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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 190 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
Catch the show Fridays at 11 pm on Cox cable channel 71.
I interviewed him in 1988 and he was a hoot. Bob cussed like a sailor and had a huge laugh, not the reserved engineer I was expecting ("Moog Music's facility in New York was a sh*thole!"). I'm proud to own a couple of his products, he will be missed.
(Someone had loaded up the Guestbook with mostly German scatology in all CAPS. It was deleted.)
"You do not have permission to view the images in this category." Help, please and thanks.
Oops, you have to register there to see them. Since I registered some time ago, I was already signed in without realizing it when I looked at the pictures.
Darren Stone's Molly Murphy's Memories Page - There is one shot of the Tulsa MM. Wedgewood Village Amusement Park OKC ad gallery: TG&Y, OTASCO, Foreman Scotty, Count Gregore, etc.
Originally James Bumgarner of Norman, OK, and an OU grad.
The Outsiders - The Complete Novel will have a premiere in Tulsa on 9/8, a theatrical release in NY on 9/9 and will be available on DVD in a 2-disc Special Edition on 9/20.
The cast of characters includes current-day Tulsa musicians Bill Phillips and Max Wisley, and former KAKC DJs Robert W. Walker and Jim Peters, who produced and managed the band (Jim did some writing for them as well). After reading this amazing story, you may want to hear an album described in the article: Cargoe Live in Memphis!
I was at a friend's house and we heard music coming from across the road at the Memorial Community Center (east of Memorial on 15th). We went over and there was some kinda feed going on with dancing and such, whereas, we blended in with the crowd and got some beer and food. They had a band, and guess who was playing? Gary Busey. Tall and skinny, he was. We recognized him as Teddy Jack Eddy but didn't say anything. As I recall, he had a Fender Strat. We hung around until they closed. That was a good evening.
Bob Moog - former theremin player who created the Moog Synthesizer in the 1960's - died Sunday in NC. At one time - probably every space show on TV used music produced with his gear. Edgar Winter still uses one. A lot of the previously mentioned "The In Sound From Way Out" album used Moog technology.
If I'm not mistaken, he hosted movie shows on KOKH, KOCB (then KGMC), and KAUT.
The Mysterious Lab of Dr. Fear first aired in March of 2002 when creator Brian Young, inspired by Oklahoma horror host icon, Count Gregore, and the Mystery Science Theatre 3000, approached Cox Cable television station Pegasys Channel 11 for a chance to give Northwest Oklahoma its own place in horror history. Brian Young plays the show's main character, Dr. Ignatious Faust Fear II and is puppeteer for Warty. Other featured roles include Romanian vampire maid, Trinka, reanimated ghoul, Mr. Grimly, and drunken vampire uncle, Count Vino. This collection of characters, in addition to many others, interact in skits, public service spoofs, and recurring bits, while the Mysterious Lab of Dr. Fear hosts a wide montage of publicly owned cheesy horror 'B' movies to an ever-growing underground audience. Actor John Ferguson will join the cast in its third anniversary series as vampire Trinka's uncle, Count Gregore. The episode will include the presentation of an oversized coffin donated for use by the Oklahoma Film Society. John Ferguson, a veteran of over fifty years in film, television, and stage, is honored that next generation horror hosts like Brian Young were corrupted enough by his performance of Count Gregore to boldly seek out their own ghastly ways of entertaining audiences everywhere. Count Gregore first appeared as WKY-TV's horror host for Shock Theatre on May 10, 1958. His familiar visage, public service announcements, and entertaining skits resulted in hosting additional horror shows Thriller, Nightmare, Sleepwalker's Matinee, Creature Features, Horror Theatre, and Scream Country Theatre, enamoring him to millions of fans across the country. Time and opportunity has allowed him to continue his television haunts, establishing him as the longest running horror host in the world, sparking a biography book and documentary tentatively entitled Fangs for the Memories, slated to begin filming in October 2005. Event festivities for the third anniversary series of The Mysterious Lab of Dr. Fear, will take place at Pegasys Community Access Television, Studio A, starting at 6pm, 123 West Main, Enid, Oklahoma. The general public is encouraged to attend. A website featuring episodes, theme music, outakes, photos and more about Count Gregore will soon be available at CountGregore.com. To learn more about the Oklahoma Film Society, visit OKFS.org.
And as for the "sound-proof room", I know as an adult that what you are saying about that room being "small but impressive for the time". But to me as a little girl, let me assure you that that room seemed like a whole other world to me, it seemed huge to me. And since my parents raised me to have respect for others and their belongings, I can remember NEVER touching anything else in there other than the pianos, which I couldn't play, just Chopsticks and did a lot of quiet plunking. But I was always a singer, and I probably even pretended that I was Diana Ross or something silly like that. My mother and I were talking on the phone tonight and she said that she had finally gotten a chance to read some on Tulsa TV & Radio Memories. She reminded me that her first cousin, a woman named Bonnie, was married to Andy Andrews, who was the man behind the voice we Tulsans have all heard back in the 60's at the Oiler games: "Let's Gooooooooooooo, Tulsa". I can remember Mom and I going to my great aunt's in Muskogee back then and Bonnie and her son and daughter would come on Sunday for the day (my great aunt's sister was Bonnie's mother.) I can remember what a beautiful person inside and out Bonnie was. She has since passed away due to cancer (I believe) and her daughter was a beautiful girl, too. So D., if you're out there, and you read this, drop me a line, it's been a long, long time. Take Care All.
The image was so vivid that I rushed to the Astro Burger at Melrose and Gower to somehow satisfy my craving. The steak was fine, the fries were fresh and the slaw was good. I had a fresh-made rice pudding for dessert. It was a nice culinary close to a long day of work...but I still dream of Claude's. Maybe I'll stop by Pink's next week to have a very good hot dog, but I'll be dreaming of the Coney Islander... I gotta work in Hollywood, but I dream of all my Tulsa favorites!!! Thanks to Mike and TTVM, I have shared a couple of emails with Donella Gilbert, daughter of KVOO announcer Don Gilbert. I knew Don when I was the "kid" engineer at KVOO in the early/mid '60s. He was known on-air as "Dean" Gilbert at the time. His shifts often followed Don Cummins and the station no doubt wanted to avoid two "Dons" on consecutive shifts. Don is retired in Texas, and is doing well, I understand. He had a great sense of humor, and I remember his laugh. He taught me a lot about radio, whether he realized it or not, I'm grateful. In an earlier guestbook, Donella spoke of visiting Broadcast Center in Brookside when her Mom came to visit Don at the studio. That "sound-proof room with the piano, etc" that she spoke of was the KVOO recording studio...on your right as you entered through master control. Jack Moore and Mo Billington made many fine recordings in that room. It was rather small and dry, but well-designed for the time. We also did live wire recreations of out-of-town Tulsa Oilers games from that room. Jack Campbell and Mack Creager did the play-by-play from wire copy. Mo Billington recorded some great ballpark crowd loops, as well as "cheer and boo" carts which we used as needed. Engineer Les Nichols built a great "bat crack" sound effect device...a woodblock which was struck by a solenoid when the button was pushed. It sounded great on the air. Jack and Mack worked on Western Electric 639b mics with mute switches and Brush single-ear headphones. One would occasionally hear the studio door close on-the-air as either announcer would go to the teletype to rip off the latest copy. I'm sure that many listeners were never aware that Jack and Mack were not really at the game!!! By the way, it was my 17 year-old voice saying "peanuts...popcorn..." on that ballpark loop, for any of you who remember...or care!!!!
Larry Hatteburg was not just a photog, but as I recall, NPPA Photog of the Year back in the early 70s. He moved to reporter, news director, and anchor (I think) at KAKE and was a recipient of letters from the BTK killer, sentenced today.
http://www.members.cox.net/CharlieWest/friends I worked at KMOD off and on between 1978 and 1985, and took lots of pictures while I was there. Many are on the tribute site as Charlie was a favorite subject.
Teddy Jack Eddy (Gary Busey) has signed on for the 2006 Nathan Hale Golf Tournament. I don't really care one whit about golf but, if you do, he's supposed to be there.
Here's a little souvenir of the Stables.
Read more about the rise of the Brass at Space Age Pop Music. Thanks, TTM readers.
Not too strange when you recall that it was the summer of Sgt. Pepper - i.e., no "singles". Not to say that we weren't playing the bejeezus out of the album. I remember one of the Drake honchos (Drake/Chenault were KAKC's programming consultants) luring me into the production room, a quarter-inch reel of tape in his hand, and a promise of a blown mind on his lips. He delivered: played me "A Day in the Life." Anyway, that and "Sgt. Pepper/A Little Help From My Friends" were all over the air, just not on the chart.
Two recent shots of Robert (and Jim Peters) are at the top of Guestbook 185.
And Arnie's.
With today's technology, it's more often than not that a radio host records, usually in one session, his or her breaks; each segment recorded to a pre-determined length to fit into the programming to be broadcast. Minor editing can be done to dress up the breaks, or even leaving in some minute miscues so that it will seem to the listener that the person they're listening to is speaking to them at the same time they're being heard on the radio. So much for doing the existential radio show as we swing fully into the 21st century. If anyone gives my colleagues or me a listen on KXPR in Sacramento, they'll be pleased to know that, most of the time, we're live, still. If you hear us streaming online from afar, it's on about a 45 second delay, but still pretty near being live. Some of our weekend-hosted classical-disc program-breaks are recorded on a really swell computer that you'd swear was broadcasting the live voice a of person sitting at a mic in a studio, rather than, say, mowing his lawn at home or in her car on the freeway to San Francisco. Every day, when I walk into the studio where I do my show from 10am to 2pm (Pacific), I think for a moment how pleased I am that I'm still doing it the old-fashioned way: talking directly to listeners who are perceiving my voice coming to them at the speed of light...warts and all. Knowing I'm talking to someone at that moment is where much of my persona comes from, I think. My recorded voice trying to be "live" always has something missing in it; at least it seems so if I happen or need to hear a playback. The reason I know this is because we also have another really swell computer that records everything we say when we're on the air live. One can click several appropriate icons on his or her computer and bring up any selected break one did earlier as a live host. These voice tracks are not for later broadcast, by the way. When I listen to those breaks, I can hear what was missing in my voice in a segment recorded for later broadcast. I can't say in words what the difference is, but I can hear it just the same. I hope the listener can to. When I began working in television at KOTV in the 60s, I remember some of the older guys on the floor crew reminiscing about how great TV was and how much fun it was before videotape and videotape machines were invented. At the risk of being dubbed a Luddite, I think I know what they were talking about, now.
The other was in the middle of the strip center on the east side of Peoria at 49th. I remember you could climb the pole outside the door of the bar and see through a fan cut into the wall for air circulation. At night, you had a pretty good view of the girls dancing. One of these was the Stables, and I think it was the one behind Red Bud. I could be wrong.
I have no idea, I just know it was there somewhere either on Peoria or very near. Since I was really young, I don't remember ever seeing any others, just this one. I wasn't quite old enough to be able to run T. Town at that time. My little world as an 8 year old living on Owasso St. with my Mom consisted only of school (Orville Wright Jr. High at the time) and saving my lunch money in order to stop at the Red Bud Grocery store (on Peoria somewhere between 31st & 41st) on my way home from school to purchase a home-made chocolate malt and all the Reese's peanut butter cups I could afford, and hanging out outside as much as possible with friends. Now and then on Friday and/or Saturday nights we would all gather up and go a whole half block, to try and sneak a peek in the bar behind the Red Bud food store. We would hide anywhere we could and watch for someone to go in or out of the bar, then run over to the door and see what this dark smoke-filled place with good music coming through the walls was all about. I thought I would never forget the name of that bar, but I have. HEY, I'M 51, GIVE ME A BREAK, PLEASE. Anyway, I just remember that little ice cream building with no attendants had the best peanut butter ice cream ever, none since either. But I will have to say that Baskin-Robbins chocolate/peanut butter runs a close second. Thanks again for your input.
The listener also could have a curious feeling, too. He/she could be listening to a human voice and feel a kind of connection back then. Announcers were suppose to talk in a relaxed, informal and friendly manner, unlike what you hear on today's radio. You felt as if you were being talked to, not being talked at. When you heard the sign off, there was a feeling of disconnection with that person who had been sharing something with you. At the end of sign off, there would be a brief, few seconds when the sound was over, but the transmitter was still on. It was truly "dead air." Then the transmitter would go off, and the hiss of an open frequency would be heard along with a background scramble of distant stations still broadcasting, trying to muscle their way toward you. The main connection had been severed, leaving a moment or two of continuation of thought and feeling before continuing your life.
More from Frank about this on the new Sign-offs page.
We learned of the passing of former Tulsa anchorman Sam Stewart from his nephew, Monty Montgomery. Last-of-a-kind national anchor Peter Jennings also passed away. It's been a year since DJ/historian/musician Rockin' John Henry died, and the occasion was honored by Karl Soliday. Was Gary Busey always that way? Readers had their say. Frank Morrow's thoughts on the sign-off prompted a new page. Tulsa neon signs were discussed (and seen). Religious TV programs of the past with local connections were recalled. KRMG's John Erling left the air after 29 years in morning drive. Former KVOO announcer Don Gilbert's daughter Donella checked in. Jim Hartz shared a photo of his NBC NASA coverage in the mid-70s. The Tulsa Radio Icons event is coming up August 30; more details on the Bulletin Board on the main page. There's more to catch up on, in Guestbook 189.
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Growing up in
OKC in the 80's, it wouldn't have really been a Saturday night without watching
him host some scary (sometimes scary in a "I can't believe someone made this
crap" way) movie.
Pepperland