Great site! I just visited the site at Edison Road and South 57th West Ave., where I thought I'd find the transmitter building that housed Weird Al's channel 62 studios in the film "UHF."

The parking lot looked like the one in the movie, only smaller......but the big difference is, the only building I found was a small two-door, white-painted building that looked like a storage shed. Was the "TV station" in "UHF" torn down, or did I find the wrong location?

Thanks,
Greg Webb

This and that: I enjoyed the new interviews - Lee, Steve, Zeb, etc., and I also found Stevo Wolfo's site interesting. He is right, "Scream in the Dark" was certainly one of those unique Tulsa 70's experiences.

I have a 45 record that is labeled Michael Parks' Long Lonesome Highway, but the music is a Motown funk piece that I do not recognize. It is the only vinyl oddity I possess, except for the infamous Beatles Butcher cover.

To those interested, I could smell the refinery in its full aroma all the way over in Valley View way back when I was growing up on the northside.

I must say, this site is just cool! I don't know how many other cities have websites dedicated to the history of their local TV shows (only one that I've discovered: "Local Legends" in L.A. See the Other sites of interest page...webmaster). I've since gotten into cahoots with Mike B., and he's told me a little stuff (like how they used to joke about the Norelco PC-70's 2 cables---"water in, water out"). Now, I wish I coulda seen "UHF", but it's such an obscure movie in my parts. Never been to Tulsa (D'OH!) but to learn about this kind of stuff is quite weird.

Infinity Press has a new (free) issue on the stands today (Borders, Rib Crib, Starship, etc.) with a new Lee Woodward interview by Wilhelm Murg. Pick one up, then tune in tomorrow when it appears here with all different illustrations. A new Lee Woodward song will debut with it! The issue also has an interview with David Byrne, formerly of the Talking Heads.

Saw Gary Busey on the Howard Stern Show Tuesday night. I know it's early in the morning when the show is taped, but he seemed like he was, let's say, not in the right state of mind. Especially at the end when he was trying to wrestle everyone in the studio.

He did mention he will be appearing on NBC's Law & Order. I'm not sure if it is the exsisting show, or the new Law & Order show this fall.

Character actors - watching an old movie with Dub Taylor - amazing how long his career lasted. Usually playing rubes or psychos. Or a comic rube or psycho. Remember seeing him on Johnny Carson 20+ years ago - he was a cheerleader at U of Alabama who went West after WWII to be a bit player. Ann Prentiss - sister of Paula Prentiss was with him this movie.

Can remember when she and her sister were in Tulsa for something in the early '70's - maybe a movie. Us TU guys - when undergrads in the dorm - thought them both to be hot stuff!

If memory serves correctly, I believe Homer H. White (for whom the original I-44 bridge in Tulsa was named) was a member of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission. It seems that most bridges in Oklahoma are dedicated to former members of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission.

More Tulsa highway trivia:

When it was first planned, the Skelly By-Pass (now I-44) was supposed to be only a two-lane highway. It was so far "out of town" that no one thought people would drive on it instead of U.S. 66.

Do you know what was the first limited-access expressway planned in Tulsa? It was the Red Fork Expressway (I-244 from the Turner Turnpike entrance to the Inner Dispersal Loop downtown). It was originally planned in 1932, but wasn't completed until the 1970s, long after Skelly Drive and the Broken Arrow Expressway was opened.

I've always wondered how Tulsa would have grown had the Red Fork Expressway been finished before the Broken Arrow Expressway and the Turner Turnpike had been free to Sapulpa. Would all of Tulsa's growth had gone to the southwest instead of the southeast?

Think about it: Ford Glass, Met Life and State Farm would have located along New Sapulpa Road instead of the BA Expressway. Sapulpa would have the largest high school in the state. Berryhill and Union, which were the same size when the BA Expressway was finished, would have switched places, Berryhill becoming a giant school district and Union would still be housed in a single school building in Alsuma.

And, of course: Northeastern State University OAKHURST!

"And now, let's talk about Highway 33!" Highway 33 bumper sticker

When I was in Hillcrest for six months with polio (1946), I was tortured by the smell of bread baking. Could that have been Wonder or Rainbow around 7th street?

Tulsa smells:

Wonder Bread...on clear days could be picked up at my house 1/2 mile away.

Chuc Wagon...fried onion clouds.

Refinery...what is the farthest point someone ever smelled that from? We lived by McClure Park and on bad days got it loud and clear.

Napoleon purportedly had a map of smells of Europe...maybe those guys that crank out those "Great Raft Race" type maps can generate a Tulsa scratch & sniff.

I thought I'd add my two (s)cents to the discussion of "the smells of Tulsa". My most enduring aromatic memory would have to be the sickly-sweet smell from the Bama Pie factory on 11th Street. Every morning, walking to class at TU, I'd catch that smell, which I got very tired of after a while (I now endure the nauseating odor of over-roasted coffee here in "Espressoville, USA."). I never was a big fan of those little pecan pies, but I occasionly see them in vending machines around here and had one recently for old times sake.

The University Press of Mississippi is shooting for having my book, Hi There, Boys and Girls: America's Local Children's TV Programs, available to the public on or about November 1. It is currently at the printer (in Canada, yet) and they are supposed to ship it to the press's warehouse by October 15.

Mr. Hollis did some of his research on TTM. It will be interesting to see what he has to say about Tulsa TV. The Amazon.com link shows the availability info and cover of the book.

This might be a good time to mention again that when you land on Amazon.com's site via any link or search engine on TTM, and place an order while you are there, the webmaster profits (very) modestly at no extra cost to you!

Mr. Hollis also says:

If anyone else knows of any media types who should be receiving the press releases and other publicity, contact Steve Yates at the U.P.M. marketing department. You can e-mail him at syates@ihl.state.ms.us.

OK, I had no idea until now that the original I-44 bridge was the Homer H. White Memorial Bridge. Now, who was Homer H. White?

I've just returned from a weekend of play in the Chicago heat and had the pleasure of watching Harry V do the Sunday night weather on the FOX affiliate. He's still going strong.

I love the Internet!!! It allows you to tap into so much great stuff, including heroes from your youth!!!

I was an avid fan of "The Uncanny Film Festival & Camp Meeting" and LOVED Mazeppa!

I even appeared on the show when they did the "Lip-Sync Extravaganzas"! We did "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Sha Na Na. I sang while my friends acted out the story. One of those friends was Dan Piraro, now famous for his "Bizarro" comic!! I remember Mazeppa yankin' my chain by repeatedly asking for my work permit!

Before I found Tulsa TV Memories I found the Mazeppa.com website and bought the first two videotapes, then bought the third one when it became available. It's a huge thrill to relive TV history via those videos of the show!! I only wish there was LOTS more footage (and earlier shows!).

I have been searching to find MP3s of "Scope Them Turkeys Out" and "What's So Funny". I found them one day on Napster, but they wouldn't download and I never found the user online again who had them!

Does anybody out there have digital copies of those songs! I would love to work out a way to get them, via email or something!

Please write me if you have them and are willing to help me get copies! I would greatly appreciate it.

Please visit my art website: sTeVo iN yR sTuDiO

There is also a section for Nightmare City Halloween, a Halloween radio program I've done since 1979, which was partly inspired from working at "Scream In The Dark" in the mid 70s. If anyone has any historical information about "Scream In The Dark", I would love to hear from you, as well.

Take care all you great MUH-ZAAAAPUH fans!!!!

Stevo In Yr Studio

I am surprised the 11th Street bridge wasn't made into a park. I still LOVE the bridge off Riverside.

When last in Tulsa in '99 Jack Hobson showed me - from the car - a lot of the bike trails he rides all over west Tulsa for recreation. From being a near anti-bike city in the '70's (if you rode from TU to Downtown on 6th or 3rd Streets) to a riders' paradise is great!

This is yet again another year to ride remnants of Rte. 66 - wasn't there a Cushman or Lambretta scooter national ride on 66 this year in OK? I am sure just bikin' it would be hot but fun.

Regarding Jim Reid's comment about the I-44 bridge over the Arkansas River: "I associate the smell with driving across the Homer H. White Memorial Bridge. How many of you knew that was the name of the I-44 bridge over the river?"

Alas, the Homer H. White Memorial Bridge is long gone, replaced nearly 20 years ago by a new 6-lane bridge placed directly north of the old one. I don't know whatever happened to Homer's plaque on the old bridge, but the new one wasn't given the old name.

Speaking of Tulsa County bridges over the Arkansas, do you realize that nearly every highway bridge has been replaced or rebuilt in the past 20 years? From the Highway 97 bridge in Sand Springs to the Memorial Drive bridge in Bixby and every one in between except the I-244 bridge (finished in 1970) and the ones constructed since then (71st Street and Creek Expressway).

Some people blame the degradation of the old bridge surfaces on the excess salt they poured on the bridges in icy weather (no one complained about it at the time, though). And, of course, the Arkansas River is a very salty river itself.

Some of the old bridges still remain because they carried utilities across the river (11th Street and Bixby) and it would have been too costly to reroute them.

People traveling into downtown Tulsa on the I-244 bridge get a great view of the old 11th Street bridge, which is slowly being consumed by grass and weeds on its surface (it's fenced in so no one can walk or drive on it).

The latest coin commercial I've seen is for a special coin featuring Pearl Harbor. And on the front of the coin... a Japanese Zero fighter plane...and oh yeah a little battle ship in the background.

Jeez! Who's side are they paying tribute to anyhow?

Are you folks there being blitzed by "American" coin TV spots for Liberian coins minted for the US?

Or by "hand-painted" Liberty dollars - really painted in sweatshops in Korea/China? Or the "24 karat gold-dipped" Kennedy dollars?

We went thru all the cons for the Quarters of 50 States deals on air last year.

Am surprised that the Treasury Dept. is not cracking down on this....

At one time we ran 4 hours (!) a night/3 nights a week of this redneck coin vendor out of TN. He sold bags of "collectables" which looked just like bags of dirty quarters and other coins. The checks for airtime came irregularly - usually just before he was to be yanked off air. You had to make sure any piece of paper falling out of a tape case was NOT his check for airtime! He often slipped the check in tape boxes - not in an envelope. We wondered how often he had checks go "missing"...He was originally on 1 of 4 or 5 shop at home networks based in Knoxville - one we had been told - had a studio that was made out of a 2 car garage! Why Knoxville is a hotbed of hucksterdom - I don't know....

In reply to Mike, as far as I know, Chill Wills isn't related to Bob. Too bad because I think it would've have made for an interesting band. He could've had Jack Wills playing solo on the patio chair.

AAAAHH...Ride brother RIDE!!

Where there is a WILLS....somebody here tried to tell me Chill Wills was related to Bob/Johnie Lee et al.

I said - after reading that great biography of Bob Wills several years back (yoicks is it "San Antonio Rose"?) I forgot the title but Steve's Sundries has it, ditto Guy Logsdon mail-order catalog and I bet too Amazon) - I never read Chill mentioned in there. I think it is just a coincidence on the name.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - if I weren't in TV - would be a professional cheese shaver at Coney Island #1 downtown!

Doing a relief shift - one of my guys is in the hospital and we ran a Kathie Lee Gifford infomercial for skin care. It must be a composite of old shows because she has about 8 different "looks" in it with a mix of film, tape and maybe HD tape shots.

Hard to believe she went thru ORU just a few years behind so many of us then - TV pups. Am surprised she never tried to crash in TV in Tulsa.

Wish I had the WKY-TV historical tape from Dannysday that we had at NAB about 12 years ago - had a dark-haired, less-buffed Mary Hart from her stint there. Often wondered why Kathie Lee hadn't followed that route...

I love the Coney Island. Nothing beats their cheese coneys with EVERYTHING.

Speaking of downtown, I've been noticing some work going on at the old Mayo Hotel. There are lights on inside on every floor. Anybody have any info on this?

Is KTUL no longer doing CNN cut-ins on Tulsa Cable since the new KOTV has a newschannel?

Here in DC - NC8 - COMCAST's soft/non-news news inserts are popping up on systems all over. I worry they may supplant John Hillis' great NewsChannel 8 on some of the COMCAST systems with this "non-news" they control.

Plus the COMCAST chairman's mother is doing a 5 minute public affairs bit at least once a day - guess she was a TV institution somewhere. She does "Seeking Solutions with Suzanne".

COMCAST also is poohpoohing local access whenever it can, but will run local programming channels of material it buys or trades from other systems or cable nets.

And speaking of smelly things, I remember restaraunt row on Admiral between 73rd and Memorial. If you're on a diet, this is probably not a good place to drive with your windows down.

Mr. Boydston, though I'm past the kid-record-buying stage, by all means, bring back "Ragg Mopp." Both the Johnnie Lee Wills and The Boys and the popped-up Ames Brothers versions were hits half a century ago, and we don't have enough nonsense songs today. At least intentional ones.

And for the animatorially-minded, dim memory seems to recall a Bob Clampett "Beany & Cecil" cartoon devoted to the topic.

Though you may have to explain to the kids and their parents what a rag mop is....

You all have forgotten the scent of the sewage treatement plant on the west side of the river at I-44. I associate the smell with driving across the Homer H. White Memorial Bridge. How many of you knew that was the name of the I-44 bridge over the river?

Just heard the top floor of Sheridan Village is burning, started about four o'clock, Monday morning. Hope it is minor damage.

Our refineries have a distinctive odor, for sure. I remember two girls who were attending college here from a place where it never snowed. One winter day it did snow and they went running out to enjoy it. The clear air allowed the smell from DX to waft their direction and the girls thought it was the snow that smelled that way! They were relieved to fnd out it was not the snow but the refinery.

Drive by Java Dave's on 15th some morning and smell the coffee. Delicious.

The fire at Sheridan Village was less damaging than feared. Here is the illustrated discussion of Sheridan Village in Guestbook 84.

Here is the article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Six Flags that includes comments from Lowell.

My Tulsa Olfactory Memories: (a topic introduced by the webmaster in comments after Bob Kashwer's entry below)

The smell of bread baking from the Wonder plant at 11th and Sheridan (still there) and the Rainbo facility at 11th and Utica (now just a parking garage for Hillcrest).

The smell of rotten eggs from the refining of sour crude at the Texaco (now Sinclair) refinery in West Tulsa. (Often it smelled to me like really powerful garlic bread.)

That really earthy smell from the Tulsa Stockyards (where I worked for two years as public relations director of the Central States Rodeo Association and Tulsa Twisters team rodeo). It was during my years at the Stockyards that I killed seven flies in one swat (a personal best).

That strange combination of food smells at the Tulsa State Fair midway that combined the aroma of burned grease (from funnel cakes and Indian Tacos) with the smell of burned sugar (from Karmel Apples) with the tart air of freshly squeezed lemons. (And I'm not forgetting that remarkable smell coming from Big Mike's hamburgers and Johnny Harden's chicken.)

The smell of freshly clipped grass at old Oiler Park.

Popcorn at the Orpheum Theater (where I saw both the original Planet of the Apes and 2001 in first-run). Hot dogs at the Coney Island downtown (where we always went after seeing a movie at the Orpheum).

I often eat at the Coney Island after an expedition to the Central Library. Coneys with cheese and a generous sprinkling of cayenne pepper are great while watching the sometimes puzzling activity in front of Orpha's Lounge across the street. Trivia fact: Orpha is an anagram of Oprah, which is an anagram of Harpo. Your mind tends to wander while chawing on those dogs.

As a Cub Scout, I took a tour of the Wonder Bread plant. Like coffee, bread often smells even better than it tastes.

Fifty lashes with a piece of spaghetti (with Ike's chili on top, of course) for my not mentioning Lee Woodward and King Lionel just now! Did any city ever have a greater team of forecasters than Tulsa did in the seventies and eighties? Sorry, Channel 6 team.

Great to hear from you, Gary! Between your superb work at Channel 2 and Don Woods' (with Gusty) at Channel 8, Tulsa sure had it good, weatherwise (at least the forecasting of same). We were in the best of hands when the skies turned nasty. I'd suggest that you come up here, but the weather is so boring that any true meteorologist is overqualified for a job in this area.

Hey, Lowell (and all other cartoon "connie-sewers"), check out this site:

http://www.toonzone.net/looney/

Along with tons of Warner Brothers cartoon images and facts, there is more than a little information about the old b/w Popeyes we love, plus much more.

And then there was Lee & Lionel over on Channel 6! There will be an interview with Lee in the next Infinity Press by Wilhelm Murg that promises to be quite entertaining.

Tulsa's first TV weatherman, Harry Volkman, was interviewed for a PBS program, "German Americans", airing today...added a picture from it to the Weather page along with Gary Shore's comments.

Well, is that kizmet or what? Walt and I are working on a remake of the tune "Raggmopp" for the next Daddy A Go Go CD, and the whole time I've been worrying no one would remember it. I barely remember it from the Allan Sherman parody "Rattfink" myself. And lo and behold it comes up in Tulsa TV Memories. Maybe we can bring it back for a new generation of young'uns.

And on the subject of Rickenbackers, I love those guitars. I've got a 12-string and the previously mentioned bass. I enjoy that Chris Squire Yes sound, but these instruments are so cool that someone like Paul McCartney can get an equally distinct and melodic sound from 'em. And I'm a big Fender fan, since someone brought it up. Even got an old Fender lap steel from the 50's with original pickups that screams like the dickens. Audios, jb

I have been traveling a lot but am still based here in Huntsville, and looking hard for a new weather job right now. As you may recall before I left Tulsa, I was developing a web site to provide a weather service via the internet, and I continued to work on this the last few years during and after my time at Channel 31 here. However, I really need a regular full-time forecasting job now.

I really miss working as a forecaster in Tulsa, and have been looking for a way to come back there, either in the media or with a private company such as one of the energy businesses, but I don't have anything nailed down yet. I would be delighted if you would post this on your site to let all my fans in Tulsa know that I am thinking of them, and hoping that a door of opportunity would once again open there for me. My two sons were born there, and really I grew to maturity there myself. You know I was only 25 when I started as Chief Meteorologist at the old KTEW back in 1978. I still keep in touch with a lot of good friends there. I feel like my life's best work was under Tulsa's stormy skies, and even at times like this....the dog days of August...I still miss the people and places.

Impressive site !!!

Just yesterday, a friend and I were driving around the Trenton Market area and I remarked to him that my first time to see a TV was in a house on Admiral Place, just east of Trenton. It had to be about 1948. This was a neighbor of my uncle and we were visiting from Tahlequah (I was about 5 years old). One of the kids we were playing with said we had to come see his TV and I'd never heard of that. We watched a 'barn dance' program on KOTV and a group was singing "Rag Mop".

My friend reminded me that in the early days, programming was scarce and that NFL football was a mainstay because of the lack of other programming.

This led us to discussing the prominence of boxing shows on TV in those early days.

I remember the "Gillette Cavalcade of Sports" and lots of boxing. Pabst Blue Ribbon beer ("What'll you have? Pabst Blue Ribbon!") was a prominent sponsor. My dad, though not much of a drinker, let me sniff a Pabst while the fights were on. It was terrible.

Today, I occasionally have a fleeting glimpse of how the good aroma of beer struck me as so bad back then. I seem to remember reading that a child's sense of smell is qualitatively different from an adult's. Sometimes I have other tantalizing olfactory memories from childhood...of smells that possibly no longer exist for my sensorium.

New page: Tulsa Olfactory Memories? Or Tulsa Ol' Factory Memories (from near the Arkansas River before it was cleaned up)?

One of my first radio interviews was with Chill Wills who was making a Tulsa appearance. I was so nervous, when I ended I said: "Thank you Mr. Chills."

Well - am sitting at work in Master Control doing vacation relief for my staff and what is the 2pm movie?

"Tulsa", neighbors....not the best print and 80% of the city shots are no more - that I saw in the film. That Chill Wills - what an actor!

Archived Guestbook 86. Here is a summary of its contents:

Public access cable TV in Tulsa...we had it, it was run by Shaggy Dog at the Tulsa City-County Library, but through no fault of his, it's gone. Much more about this topic.

Six Flags, Animal Planet's list of unacceptable animal behavior, guitars, Roy Clark's Big Note Songbook and Billy Parker's chording gadget were mentioned.

We were sorry to learn that Don Lundy's dad passed away. Denny Lundy participated in the "Turnpike Express", a method of exchanging news video between Tulsa and OKC. Ma Barker tells a story about it on her site, as does Mike Bruchas.

Names dropped: Raquel Welch, Robert Horton of "Wagon Train", Yvonne DeCarlo, Ginger Rogers... Dick Van Dera (Uncle Zip) dropped in again after a long absence. Rea Blakey was spotted on CNN.

Ed Dumit celebrates a birthday August 14...if you wish to send a card, here is an address: KWGS, 600 S College, Tulsa, 74104.

Saturday, August 4 Tulsa TV events:

Tulsa's first TV weatherman Harry Volkman is featured on "The German Americans", OETA, between 4:00 and 5:30 pm.

Bob Mills, host of both "Sun Up" and "Shock Theater" (the latter as "Igor") can be briefly glimpsed in the San Diego portion of A&E's "Biography" of Raquel Welch, at 7:00 and 11:00 pm CDT.