I was about to offer my reel to reel services to Don Duca, but I see that has been taken care of. Are you, Mr. Duca...any relation to Joe Duca (who was once a director for Channel 2) and his first wife Gordona?

The other night I found a stretch of pavement about two hundred feet long that had no chug (chuck?) holes, thus proving that my car does have a decent ride after all. All this to segue into the fact that I believe that Bob Brown was the first KOTV reporter to do "Chughole of the Week". I think he did this feature at WFAA (Working For All Alike, notes Don Norton), in Dallas, too. As Duane Harm would say; "What ever became of Bob anyway?"

I missed the blurb about Doug Dodd running for Largent's position but like Bob Brown, Doug was one of the class acts of KOTV and still is.

Now, how many of you (besides the Webmeister and me) still have reel to reel recorders and why?

I must confess that I got rid of my reel to reel back in 1984. Engineers have teased amazing performance from the lowly cassette, designed originally for voice only. I had to borrow my brother's half-broken reel to reel to deal with my one reel to reel Mazeppa audio tape. Now, I can't get him to take it back!

6/3/2001: Just got this response to Lee's note from Don Duca:

Lee, I am indeed related to Joe Duca. I am a first cousin on our father's side. Joe passed away a few years ago. In addition to his duties at KVOO he later joined the Tulsa Police Department and was eventually promoted to the rank of Captain. He was married to Gordona. They met while he was building spec homes in south Tulsa and she was employed by Adams and Leonard (I think).

Thanks for the offer of the tape machine. I will bring the tape collection back to Tulsa someday soon and will sit down and go through the unmarked (damn it) tapes and make the Mazeppa ones available at this site. I owe my somewhat twisted sense of humor partially to sitting, for way too many hours as a child, in front of the TV watching the Lee and Lionel show.

It is a shame that today's kids don't have that level of dry wit and spontaneity available to draw from. Your ability to "wing it" in front of a live camera was remarkable.

Don Duca
Laguna Niguel, Ca

Interestingly, the last time I saw Doug Dodd in the flesh was at the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco. His better half, Elaine, was a delegate, and we had dinner.

Doug would be a good candidate, telegenic, well-spoken, a good ad-libber, but I find it difficult to visualize him putting up with all the b.s. that a run entails.

Jack Hobson forwarded me a link from the Tulsey paper - Doug Dodd may run for Steve Largent's congressional seat if Largent runs for governor.

Great site! Raised in Tulsa, and these memories are my memories. Just found the site, haven't read all the messages yet, but...

I was filmed for "Chughole of the Week" at 41st and Garnett in my black, '69 Chevelle.

Does anyone remember Newblock pool? Empire Roller Rink? The short tenure of foosball places? (Smokin' Joe's on 31st)

On the same lines as Maintain, there was a similar show, just before or after Generation Rap, called Soul Explosion, lots of camera effects and Chicago music.

Foreman Scotty had a serial with Willie and Cannonball, got a little weird with time travel and stuff. Great job nailing Bjorn Toulouse and Pan-E-ma.

Just before KMOD, there was KTBA..."Progressive Rock." First time I heard FM, or alternative rock music.

We got together and went to several tapings of the Horn Brothers Show. Pam Van Dyke later did a belly-dancing show on early Tulsa cable. Who was the regular on Horn Brothers who always sang Kansas City?

Don't forget the Guys!

There is a story from Rex Daugherty about KOTV's "Chughole of the Week" feature on News page 1. Stacy Richardson, formerly of KTBA, has an interesting article at the top of Tulsa Radio page 5. We have also heard from Bill Hyden, who owned KTBA, and Don Cook, KTBA's program director. Pam Van Dyke had a belly-dancing show...I did not know that.

Alexandria, Egypt...wow! Seriously?

I just wanted to convey my kudos to TU for their convincing win last night. Not only was it great to see them strut their stuff on national TV, but it was also gratifying to hear someone other than Digger Phelps providing commentary. I still remember all the marquees around Tulsa reading "DIGGER IS AN N.I.T. WIT" and the like after the snide remarks he made during the game in '81. Here's hoping TU can hold onto Buzz and end its status as a stepping stone school.

By the way, I'll be using this name (referring to my birthplace and favorite comic strip) from now on to avoid further Smithian confusion. Have a great weekend!

I just found a box of 1/4" tape, Magician's Theatre, 30 second radio spots, some of them with Gailard featured. Some of these were produced waaaaay after hours at Michael Grant's production studio on 31st at Yale and the rest were, likewise, very late at night...in altered states at KMOD studios.

My problem is, no player for that old 1/4" inch tape.

Just so happens I have an old TEAC on hand. If you'd care to mail a tape to me, I would copy it over to cassette for you and treat TTM readers to some clips from it.

Looking for gettin' into the movies? Go to www.backtoholding.com which lists casting calls for film production all over the USA.

Yes, there was a Steve Smith of Los Angeles Raiders fame, and lest we forget Steve Smith, morning co-host on KBEZ!

Yep - Johnny Martin was "Mr. Radio" when I lived in Tulsa, too. Randy Kindy said he worked in awe of him when at KRMG as a news-pup. I often felt JM could have made it in any bigger market in the US, too.

Liked the Ron Franklin posting - he was not a bad sports guy nor person - glad he is still in the biz....

Went to Satellite Expo here in DC today - them Russkies are trying to sell satellite services for Europe in a big booth - hope the Mir wasn't a repeater station! INTELSAT and EUTELSAT are breaking up - saw a lot of Dutch, Brit and German satellite services wanting to get US bidness for cross-"pond" video and internet feeds!

Steve Smith - you are now Steve Smith #3 in TTM after Stephen Frederick Smith (who was all I named in the last posting and married to TU alum - Louise Fink Smith - last heard as corporate counsel for Phillips 66) and Steve Smith #2 who was a tape engineer at KVII-TV in Amarillo!

You guys are multiplyin'!

Steve Smith #1 graduated in '72 or '73 from TU and came back and got either an MBA or Accounting degree while a Tulsa cop. He was a major influence at KWGS in the late '60's/early '70's - also later was a KTUL projectionist and I think sold radio time in Tulsa for a while. Post police work - he was an investigative auditor for Tom Daxon when Daxon was OK's very good State Auditor and Inspector.

BTW -what is Tom Daxon doing now? Anyone know?

Enjoyed Tulsa's win over Memphis last night. Hope they can do the same thing tomorrow night. And I especially enjoyed Ron Franklin's clean analysis throughout the game. I think he has become THE sports guy for ESPN. Always right on the money. Always right there for the most important sports happenings.

But it almost wasn't the case because back in the late sixties when Ron was at channel 2 he decided at one point that TV broadcasting was not for him. He thought he had gone as far as he could go and he decided to give up TV to join the family business. I was an audio man back then and did most of his broadcasts. We were all kind of down when Ron gave his notice because he was a thoroughly likeable guy. For two weeks we showered him with good wishes and little gifts and parties, telling him how lucky he was to be getting out of TV la-la land. We swore never to forget him and he swore never to forget us. It was one long like affair. And then he was gone.

But it didn't take long for him to realize his mistake and almost immediately he was back. And there we were. Now what? After all the tears and accolades he was back! It was a clumsy situation at best and, likeable as he was, Ron was a lame duck!

Ah well...but not for long. Soon he moved into a bigger market and eventually to his present success at ESPN.

Mike, I'm afraid I can only say "yes" to one of those...I did go to TU. I was a freshman there during the "Rollin' With Nolan" NIT Championship basketball season, in 1980-'81, so I'm truly enjoying a retro rush with them back in the Apple 20 years later. No surprise that you knew someone else with my name, though. I had a history teacher in Broken Arrow with it (getting all manner of grief from classmates for that), the NFL and NBA have each had at least three with it (one currently with the Portland Trail Blazers) and a Northwest post card photographer sticks that name (different middle initial) on all his creations. There was also the drummer for the legendary rock group, Journey. I met my wife on a blind date, and when she was told my name by a mutual acquaintance, she almost didn't show up, figuring it was an alias. I'm used to it by now. Hope you find your friend, though.

In the spirit of Wacky Packages, there were also Odd Rods, Odder Odd Rods, Oddest Odd Rods, Silly Cycles and I'm sure many others. Something I have been unable to track down is a series of things called "Nasty Notes". These were quadra-fold poster type deals where as you unfolded it, a poem unfurled which was very unflattering...kind of like a Burma Shave slogan on angel dust. The only example I can remember: You know you've got style You know you've got the face put it all together and... you're the ugliest kid in the place. If anyone can direct me to an online archive of these, I would be mucho appreciato.

For Mike Bruchas: Tony Randall was in Washington, D. C. ALSO for the Larry King show Friday night (March 23). Jack Klugman was "piped in" from someplace else, probably the west coast. And we got to see Tony's precocious kids. Sorry you missed 'em!

Steve Smith!

Are you the same Steve Smith from TU, KTUL, the Tulsa PD, State Auditors office and Schlumberger?

Well, since David mentioned those wonderful Wacky Packages, here's a website I stumbled across that should be fun for those who collected them so long ago: http://wackypacks.tripod.com.

You '70's kids -- who here can name all of the car lines Tink Wilkerson carried at his S. Sheridan "auto mall"? This was considered one of the first big city mega-dealerships too - in the U.S.

I remember Volvo, AMC, some Chrysler product, MG - but what else?

Re Mountain Dew - do you remember the Dr.Pepper products that came in the re-sealable pop-off top cans in the mid-'80's? We used to guzzle them a lot in Tulsey and OKC in the 16oz can size. I have never seen them anywhere else nor in my trips back to OK. Anyone know why these are not the industry standard now?

We have a Tink ad at the bottom of The Sports Page.

Speaking of pop bottles, does anyone remember how Mountain Dew used to change the graphics on its bottle? I know the basic theme was a hillbilly scene with the changing element being the pig: sometimes laughing, sometimes horrified, sometimes running in fear. I used to try to collect them all, but alas, pop bottles being the currency of childhood, undoubtedly ended up being cashed in for comics, monster magazines, or Wacky Packages.

Added a close-up of the pig and a front and back view of a Mountain Dew bottle to the new Pop bottles page.

Johnny Martin! What memories. If you're really interested in some real trivia. I had the rare distinction of being the first person to ever get better ratings than Johnny Martin, and he never let me forget it.

I was on the air at KRAV-FM, same time slot, with what was called middle-of-the-road format, most of you radio guys remember that. The FM phase had just hit, and everyone had either a console or a table model AM/FM in their house. Well, for about 3 rating periods in a row I got the numbers, slim though they were. (He got his numbers back of course, and I knew he would, but according to him, no one had ever beat him in the ratings, not ONCE!)

So, one night on the air I got a call and at first I thought it was crank call until I got an earful of the voice. "Hey, kid," he called me. Up until that time I had never met him. (From that day forward he always called me kid.) Later I went to work at KRMG for a short time doing news for -- you guessed it, Ol' Mister -- "time to turn the page, mark 30, and put this Johnny Martin Show to bed for another night." He and I became friends, though after I left Tulsa I spoke with him only once.

Years later here in L.A. I worked nights for KJOI-FM for nearly 5 years. One night I responded to a card from a listener who asked who was my influence in radio, and I proceeded to tell the story of Johnny Martin -- "time to head to lobby and check the action," "Here's the big band from Balboa," and all the great sayings. I talked about the zippo lighter he loved to flip open and light his Camel with, on air, take a drag or two and introduce his "favorite blond" (who, if any of you have forgotten, was "Miss Peggy Lee.") He handled records like they were pizzas, and loved to pull an LP out its sleeve, plop it on the turntable and cue it up while he was doing a break.

Truly one of the great voices of radio, and as I said that night, he created the greatest mood for lovers of anyone EVER on radio.

A very worthy addition to the Johnny Martin page.

Have been communicating with Mike Miller recently, a former KOTV comrade. We were talking about TV in Tulsa, and two interesting things come to mind.

First, I'm sorry to hear Rocky Stegman passed away. If my memory serves me correctly -- don't laugh if it doesn't -- Rocky, who moved to Tulsa from California, helped get right turn on red initiated as law in Tulsa County. I remember just before I left he was doing several stories on it and pushing it pretty hard.

Another significant little tidbit was the work of Gaylord Herron, one of the best still photogs in world as far as I'm concerned, who working for KOTV also pushed to save the old Union Depot from destruction, and created the roving, eye-view style of motion picture. We thought it was rather bizarre, yet unique, and as I was telling Mike Miller, it is now one of the techniques used in both TV and Film. (NYPD Blue, Homicide, etc.)

There were some nice innovations from Tulsa talent. What is disheartening is to realize how many years have passed, yet we have all these great memories.

Just finished "Me and Ted Against the World" by Reese Schonfeld - fascinatin' stuff on the early days of CNN.

What the folks at home never knew....

Read it if you are a news junkie!

In view of Herr Webmeister's eager e-mail to the "wrong" Kazuo Gomi, I went to the library, looked up NHK and faxed 'em a letter at l0 this morning (Tokyo is 15 hours ahead of Tulsa). I hope to get some kind of response fairly soon, but since Gomi was at KOTV some forty-five years ago, he has likely retired, in which case I hope NHK will forward my letter. It is also possible he has died, as have many of the 1950s crew members, in which case I hope NHK or his family will respond. (YES, I mentioned the Tulsa TV Memories web site!)

I wouldn't think today's earthquake in southwest Japan would delay a response; the Japanese have been used to dealing with 'quakes for a long, long time.

If y'all will go to http://www.440.com, you might find some old friends.

Remembering Buddy Allison brings back a lot of wonderful memories.

One of the best for me was the day that I was told by Clayton Vaughn, KOTV, to rush over and do the quick 5-minute afternoon news update. (Actual time was 4 minutes.) Waiting until the last minute I grabbed some copy and headed for the main studio. Clayton asked if I was sure I had enough copy: "Hell, yes," I replied with about 7 strips of wire copy that looked like 4 minutes to me. When I got on set, Buddy, the lone cameraman, and no dummy when it came to spotting obvious problems, and neophyte newspersons, calmly asked: "Ah, Larry, don't mean to be nosey, but do you think you got enough copy there?" Slightly irritated I replied: "Yes, Buddy, now let's get this over with."

Well, I finished the last story, looked up, and Buddy, grinning from ear-to-ear and proud as a peacock, held up 2 fingers. Without missing a beat I reached to my side, pulled the copy back over and said: "Reviewing today's top stories," re-reading the same copy over. It came out exactly 4 minutes. (Not bad for 2 minutes worth of copy.) When I signed off, Buddy was sitting on the floor laughing so hard he almost threw up. I got up, walked passed him as nonchalantly as I could, looked down and said: "Good job, Buddy, we'll have to do this again someday."

Welcome to the site, Larry. You are in a group picture on Newsmen page 2, and a 1970 TV schedule has your name on it...3/26/2001: added this story to the Buddy Allison page.

NEVILLE ISLAND, Pa. (AP) - The Hanson Brothers are coming out of the penalty box for another movie.

Dave Hanson, now general manager of the Island Sports Center in Neville Island near Pittsburgh, was a supporting player in the 1977 hockey film ``Slap Shot.''

Hanson will travel to British Columbia Monday to film ``Slap Shot 2,'' which is being shot in Vancouver and stars Gary Busey.

Jeff and Steve Carlson, who played his fictional brothers Jeff and Steve Hanson, will join him. The real-life Hanson and the Carlsons were teammates with the Johnstown Jets in the mid-1970s.

In the original, which was shot in Johnstown, the hard-hitting, happy-go-lucky Hansons were part of a hard-luck hockey team led by Paul Newman. The team's fortunes improved when its players resorted to thuggery on the ice.

Steve Carlson coached the Memphis RiverKings in the early 90s. When the RiverKings faced the Tulsa Oilers, some fans brandished "Hanson Bros." signs with crude drawings of the Hansons' characteristic thick horn-rim glasses.

Before Bill Donaldson went to the Tribune, I knew him as manager of the old Plaza Theater and later at the Brook.

I worked at both theaters while in high school and after closing we would sit in his office, drink beer and talk motion pictures until the wee hours.

He was a nice guy.

For a number of years, local entertainment was also covered by Chuck Wheat. Chuck was a Lionel fan and I even did some movie reviews for his column.

I think all the opera, ballet and concerts were the domain of Maurice DeVenna (sp?)

Chuck Wheat moved up east years ago and as far as I know, he and his wife are still there.

Bill Donaldson was always amusing in person. He had to be a bit reserved in the paper.

I remember Beaumont Bruestle at TU would cringe and get cranky at Bill Donaldson's name. I guess he had been hard on some of TU's productions with reviews.

Donaldson was the only general entertainment critic that I can remember - it has been a long long time!

This does make Tulsa sound like a one horse town, doesn't it....

Bill Donaldson passed away a few years ago. I don't remember exactly when or where or from what, but I definitely know I read about it in the Tulsa World probably (after the Tribune closed up shop). I believe I met him once, possibly through my friend, Andre Hinds, when he worked with Donaldson at the Trib many years ago. He was a good writer and a nice fellow, as I recall.

So where did Bill Donaldson go? I do vaguely remember that he managed a theater - I guess when Loew's had the Brook and Delman. But what happened to Bill?

There's a special friend from my childhood, I found him again on the web.
He had a show on Channel 8 and his name is Uncle Zeb.

I remember after school I'd turn on my TV,
Just in time to hear his familiar "Howdy!"

He showed cartoons, made frogs and squirrels, and with the kids played games.
When it was time for them to leave, he'd ask all of them their names.

As a kid turned a year older, "Happy Birthday" was always said.
Then Uncle Zeb would take off his hat and place it on their head.

He had frequent guest stars, usually Uncle Zeke or Uncle Zip.
He sure made that harmonica talk when he put it to his lips.

I wish he were on again, but those kind of shows are rare.
Uncle Zeb was one of the best ones found anywhere.

I wanted to write this little poem cause all us "kids" still adore ya.
We'll always remember those famous words, "I'LL BE LOOKIN FOR YA!!!!!" :)

OK, this poem moves directly onto the Uncle Zeb page.

It's good to see that someone else remembers Bill Donaldson, Tulsa's first entertainment writer. I worked with Donaldson at the Tribune in 1979-1981 and found him to be as comfortable doing an interview with a major Hollywood star as he was typing the agate copy for the TV listings.

Donaldson, at age 15, was the youngest person to ever graduate from Berryhill High School west of Tulsa. And, yes, he did manage the Brook Theater, but he was always quick to say that he WASN'T the manager of the theater during the 2-1/2 years that it played ONLY the movie "The Sound of Music."

In the mid-1960s Donaldson became Tulsa's first full-time entertainment writer. The Tulsa World was still running the syndicated (and woefully dated) Earl Wilson column, which featured mostly stories about Broadway shows. Donaldson, meanwhile, wrote a daily column called "Showcase" in which he took all the entertainment news for the day and encapsulated it in a two-column format that hovered over the TV listings. Later the column name was changed to "Playbill," which, I suppose, was to highlight the fact that "Bill" Donaldson was writing it.

Thank you for that background, Andre.

I also listen to KGGF. I didn't realize until recently that KRMG's signal cuts off sharply just north of Tulsa, so for those folks, KGGF is a big time news and weather source. It reminds me a lot of the old KWFT in Wichita Falls, Texas. They used to have a strong signal that more often than not shot across Oklahoma City.

Oooh! KGGF in Coffeyville - even in the 70's they seemed a really good smaller market station to listen to! Glad they have survived - AM radio is tough!

Noting my soft money tv spot remarks - yesterday the DC radiowaves started getting bombarded with a radio spot with almost the same copy as that tv spot. But their sponsor is "Arctic Energy". Again espousing "America needs to drill in the ANWR" in Alaska to stave off an energy crisis now!

Inside the Beltway here - we often hear/see spots designed to sway Congress on issues that you might not see in OK. Building a "groundswell of public opinion" is kind of an illusion here performed by folks wanting to influence legislation.

At election time - a lot of stuff produced here is NOT shown in the DC market but sent out to OK and elsewhere to influence voter opinion.

A pol here once said - if the spots are too slick on your local tv/radio outlets, it's because "them outsiders" were trying to influence your vote for THEIR agendas...

I just put a little Mack Creager video on his page.

Was going through the radio parts and came across Steve Suttle's name. I met him while he worked for the station in Sand Springs in 1965-1966. He always said he would make a name for himself and I guess he did. I left OK in 1967, for a year and again in 1970 but haven't been back since. Is Steve still around or not? I remember him driving a 1963 Plymouth Valiant with his name all over it.

In Guestbook 32, Lee Bayley reported to us that Steve is an attorney and weekend Oldies jock in Albuquerque. Steve contributed some good stuff to the KAKC page. I need to put more sound bites out here from the tape he sent me.

What a wonderful site!!! It sure brings back fond memories of when I was growing up. I grew up in Coffeyville, Kansas and we always watched Tulsa TV. I bookmarked this so I could visit again and again. Keep up the good work!!!!

Hey, glad the site is doing its job for you. I like listening to KGGF-AM 690 in Coffeyville. They have a non-abrasive talk format, plus big band and old radio shows.

More about current local radio alternatives near the top of Tulsa Radio Page 5.

Archived Guestbook 74.

We finished up a discussion of misheard song lyrics, a digression instigated by the webmaster. The role of "E.K. Hornbeck" (H. L. Mencken) in the play, "Inherit The Wind", we learned, was originated by Tony Randall and played by Jim Ruddle and Noel Confer as well, Central High alumni all. The latter two gentlemen are regular TTM contributors.

Tribune Entertainment editor Bill Donaldson was remembered (a column of his heralding the debut of the Mazeppa show can be seen on Mazeppa page 1). A new book, Me And Ted Against The World, about CNN's beginnings was described, and links provided. TTM contributor John Hillis played a part in the CNN story.

The vanished art of book reviewing in Tulsa was a topic. This amounted to the reviewer acting out each part in the book for an audience. The passing of Virginia Banfield Thompson, one of the foremost reviewers, was noted, as was the death of Dave Oliphant, a KTUL radio engineer.

We also lost KOTV's Buddy Allison, production manager and cameraman. It was plain that Buddy had many friends.

The internment of Japanese- and other hyphenate Americans during WWII was discussed. We heard from Michael Hardeman, a KRAV personality for ten years. The Guestbook began with more kudos for the webmaster. You like me, you really like me! Or at least you like the web site. Either way, thanks.

More to come.