That Karen Keith never stops for a moment! She was a blast to work with at KJRH. I remember in her early days at Channel Two she brought such excitement to the stories she covered as a news reporter. If my recollection is right, she took over the noon news after Sara Scott stopped in '82 or '83. We had some wonderful guests on in those years like Leslie Caron and Jan and Dean. The interviews were always entertaining.

It's great to see Karen giving Mayor LaFortune a hand. He'll undoubtedly reap great benefits from Karen's media expertise.

How sad it is to hear about Jim Back's passing. I believe Jim started at KRMG in 1973, the year before I started at sister station KWEN, both housed together in Liberty Towers, 15th and Boulder.

I always found Jim to be thoughtful and professional in his dealings with other staff members. Jim was promoted to Assistant News Director under Ed Brocksmith in 1975, I believe. Then when Ed went to work for Northeastern State University Jim took over as News Director.

It was a pleasure and honor to work with him. Jim was indeed a real pro.

I like the Ma-Hu Mansion page. Thanks. I get ascared just thinking about it. In the early 70's around Halloween, two lines of people wound all the way down the hill and for several blocks up and down Memorial. The house was actually divided into two different walk-throughs, each composed of many very sophisticated scenarios, and each taking quite sometime to navigate.

Great story about Leon Russell, Eric Clapton and George Harrison at the Stables. I played there a time or two myself.

Tulsa looked OK against OU tonight. Pretty good national coverage, I'd say.

An unrelated note: see a new photo of Marvin McCullough at KRMG in this Guestbook.

Does anyone else recall a local kids show starring a Native American, Chief Blue Eagle? He was on KTUL Channel 8 I think, was an artist and did paintings.

My old Mazeppa-watching buddies turned me on to this web site. What a kick!

One of them, fellow Nathan Hale High School Diva Barbie Neal, now of NYC, just completed an all-too-short role as Belva the Nosey Landlady on "As the World Turns." She loved the gig.

If anyone remembers anything about Chief Blue Eagle I'd love to hear about him and the show.

Keep up the good work!

He was a protege of Dr. Oscar Jacobson, as was Dick West, another Native American later seen on Channel 8's sign-off (RealVideo). Both taught at Bacone College. Acee Blue Eagle had an art program for kids on KTVX in Muskogee before it became KTUL, Channel 8 in Tulsa. He is reported to have tried to get into movies; this may be him listed in the IMDb as starring in "Gunman's Walk" with Ed Platt (Maxwell Smart's chief), Van Heflin, James Darren, Tab Hunter and Bert Convy. More about this artist can be found here.

I remember feeling sorry for the lady formerly on 11:30 Channel 2 News, who had an allergy problem when she was giving the news.

First, congrats to Karen on her move.

Back in about 1975, Pat Kelley left Tulsa to go make fame in LA studios etc.

I took Pat's place as a guitar teacher at Shields music. Mike Mackay was a salesman then as was Randy Genet and Jim King.

Mike and I have started a new (ha ha) band called the Tulsa Boyz.

We are playing at Ed's Hurricane Lounge on Saturday, Sept 7. Please come out if you can, Ed's is probably the oldest biker bar in town. You will hear some Clapton, Beatles, and probably a Leon Russell song or two.

Thanks for the great site.

David

Saw the big send-off for Karen Keith on the news last night. Sad to see her go, but she hasn't been on air much in the past few years. She had that home improvement show going for awhile, but it didn't last long. I think the last time she did any anchoring was in 97-98, just around the time Jerry Webber took ill.

I think it is safe to say that Karen is a Tulsa TV institution, and will certainly serve our city proud on Mayor LaFortune's staff.

She also did "Oklahoma Living" for the last several years, which was seen nationally on HGTV.

I should have been a bit more thorough yesterday in my note about Karen Keith. She is going to work in the office of Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune. The city's gain, the station's loss. Wow, what a gal. If you've never met her before, it only takes about :30 seconds before she has made you feel like a good friend.

Lee Woodward is one of the biggest highlights of this web site...he was a HUGE part of my afternoons with Lionel and now he is still making me laugh and think. Lee Woodward I love you!

I am sure Karen left for a life and $40.000.00 + a year.

This just in.

Steven Spielberg announced today, plans to begin production immediately on a new motion picture based on the current financial scandals involving "Enron" and "Arthur Anderson" etc. It is to be called

"SWINDLERS LIST"

Edwin! No, you did not shoot news, but I thought you might have remembered folks "liking" for BetaMax as the world went VHS.

Karen Keith - duh, I can still remember her as an intern at 8 many many moons ago - why is she leaving 2?

Hey! Mike B., I never ever shot news, dude. Remember at 8 we called them "news creeps"? That is, us commercial production types did. I will not repeat here what they called us 'cause there were so many names I couldn't list them.

Yeah Joe, I too am sad to see Karen go 'way. There are many tales of her when she was on the studio crew at 2 (tew?). I will not repeat them for they are second or third hand. While I was at Tempo Productions (anyone remember them? - they PAID!) we sent her many a tape of our glorious crew singing to her. AH, but to no avail. She never sent us a tape back. (insert one of those dang sad "smiley faces" here)

Just wanted to say that today (8/29) is Karen Keith's last day at KJRH in Tulsa. She has been on the air for 21 years here, and is now a part of Tulsa T.V. Memories. Just another anchor that we grew up with, and we will miss her a lot.

Here she is emceeing Shorts Day in Brookside, 1984:

An era in technology that I thought over - still isn't - yet.

News from TOKYO--What VHS couldn't do, digital did. Sony's Betamax video tape recorder, which famously lost the 1980s video format war but held on for decades as a niche product, will finally be no longer manufactured because digital formats have delivered the final k.o. to its prospects.

Sony said on Tuesday it would only make 2,000 more Betamax machines before discontinuing the product altogether, ending its 27-year history--spent mostly in the shadow of the Matsushita group's rival VHS format.

Edwin Fincher and other former news photogs will remember many a TV person hanging on to Betamax for better recording and true hi fi --- but also because many of us inherited spent Betacam news tapes which we recycled for Betamax use! I believe a 20min. Betacam tape would record 3 hours in the Betamax mode. We could NOT use the subsequently improved BetaSP (metal) tape as stations switched over - because it literally sanded down the heads of the machines.

In Bealeton, VA is the East Coast's largest dealer of used Betamax machines and tapes - talk about a niche market! J&R MusicWorld in NYC still sells NEW Betamax machines.

Sony made a digital Betamax for a while but only the tuner was digital. 10-15 years ago when OU shifted from film to tape to document training films of games - they bought the industrial Betamax format (CD?) with Sony's then patented slo-mo playback feature.

My brother still has 3 Betamax decks and I had 2 very used camcorders but now just have one seldom used TUBE (not CCD) Betamax BetaMovie camcorder and my - still chugging - BetaHiFi deck at home.,,,Funny when I worked in OK could not afford the then newish VHS or Beta decks that sold way back then at $600-$1200 a deck!

Last seen At Best Buy - new VHS decks are about $65 - but then the world is going digital...DV decks now are without tuners and running $695-$2000...

Here's to our good friend, Jim Back. More memories of Jim below...webmaster

Jim Back, 57, of Edmond, passed away Monday, August 26, 2002. He was born March 1, 1945 in Tulsa, OK to Ernest and Neil Back. Jim married his wife, Charlotte, on June 5, 1976. Jim worked at KRMG Radio in Tulsa and at Tulsa Cable before moving to Edmond in 1990. In Edmond he was in the marketing department at Multimedia Cablevision and Cox Communications. The past year he had been pursuing a Master's degree at Oklahoma State University. He is survived by: his wife, Charlotte; sister, Neilia Weatherly of Santa Fe, TX; and many family and friends. Service will be held at Baggerley Funeral Home on Wednesday, August 28, 2002 at 11 a.m. with burial at Memorial Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorials in Jim's name to the American Heart Association.

You ought to see what Jack Morris does when a skunk is let loose in his office & "someone" shuts the door!

Jack Morris was pretty good, but for me there was only one "king" of Tulsa TV news anchors. And that was Clayton Vaughn.

I am glad Bob Hardie is here - he was pivotal of a lot in Tulsa TV.

I am very saddened to hear about Jim Back. We e-mailed back and forth after connecting thru TTM. I knew he was talking about going back to school to get an advanced degree and hoping maybe to teach the next generation of TV/radio/cable-folks.

I knew him thru Don Lundy - who is one of his oldest friends. I think they were both at OSU together and that started a lifetime friendship. Jim was a great guy with a good heart...

I think that my favorite Tulsa TV newscaster of all time is Jack Morris. I still remember when he was on KTUL-TV 8, the ABC station, and he told the news the way it was, and he spoke so well and was so convincing in addressing the audience. I especially loved the end of his broadcasts, when he would tell a joke to rap up the newscast. Thanks to him and Don Woods, who draw Gusty (I have 2 Gusty drawings), the flavor of the KTUL newscasts were set. It was really good.

I really didn't like it when he left KTUL for KVOO-TV 2 (later renamed KTEW and now KJRH), because out here in Kansas, Okla., the Channel 2 signal was always messed up by some other station interfering with the Channel 2 signal. And since I wasn't on cable here, I couldn't watch Channel 2 as well as Channel 8. But when KTEW's signal did come in, I watched Jack Morris, and the Scene 2 News, as the newscast was called. I don't quite remember if he told jokes on KTEW, but he did commentary, and good commentary, too.

I like a lot of newspeople in Tulsa, past and present, but Jack Morris is my favorite.

I'm very sorry to hear of the passing of Jim Back, who for many years worked at KRMG. Jim is probably best remembered for his roving "news on the move" reports (Bob Losure did them, too) on KRMG.

I'm not sure what year Jim joined KRMG as a reporter, (late 60s or early 70s?) but by the time he hired me as producer of their evening "Nightline" talk show, Jim had worked his way up to Operations Manager, and he still anchored KRMG's "5 o'clock report."

As many of you know, radio has an odd way of rewarding longevity and faithful service, and Jim was released during a tumultuous period in KRMG's history, the early 80's. KRMG had just switched GM's from Ron Blue, who moved down the hall to oversee the Swanson Broadcasting chain, to Don Berndt, who was imported from Swanson's OKC properties.

With FM stations dominating Tulsa's ratings for the first time, KRMG's audience was eroding, and the station was desperately trying to find its "next thing" to stop the bleeding. Nothing worked...and the station didn't perform very well after John Erling went off the air until Rush came along a few years later.

Jim's dismissal and the firing of KRMG veterans Jerry Vaughn and Richard Dowdell, (who would later return to KRMG's news department), were all part of the station's early 80's mid-life crisis.

Jim eventually ended up working in OKC for Cox Cable, where I exchanged emails with him a couple of years ago.

He said something in an email that has stuck with me. He said that he would always remember me because I was the only person who called him (to extend best wishes) after he got canned from KRMG.

Since then, I've made it a point to always call to extend some kind words when the ax falls on a co-worker. (You can imagine that my phone has been quite busy, working for Clear Channel OKC, during most of the time since).

In my opinion, Jim Back is up there with other KRMG legends of the 60s & 70s, like Johnny Martin, Chuck Adams, Ed Brocksmith, Vic Bastion & Jerry Vaughn, people who helped make KRMG not only a great companion, but an absolute necessity during severe weather.

I'm glad I got to work with Jim and to know him as a friend. He'll be missed!

I have not seen any mention of Marvelous Marvin McCullough that give STATION FUMIGATIONS at KRMG

He is mentioned in Noel Confer's bio...there is a link to a photo of both Noel and Marvin on "The T-Town Jubilee". Also try "Marvin" in the TTM Search Engine for more mentions on this site. And here is a photo courtesy of Scott Evans:

To say the least, I was shocked to hear of Jim Back's passing. I heard about it on KRMG yesterday evening, and they replayed a short piece of a newscast he did on December 5, 1975 when a tornado hit Tulsa.

As Mike said, he brought a lot to this site, and he will be missed.

My sympathies to his family.

This Cardinal Alumni ('69) and ex-broadcast engineer for KOTV ('70 - '74) has been away from this site for awhile and decided to let all the WAREZ sites rest.

I have a question, I worked at Oertle's from May 69 to Jan 70 and do not recall the Ma-Hu mansion. Then again at 51 yrs, I am lucky to remember my name.

Anyway, the site looks great! Mike, keep up the good work and God bless!

Thanks, Roy.

Word was just announced today that Jim Back has passed away due to a heart attack.

Jim was at KRMG during the late 60's to the early 80's, I believe, then went to work for Tulsa Cable, and then moved to Cox Cable in Edmond where he had worked for a number of years.

He had just taken a job of teaching the new generation how to "properly" write new copy, if there is such a thing today, at OSU, and was going to start there this fall.

I worked with Jim, and sold time and space to him over a number of years, plus Jim was the guy that showed me how to run a board at KOSU back in the days when the Beatles and a lot of others were still writing and producing. Just got to thinking, it's amazing how much of a mark people leave on our lives, and we don't realize how much influence we have on other people's lives. He's really gonna be missed by a lot of us.

I am very sorry to hear that news. Jim contributed many fascinating stories to this site. Although I didn't meet him in person, I feel as if I had, and will miss hearing from him.

Hi everyone! We came across this website quite by accident...but really enjoying "remembering when". We have been married over 22 yrs. now and have 5 kids. This fall will have two in college, one in high school, one in 8th gr. and our daughter in 1st grade! Drop us a line if you have time.

Glenn is the fellow who put together the Channel 8 sign-off backed by Ray Charles' America the Beautiful that succeeded "High Flight". Jim Reid sent the photo of Glenn below.

There are soooo many people I wonder where they are. Eg.: Don Kimmel, Paul Milam, Boyce Lancaster, Vic Bastian (who served me my first hard drink of vodka), John Hurlburt, all announcers at Ch. 8.

Ben Hevel, Bill Swanson, Jim Black, Ed ....last name...will think of it. These guys were "down stairs". Jack Morris, Don Woods, Hal O'Halloran, Bill Pitcock, Bob Pitcock Gregory, Cy Tuma.

Of course I've heard that Cy died and someone told me that Bill Pitcock died. Engineers Leon Holland, Jack "Huckleberry" Findley West (deceased), Calvin Elmo Clopton(deceased), Jim Van Eaton, Bob Sullivan (?), Lewis Brown, Bob Snyder, Otto Harris, Ken Maynard?? (last name?). There was a transmitter engineer that lived in Muskogee and I can't remember his name. Terrible when the mind goes....huh?

Of course, Johnny Rauser, Ewell Golden, William Eugene "Geno" Lyon (deceased), Charles Riley, in film dept. Who could forget working with Betty Boyd? Oh yes, Al Stone and Pat Attaway. They did the live Stone Buick commercials in our late movies. How about Rev. Hultgren doing our sign on and off devotionals.

Oh yes, Charlie Riley was responsible for getting "High Flight" on our Ch. 8 sign off. I got to where I could quote the lyrics by heart.

I came up with the music for our "Theatre 8" and "Cinema " movies. Boyce Lancaster finally had to take it off the air as it wasn't covered through ASCAP or BMI or SESAC. It was "privately owned". Anyway, it sure did fit our visual of the "Theatre 8" zooming into the picture. Back in those days, it was something. Of course, nowdays, graphic artists would probably laugh.

Don't forget Tuffy Tiger (Wayne Johnson), Shaggy Dog (Tom Ledbetter), Pilot Bob Jorgensen (what was the girls name?), Tim Penland, Phil Atkinson, Worden Parrish, Jim Phillips, Kenny Kerr and the studio/production crew. (I know I've missed a bunch.)

Of course, Al Clauser (deceased). Verdell Sexton (deceased) was one of our best directors. Hurst Swiggart, Wayne Johnson, and Mary Lou Wiley were great too. Mary Lou fell on the famous "circular iron stairs" and broke her arm one night. I was leaning over her to help her ease the pain when Gene Lyon "leaped over us both" heading for the directors podium to switch the break. Mary Lou was in a hurry to get to the podium for the break when she fell.

Oh yes, all the jokes we pulled especially in the studio. The ambulance was called to the mountain so many times on "false alarms" that they finally told us that we'd be charged the next time they had to come out.

I used to have 2" video tape recordings of a lot of the "famous jokes" we played on people like Don Woods, the gun thing and Jack Morris sitting on the "toilet" in the Akins Lumber set. I could go on for hours. I loved working at Ch. 8 back in the "old days". We had sooooo much fun there. Now it's mostly all work and very little "creativeness creeps out" in the funny ways like it did back then. Guess we were all "arteest" in our own ways.

I'm happily married....YES FINALLY.... and living in Tampa, Florida.

I'm nearing my retirement age too now, however expect to work 'til I'm 70. Couldn't think of retiring. What would I do?

Hi, I'm Bob Hardie, who worked at Ch. 8 in engineering from 1958 to 1966 and BUILT KRAV-FM in 1962. I was CE of KRAV until 1965 and George hired me back as consultant for more years afterward.

I went to Saudi Arabia in June 1966 and then went on to other cities in the US. I returned in 1980 and built KOKI TV... TULSA 23, and worked there for 10 years. I went to Kansas City then and am now at WTTA TV in Tampa, Florida as CE. It's a big market. #13 now. To get an idea of how big, Miami is only #16.

Love it here and will retire here. I know and worked with many of the personalities in Tulsa. I worked, for example, with Jack Morris, Don Woods, Hal O'Halloran, Cy Tuma, John Chick (who I taught how to ride the unicycle), Bill Pitcock, Bob "Gregory" Pitcock, and many more.

Just heard of this web page.

Bob Hardie, AKA "Lil feller"

(P.S., where's "Hursty", "bedwetter ledbetter", "Scoffie", "Tuffy", etc...?)

Hi, Bob...lots of the answers are here...

The day President Kennedy was assassinated, I was doing telephone work at Tulsa Channel 8 ABC, when Bob Gregory come on the PA and announced to the station employees that the President had been shot. We all rushed into the front lobby where the TV was tuned to Channel 8 which was still doing regular programming. A few seconds passed and one employee could not stand it any longer and went over and changed to Channel 6 CBS where Walter Cronkite was already giving the latest news live. I always said I got the news about President Kennedy out on Tulsa Channel 8 Hill with the set tuned to Tulsa Channel 6

My wife Gaye said she spotted KJRH "World's Worst Movies" host Rachelle in the Wal-Mart today. I see that WWM #29 was nominated for a 2002 Emmy as best entertainment program. We're regular viewers.

I wish I had a copy of the news story that reporter Ken Reed did on the Mahu Mansion in the late 70s at channel 8. It was great essay with nice, slow dissolves and Reed doing a voice over about how his father had helped build the mansion.

Read the Tulsa World's excellent article on the subject and more on the new Scream in the Dark page (on this site).

I was about 17 and my brother (an electrical contractor) called and said he got a job to install lights around the fence on the old Aaronson Mansion that Leon Russell had just bought. Wanted to know if I would like to help. I was tryin' as hard as I could to play the guitar and piano and loved Leon so I jumped on the chance.

Leon took us to Claud's in his Rolls and told me that he and a bunch of friends would be jamming at the Stables (yes, it was a live music club back then) lounge that night.

I went but was too young and could not get in. I stood outside and in absolute amazement watched Leon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton get out of his car and go into the club. I think Chuck Blackwell was playing drums that night along with Carl Radle on bass.

In case you don't know, Chuck has a very nice Stained Glass business on 145th E Ave in Broken Arrow, he made me a nice door for the front of my home.

As years went by, the Stables hired some Go-Go dancers to spice things up a bit. The bands went away, the girls stayed. (the addition of Lewis Meyer makes this a Tulsa TV-related and PG-rated Stables matchbook cover...webmaster)

One of the most infamous was a classmate of mine from Jenks America known to the hormoanally imbalanced men of Tulsa as Judy B----r.

David

Hi Tulsa Tv...I am SO glad you have this website...I just went to the ice cream page and played that wonderful music. Just out of high school, Linda Johnson and I with another East Central renegade "borrowed" one of those ice cream trucks from the renegade's brother who had a route and foolishly left it parked in his driveway. We played that tinkling music and drove everywhere, giving away ice cream to all the kids who came streaming out of their houses when they heard it. It was a joyride I'll never forget..of course the brother was highly p.o.'d and never brought the truck home again...ha!

The talk about the '74 tornado reminded me of where I was at during that time...standing out in someone's yard on Peoria oohing and aahing over the green skies and watching the trees whip down to the ground and up again. I didn't have enough sense to be scared...but my friend was cowering in the garage screaming like a banshee..and this was a 33 year old man who had enough sense to take cover and pray. God sometimes makes allowances for foolish younguns like myself at that time.

The Mahu was another weird experience...for years I had driven by that place, curious at to what it looked like inside. In 1976, after the Mahu was abandoned, I went inside it one afternoon, all alone, and was completely stunned. The house was covered in graffiti, pentagrams, nasty stuff! What a shame.

My first job was at Cone Corner, an ice cream place in some shopping center..the first of its kind at that time. I was no soda jerk...my first milk shake jumped the tracks from the machine and it sprayed ice cream and milk all over that store, the customers and me. And ice cream is as hard as a rock in those tubs..you needed the strength of an ox to budge it and roll it into that perfect little ice cream cone ball. Never have cared much for the stuff since then.

Take care Mike, and keep the memories alive!

Good to hear from you again, Joy!

As Halloween is rapidly approaching, I thought it was time to post out for any photos of Mahu Mansion that used to be across from Oertle's at 27th & Memorial. The Tulsa World did a spread on it back in '99 but it seems like the pics were mainly drawings.

One thing that this article does not mention, is that in the trunk there is also a case of Schiltz beer.

I saw this documented on one of Jack Frank's Tulsa Memories pieces.

I used to work for Tulsa County (Sheriff's Office, 1991-1998) and I remember waiting for the bus outside the courthouse and seeing the plaque.

There's no grass over it now, just a pebbled concrete slab.

IF the beer survives...it's in the old steel cans so rust might ruin it...it shall be a mellow brew indeed.

One thing is for certain, however, I will be in attendance when the car comes up in 2007. I do believe that the Centennial committee buried a Plymouth Prowler in a similar fashion in 1998 during Tulsa's 100th year with a time capsule attached to it.

Does anyone remember the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried at the court house downtown? Isn't that supposed to be "exhumed" soon? Also, does anyone know if the Weber's root beer stand still on south Peoria?

Weber's Root Beer is at 38th & Peoria, 67th & Lewis and east of 71st & Sheridan, too.

June 15, 2007 is the date for the 1957 Time Capsule to be unsealed.

Archived Guestbook 112. Lots of good stuff...you owe it to yourself to check it out!

And once again, it's easy to tell your congressmen that you support Internet radio...click the banner to send a FAX to them at no cost to you. More info at SaveInternetRadio.org.