 'beach'. We had turkey buzzards, sitting in the back yard. Just sitting. and they are dumber than a box of feathers. I opened one of the back doors, it squeaked, and I swear he took flight back into the water.

Rule number one about gators - never feed them. They have poor eyesight, and will confuse you for the food.




May 25 2008 at 09:39:11
Name: Mike Miller
Topic: Jax
Email: michaelmmiller at hotmail.com
Comments: Thanks, Peter. Appreciate the info. You're right. We should talk sometime. Same goes for John Hillis. I'm going to look for that BP station.

This place IS a bit strange. Sorry, gotta go out back and feed my pet alligator.




May 25 2008 at 00:49:55
Name: Rick Brashear
Topic: Beryl Ford Collection
Comments: I work with one of Beryl's sons and he has brought in several items not in the State collection: photos, posters, maps. The maps are originals back into the 19th Century. One shows where I grew up at 89th & 15th, except it was made 100 years before I was born. Mingo Creek made a few changes over that time.




May 24 2008 at 21:19:03
Name: David Bagsby
Topic: Indiana Jones
Email: deeceebeeatsunflowerdotcom
Comments: Just got back from the new Indiana Jones movie. Plenty of action and eye candy. Harkens back to the original. Certainly a must see on the big screen.




May 24 2008 at 18:31:11
Name: Peter D Abrams
Topic: Jax and its schizophrenic ways
Email: pabrams sorta at allteldirtnet
Comments: Very sad to hear of Dr. Finchem's demise. I didn't know him that well, but always had the greatest respect for him. He will be missed.

Regarding the 12/25 cojoin, back in the early 90's, 25 was an open Low Power station license in OP. My boss at Cable wanted it really bad, but somehow the deal went toilet, probably because we were considered the big bad corporate guys vs. the religious organization that eventually got the CP.

When Albritton bought it out, they built one of the most amazing studios in existence. As John knows, it was major state of the art, was in a few broadcast magazines as a major showcase. I passed it every day on the JTB. I watched it on occasion, and while the sets looked great, the overall station and its news operation sucked.

I moved to Tampa for a few years, and when I came back to find that Gannett had taken it over and were doing a bit of housecleaning and integration, It really didn't bother me. The other upset in the market was that WJXT, the CBS outlet and a flagship Post - Newsweek station, had decided to go independent, citing a lack of revenue from being an affiliate.

So Mike. It's just a weird market. As you know, 47 is the CBS affiliate. Very similar to the Atlanta blowout back in the mid 90's. Cable has a large impact around here, and so does Sat TV w/ local stations on it. I've done integration work both direct TV and Echostar (Dish). It's a different world.

But I imagine it's only gonna get crazier.

John - I as far as I know, that stick is still out in OP, only because their "dual doppler" 2nd scan is somewhere in Clay County, the other one being at the tower over on Bay Street. The actual 12 signal is coming off the candleabra west of Southside Blvd near Hogan Road, opposite where everybody else is. I helped turn on an LP over in the 30/7/FM field last year. There's enough RF in that place to magnetize tin pennies.

Take care. Mike, we should get together sometime.




May 24 2008 at 10:44:08
Name: Scott Linder
Topic: Music, Movies and Mics
Comments: For those interested in music, movies, mics and such you should visit ScoringSessions.com. The site includes lots of photos of current and past sessions and offers a rare look inside our classic scoring stages. You might enjoy seeing where some of your favorite movie music was recorded.




May 24 2008 at 10:28:49
Name: Jim Ruddle
Topic: Communication Archive
Comments: For all you communications techies, try this on:

I received a catalog yesterday from an outfit that specializes in German and Swiss products, mainly optics.

But for 19 bucks you can get a Swiss item that tops most everything: A pigeon belly-basket for carrying messages. It has straps that hold it to the bird and the basket is made of metal.

Not reliable during hunting season.




May 23 2008 at 23:10:45
Name: Dave
Topic: On exhibit
Comments: I think everyone here is familiar with the Beryl Ford collection of photos that the Tulsa library keeps online -- all 23,000 photos of intersections, shopping centers and some other things from the 1950s and 1960s. What must have seemed like mundane stuff back then has turned into a trove of the-way-things-looked treasures. Not designed to be inspirational photojournalism or art, but a solid record of the way we were.

All this is a way of noting that Friday's New York Times has an article ("A Businessman’s View of Mid-American Life") about a Fort Worth professional photographer named Bill Wood doing pretty much the same thing there at the same time, but doing it as a full-time job. He died in 1970 and now an exhibition of his work has opened in New York after being discovered by Diane Keaton. (No, it doesn't make clear how Diane got involved in this.) A couple of his photos are included with the article.


Here's a Beryl Ford image of a Gaslite Club girl: nice and clear, but also a bit stark and weird in mood. Is a cigar-chomping businessman sitting behind the desk, looking on in approval? I can't quite make out the nameplate on the desk; looks like Paul K. Hol(mes?).



Beryl Ford Collection
Courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa,
Tulsa City-County Library & Tulsa Historical Society





May 23 2008 at 14:52:08
Name: Bob O'Shea
Topic: Don Cook
Email: bob reavis at yahoo dot com
Comments: It just saddens me to hear of another Tulsa broadcaster passing away. Don Cook (KTBA) was a great talent and a credit to the Tulsa radio scene. While Don had been off the air for quite some time, just knowing he's gone makes the space feel a little closer to empty.




May 23 2008 at 11:25:07
Name: Rick Clark
Topic: Leon Shearhart
Email: clarkrick@yahoo.com
Comments: Read in Friday's Tulsa World Leon Shearhart has passed away (Owasso - Leon Shearhart, 69, died Tuesday. Services pending. Mowery.).

While the name may not be as well known as others on this site, Leon was the radio voice of the local Roto-Rooter franchise.

Until his retirement a few years back he was a long time account exec for the various owners of KVOO and was an instructor under Alan Lambert at RSU. I took one of his classes myself before joining him at KVOO in the late 90s. I always called him "Professor", which he seemed to get a kick out of.

Also due to his radio spots, I always told him when my sewer backed up I thought of him. He was a great guy.




May 23 2008 at 10:38:27
Name: Scott Linder
Topic: Ribbons and birdcages
Comments: Yes, ribbon mics are back although some would argue that they never left. There are many 44s, 77s and 639s still in daily use. Capitol Records has a wonderful and beautifully maintained selection. In addition, Wes Dooley at Audio Engineering Associates is making a great new version of the 44BX, as well as other unique ribbons and the Royer line has become a favorite of many scoring mixers.

I urge all to explore Coutant.org. It's one of my favorite sites.




May 22 2008 at 21:49:06
Name: Michael Bruchas
Topic: Audio tangent
Comments: In the new B&H Pro Audio catalog outta Noo Yawk City that arrived today, I noticed several things. Ribbon mics are back but of all the listed makers; Beyer is the only one that you might maybe know; no RCA (LOL), no Altec (LOLx2) brands and the cheapest is under $200 but most $2-k-$4k. Don't you wish that you still owned an Altec birdcage mic or RCA 77DX?

Turntables are back, too. I pitched my 35-year-old one with the good Shure cartridge on my move from DC. Damn!

For $249, you can buy a "Vinyl Recording Kit" with turntable and a USB interface and SoundSoap software to dump your vinyl to your PC or Mac, EQ all and turn into files for your iPod. Cool.

Old radio gear + vinyl is goin' GEN X + GEN Y!




May 21 2008 at 00:40:58
Name: David Bagsby
Topic: Drinking songs
Email: deeceebeeatsunflowerdotcom
Comments: A great way we used to get smashed was to take a drink every time Dylan said "the Jack of Hearts" in the song, "Lily, Rosemary & (of course), the Jack of Hearts." I defy anyone to listen to that twice and still be standing...not approved by the USA Olympic Drinking Team.


The best-known TV-related drinking game is "Hi Bob!" It's simple. You watch an episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" and drink whenever anyone says "Hi Bob!" I've never played this, maybe because I have a good idea of how many times "Hi Bob!" is said in the course of a typical episode.




May 20 2008 at 22:37:23
Name: Mike Bruchas
Topic: DXing and WiFi radio
Comments: Edwin was one of my few friends who loved DXing as mentioned here several times. Here in Chicago, we seem to have a gazillion more stations and 50% in Spanish. I don't have a big shortwave tower, just rabbit ears on my radios. Unfortunately Radio Havana booms into the Midwest on shortwave, but now also Chinese stations from "over there".

Don Lundy's house in Indy has WiFi (and son Mike in residence as IT tech). Don has one of the C Crane WiFi radios and is getting used to it. He loves listening to "West Coast Talk Radio out of L.A., San Diego and SFO.




May 20 2008 at 16:41:42
Name: Mitch Gray
Topic: Mo Drinking
Email: North of You
Comments: Another way to get plowed is to take a pull everytime you hear someone from around here say " I seen him." Or "I seen it happen". I don't understand why there are so many diction-challenged folks. However I may be a little biased after being in the broadcast industry where pronunciation is important. "I member the good ole days". Laziness I reckon...




May 20 2008 at 13:23:39
Name: roy lee
Topic: Drinking games
Email: royleeshouse@gmail.com
Comments: If I had to watch either of those shows, I would need to do some drinking!

My friend Tom came up with a good one at a Mexican restaurant. Every time we hear the words "mi corazon" (my heart) from the jukebox. take a swig. Mexican music is full of that word, so be sure to eat plenty too, since you'll go through a 12 pack.


The same game would work listening to Brazilian (Portuguese) bossa nova and drinking on "coração".




May 20 2008 at 06:39:29
Name: Webmaster
Topic: "The Bachelorette" drinking game
Comments:

My wife likes to watch "The Bachelor", and currently, "The Bachelorette". With all due respect to her taste, this is a ridiculous "reality" show.

Every aspect of the bogus courting is accompanied by a soundtrack designed to let you know how you should be feeling (e.g., the "hopeful" music, the "we're on the same page" music, the "these were the good times" music, the troubled "do I really want to be a stepmother/dad?" music).

Personal feelings are expressed as a work in progress. Their future direction is assayed by the contestant, and checks written against them in the present.

"I am definitely falling in love with_____."
"I can see me spending the rest of my life with ____."

Even though my attention was elsewhere during "The Bachelorette" last night, hearing it all had a debilitating effect on me.

Halfway through, I proposed toasting each time one of the contestants uttered one of the many clichéd words and phrases heard ad nauseam on the show. Among them were:

a "journey"
an "amazing" woman or man
an "amazing journey"
"Ohmigod"
"he/she completely opened up to me"
"I put myself out there"
"be there for me"
"let my guard down"
"lay my heart on the line"
"he asked MYSELF" (Arghhhh!)
"The One" as in "he might be The One"
"I'm ready to take it to the next level"
"I think I have found my soul mate."
"follow my heart"
"go with my gut"
and so on, and so forth.

Our beer supply was quickly polished off...hello Charles Ely and Carole Lambert.

Kids, try this only at home.




May 19 2008 at 23:59:39
Name: Richard Wilson
Topic: Edwin
Email: riccolites@yahoodotcom
Comments: Just learned today of the source of my sorrows of the previous month..........Edwin........I miss ya.......and today i cried.......Ricardo


Happy to see you here again, Richard.

Along with Edwin Fincher, Richard was involved with production of the 1973 KTUL late-night show, MAINTAIN: A concert of video realizations.

Edwin passed away a month ago. He was remembered in GB 264 and
GB 265.


Here is a new YouTube slideshow of Edwin photos from one of his sons:








May 19 2008 at 18:49:59
Name: Holly Kinkade
Topic: KTEW January 6, 1977
Email: Kittygrrlhk@sbcglobal.net
Comments: This is the program schedule for KTEW from Thursday, January 6, 1977.

6:35 a.m.-Inspiration
6:40 a.m.-News
7:00 a.m.-Today Show (2 hours)
9:00 a.m.-Sanford And Son
9:30 a.m.-Hollywood Squares
10:00 a.m.-Wheel Of Fortune
10:30 a.m.-Shoot For The Stars
11:00 a.m.-Merv Griffin
12:00 p.m.-News
12:30 p.m.-Days Of Our Lives
1:30 p.m.-Doctors
2:00 p.m.-Another World
3:00 p.m.-That Girl
3:30 p.m.-Flintstones
4:00 p.m.-Partridge Family
4:30 p.m.-Bewitched
5:00 p.m.-My Three Sons
5:30 p.m.-NBC News
6:00 p.m.-News
6:30 p.m.-Brady Bunch
7:00 p.m.-Movie-"The Call Of The Wild" (2 hours)
9:00 p.m.-Best Sellers
10:00 p.m.-News
10:30 p.m.-Johnny Carson (90 minutes)




May 19 2008 at 17:06:45
Name: Gary Chew
Topic: Decline In Management Values
Email: Arnoldzburg
Comments: In response to Jim Ruddle's lament regarding a current Florida TV GM being arrested for 'wand waving' in a Tampa porn shop:

Why does that not comes as a surprise to me, these days?

Delmeaux de Gillete du Coffeyville




May 19 2008 at 10:37:11
Name: Webmaster
Topic: Classic TV Blog
Comments:

Several miscellaneous TV-related items from me in TVparty's Classic TV Blog today.




May 19 2008 at 09:23:49
Name: Jim Ruddle
Topic: GM busted
Comments: Reports from the Tampa Bay area reveal that the general manager of WTVT, channel 13, was arrested in a porn shop raid for "exposing" himself, along with a group of others.

I used to work at that station when it was a CBS affiliate and a Gaylord property, now Fox, and the GM, Eugene Dodson, was one of the most admirable TV executives I ever knew. He and Bob Lemon, of WMAQ, in Chicago, were the best of the best.

What a pathetic decline.

But, I also worked for an NBC clown who boasted that he hadn't read a book since he was in college and that then he just skimmed enough to get by.




May 18 2008 at 18:42:23
Name: Dave
Topic: The Meadow Gold sign is coming
Comments: For the record: an article in today's World, "Cyrus Avery plaza's construction nearly finished", tells about the opening of the Route 66 plaza next month at the 11th Street Bridge, and it also mentions that the dismantled and restored Meadow Gold sign will go back up at some unspecified date this summer at 11th and Quaker.




May 18 2008 at 16:09:00
Name: Larry Ward (via email)
Topic: Michael Parks interview live on the "2 Wheel Power Hour" Monday May 19th
Email: LarryWardatClearChanneldotcom (Youngstown, Ohio)
Comments:

(Webmaster: Molly of Listen Recordings over at MichaelParks.com forwarded the following email to me. Michael Parks starred in "Then Came Bronson" (1970), reviewed here on TTM. By the way, here is a new site about the show, also forwarded by Molly: JimBronson.com.)


Hi Molly: I wanted to see if you could get the word out to the faithful that Michael Parks has graciously consented to do a live interview with me on the "2 Wheel Power Hour" motorcycle show. The shows airs Monday the 19th at 6 pm Eastern Standard Time (5 pm Tulsa time) on 570 WKBN.

Fans can access the web site and listen to the interview live through our streaming. The web site is 570WKBN.com. Once the page opens, look at the top for the icon that says "click here to listen live" and that's all there is to it.

Just follow the instructions. It will take about 30 seconds for the audio to come up once you have connected, so please be patient.

Molly, we can't thank you enough for helping us out. I've had a wonderful time chatting with Michael today, he's a very nice guy, enjoyable to speak to.


5/20/08 update: Yesterday's Michael Parks interview is now available on MP3. Go to this podcast page at 570WKBN.com to download to your PC.




May 15 2008 at 20:10:43
Name: John Hillis
Topic: Funny Small World
Comments: Mike, Orange Park is actually the home of the WJXX transmitter. I know because I helped put it together 10 years ago for Allbritton. If I recall, the tower is about 750 feet and sits out in the country (or at least it was then--it may well be all suburbia by now) out a road past a good fish restaurant and left at a BP station. The station had been a CP owned by a religious group when Allbritton bought it, built a beautiful digital facility in south Jacksonville and got the ABC affiliation.

Allbritton was able to sell WJXX to Gannett due to an FCC rule that allowed duopolies as long as the stations were not in the top three in ratings and there were sufficient broadcast signals in the market. Gannett, with the NBC affiliate already, had infrastructure in place and presumably was able to wring economies out of the situation. I heard that great facility on JTB Boulevard between I-95 and the beach is now a church. If so, it has a heckuva control room.

And now for something completely different: I stumbled across a treasure trove on the internet. If you've got some patience, about 28 minutes and are a geek (or ex-geek) in your middle 50s or older, this may ring a bell with you: TV4U.com: Optical Illusions with Mr. Wizard. On this particular episode, you'll note the announcer is none other than Don Pardo, later to become famous as the voice of "Saturday Night Live", who was already a veteran NBC staff announcer when this was shot.

Watch it and get a sense of how far we've come since then, an innocent time when a teenage girl could visit the basement of a middle-aged man without having it seem freaky. Today, the only way such a thing would get on NBC is as a "To Catch A Predator" segment.


John, I've got to thank you for pointing out that site. I just watched an entire Joe Pyne show from 1966! There has been a sidebar about the show on the Fantastic Theatre page for the last 9 years.

Joe Pyne Show #1 opens with a lengthy pan of the audience. Quite a visual. Pyne warmed up by taking a couple of tedious complaints from audience members standing at the "dock" which doubled as the "Beef Box" at this point in the show. Joe should have told them to take a walk a lot sooner than he did. The first proper guest was a UFOlogist who got a relatively gentle but thorough ridiculing from Joe. The folks who appeared in the "dock" were mostly played for laughs (and rightfully so). Next up was an investigation of a then still infamous 1931 rape/murder in Hawaii.

The last half hour was dedicated to the interview of a 23-year-old conscientious objector. For 15 minutes, Joe engaged the angry and articulate young man without too much static. Then, just before the "dock" was opened, Pyne turned up the temperature of his rhetoric, cuing the audience.

With only a few substitutions of names, places and details, most of the same arguments and all of the tactics could play out today on a typical more-heat-than-light talk show. The parallels made it gripping.

At least Pyne gave the guest some time before the shouting started, which his descendants in spirit today would not do. In fact, I would characterize the Pyne show as a feast of reason by comparison, despite its inflammatory nature.





May 15 2008 at 19:53:24
Name: Mike Miller
Topic: Two for one newscasts
Comments: I'm finally settling in here in Orange Park, Florida after escaping the insane traffic of Houston.

One oddity: Two of nearby Jacksonville's TV stations are owned by Gannett and simulcast news programs. They call it First Coast News -- NBC12 and ABC25 and apparently have a pretty large operation. According the website, "First Coast News currently employs approximately 185 men and women in the areas of news, engineering, production, promotion, accounting, sales, programming and administrative support." One wonders how many others who were let go.

I was also wondering if this is a serious trend and does it operate in other parts of the country? I know some years ago, local stations could begin to purchase news, weather, and sports services from an outfit in DC. My friend Mike Bruchas will, no doubt, know more about stations sharing news operations or using out of state services to cut costs.




May 15 2008 at 13:23:32
Name: Webmaster (not Grandmaster)
Topic: U.S. Chess Championship now in Tulsa
Comments:

Free to the public: the 2008 U.S. Chess Championship at the Radisson Hotel, 41st & Garnett, through May 21.

From yesterday's Tulsa World: 'Superstars of chess': Top players making their moves in Tulsa.

Keep up with the "action" at the MonRoi Blog.

Last year, it was held in Stillwater. My wife and I and a group of friends trucked over to check it out (and visit OSU and Eskimo Joe's). You can walk around the tables while they play.





May 13 2008 at 14:09:25
Name: Jeff H
Topic: Frank Lloyd Wright's Tulsa house
Email: Riding around Tulsa on" The Super Loop"
Comments: The Frank Lloyd Wright house in Tulsa is called "Westhope". It was built in 1929-1930 for Wright's first cousin Richard Lloyd Jones and family.

Mr. Wright tried a new roofing technique that turned out to be a little leaky. On one occasion during a downpour, the family was rushing around the living room with buckets and pots trying to protect the rugs. Mrs. Jones said, "Well, this is what we get for leaving a work of art out in the rain!" On another occasion, Mr. Jones furiously got on the phone to Mr. Wright and roared, "It's leaking on my desk!" Mr. Wright calmly replied "Richard, why don't you move your desk?"

Mr. Jones nicknamed the house "The Pickle Factory"

"Tulsa Art Deco" (TTM Gift Shop), a book published by the Junior League of Tulsa, has several pages devoted to the Wright house as well as other Art Deco buildings in Tulsa. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of Art Deco and Tulsa landmarks.




May 13 2008 at 12:34:52
Name: Mike Bruchas
Topic: Lowell Footage + Tulsa Connections
Comments: Except for the real steam train, Lowell's footage made me think of a local amusement park here in Illinois when I was growing up...we'll miss him quite a bit here.

Many of you know that there is a great Frank Lloyd Wright house in Tulsa. What many of you don't know was that Jenkin Lloyd Jones and family were related to Wright. In fact an earlier family member - another - named Jenkin Lloyd Jones was first a minister in Wisconsin then in turn of the century Chicago. He helped Wright secure a lot of work at the turn of the century. I am told that the Tulsa home was built for an uncle or cousin of Wright, who was a doctor in Tulsa. Maybe the Tulsa Historical Society has some footnote on this.




May 13 2008 at 11:20:57
Name: Webmaster
Topic: Previous GroupBlog summary
Comments:

Archived GroupBlog 266, which was about:
60s album guy atchley building channel chicago choo don cook film freight ktul life listings movie music news night oklahoma city passed jim peters photo podcasting program radio railroad recording ride rock santa schedule shows songs sound steam switzer train tu tv robert walker years

Previous GroupBlog 266





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