Duane Harm hired me. Always found him to be a likeable guy. I vividly remember two of his editorials. One was in favor of 'liquor by the drink' (we all remember those days, don't we?)

"What we have here in Oklahoma is liquor by the wink" (at which point, Duane did an exaggerated eye lid flutter).

The other editorial that stands out is one he did soon after Accu-weather wound up on Channel 2 (and after we bought some color coded radar system.)

"Our new radar is state of the art, not 'accu this and accu that, which is merely checking someone else's statistics." Ouch.

I remember when Al Howard (Espeseth) rolled into town he had the president of OU do some editorials. No winking allowed on those.

I can't remember much about 8 and Xmas bonuses in the '70s! Gene Tincher used to pull a new $100 bill out of his wallet every year and pull a gag on newbies on HIS bonus. Maybe we all got $50 some years...

I do remember posh parties at Southern Hills with Jimmy Leake in his red crushed velvet tuxedo. Sales mooched gifts from clients - probably as trade-outs - some years. We got hams and turkeys too for Thanksgiving and Xmas - I think sometimes from Perry's where Glenn Blake had relatives at.

I was amazed at 6 to get $100 at the Xmas party as a bonus. Think they too got "giveaways" from advertisers as prizes - folks would win nice Xmas centerpieces as door prizes - from their table!

Gary Gunter told us he had been hired by Duane Harm - away from anchoring in Allentown, PA - to run News at the Ft.Smith/Springdale station Griffin owned. Somewhere along the way he got to Redding, CA - can't remember why he left. Again - does anyone know if Griffin has a station in NW Arkysaw?

Gary is anchor/news director at KCRC in Chico-Redding, CA.

Don't know where Harm is now, but remember hearing him buying or "scrapping in his best interests" the KOTV videocruiser to make a horsehauler for his string of ponies.....I was told his family had run a number of stations and I think he had come from a station in Hawaii. Also remember some scuttlebutt of him at 9 in OKC hiring a son-in-law as an anchor - now long forgotten. This may have been the guy that wrongfully supplanted Guy Atchley there.

Always remember Leon Meier telling me - don't be surprised what Duane Harm does at a staff meeting. We had a confined staff meeting in a conference room at 6 and Harm got up and walked on the table - I guess to be center of attention in the meeting!

I am not sure if John Hillis was forced to write editorials for Mr. Harm but I think Jan Berry or Gary Gunter were. Corinthian stations in other markets had GM's doing editorials so Harm needed to do them. Aired at noon or on weekends and the first thing to be cut on a busy newsday - WERE these.

Someone said Mr.Harm's family was from NY and reminded us that Harm sounded a tad like a Pennsylvania Dutch guy - he looked it. He was loyal to his kids, loved horses - so a dude ranch may not be far out for him.

I guess at 9 he was very "rank hath its privileges".

By the way - you know Jack Bowen was News Director at 6 for about 2 weeks - Harm hired him from KOCO in '76 or '77. I saw Jack with real albeit short light brown hair - so when I saw him 3 years later in OKC with black hair - fairly full - I was shocked and thought it a different Jack Bowen.

Duane Harm was, as the King said, a colorful character. My favorite recollection was when some Dun & Bradstreet Board of Directors types (D&B was by then Corinthian's parent company) were coming for a visit to KOTV. Duane surveyed the newsroom, which was dominated by one very long, messy desk, jumped up on top of the desk, and hollered something about needing to clean this up right away.

I think the board members, which included Don Durgin, an ex-NBC exec, also got in some golf with Duane at Southern Hills. I recollect that there was a little rush to find limos to transport all the visiting firemen. I think finally the limos were rounded up from funeral parlors. The corporate guys from New York may have wondered why there were fans with stained glass window pictures in seatback pockets of their ride in Tulsa.

Duane also did occasional editorials, which were mostly of the support-the-United-Way sort; less than controversial. I think maybe I did some research for a couple, but don't recollect the topics and don't think I ever wrote more than a draft.

My favorite editorial, not by Duane, was by a radio station owner I worked for somewhere in America (names not given to protect the guilty, but outside Oklahoma) who dared to face the wrath of the community and come out against bee stings. We were besieged for months by those people who favored bee stings demanding reply time, and we lost a heckuva lot of money from bees, wasps and hornets who cancelled their advertising.

Jack Morris similarly risked losing the communist advertising dollar with some of his closers.

You sure could tell what business James Leake started out in.

We put a new news set on the air when Leake was in England for the Brighton run. When he returned, he demanded a bunch of changes. I was in Tom Goodgame's office when he told them to rip up the royal blue carpeting and replace it with fire-engine red because "Mr. Campbell made a fortune selling soup in red cans".

A couple of paragraphs from the Dallas Morning News' story Wednesday morning on the KOTV sale, for what they may be worth:

"One reason for the sale is that Belo had for years wanted to create an Oklahoma broadcasting cluster by purchasing a station in Oklahoma City, said Ward L. Huey Jr., Belo's vice chairman and president of its broadcast division. The station it wanted most is the one owned by Griffin Communications, and the family 'had no intention of selling it,' Mr. Huey said.

'Absent that opportunity and given the opportunity to place KOTV in the Griffin Communications broadcasting organization, we felt it was simply the right thing to do for our station,' he said.

It's possible the FCC might take a look at signal overlap between KOTV and KWTV, but Belo's success in skirting the FCC policy about newspaper ownership in the same area as a major television station (WFAA-TV) would seem to indicate that will be no problem.

By the way, Mr. Bruchas, what exactly is wrong with Roger Cooper? I mean, sure I could've taken him out when I was a toddler, but he just wasn't a fightin' man! What has become of Roger? He completed his 2nd tour of duty with KWTV in 1993, yet I can't track him down!

Interesting story about Roger...I saw him hanging out with KTVY/KWTV/KOCO anchor Jerry Adams at an old OKC 89ers ballgame in the late 80s. Never knew they were pals. Old Jerry has been MIA since facing drug charges about 5 years ago. I think he's doing an outdoors show in Tennessee now...

Griffin used to own NBC affiliates KPOM-KFAA Rogers-Ft. Smith. I believe they sold them along with their interest in a chain of now-defunct golf goods stores in OKC. Not sure who owns the stations now. After the sale, KPOM-KFAA dropped their news operation, and it has recently started up again. Former alumnus of those stations include KJRH newsman Keith Isbell.

I did an archive search of the Daily Oklahoman in an effort to find the whereabouts of Duane Harm. As of 1991, he had moved to Laramie, Wyoming after purchasing the Var Bee Guest Ranch there. This came after his 1990 firing by KWTV/Griffin. I'm not sure of the reason (I wasn't willing to pay $6.25 to read the full articles), but it must've been a doozy, because they changed the locks on the guy! He sued, and the case went to civil court, where I believe it was settled. But, the suits kept coming. Former KOCO newsman Jack Bowen became KWTV's main nightly anchorman in 1989, but opted out to move back to KOCO. They sued for breach of contract, he counter-sued, specifically naming Harm, stating they had not lived up to their end of the bargain. One of the more outstanding claims by Bowen was that KWTV was responsible for the manufacturing and maintenance of his high-dollar toupees. I also believe that was settled, but they still wouldn't let him appear on KOCO until his KWTV contract expired. My account may not be totally accurate, but I don't believe I'm far off.

Long story short...Harm's outta TV.

Does anyone remember who hosted the show that featured the cartoon "Scritch, Scratch and Col. Blink"? It was a low budget production that featured a cowboy marionette, caveman, and alien who lived in a domed space city. This would be about 1956. I know no one will remember but what the hey? Maybe King Lionel will come up with this one.

That little scamp, Duane Harm....is persona non grata at KWTV. I understand that due to some outside "sidebar" that the locks were changed at the station and that was that! If one wanted to research the "Daily Oklahoman," I remember reading an article on the particulars. I remember that Bob Brown and he got crosswise when Bob refused to ride a float in the Christmas parade (I will always admire Bob for that stand.) So, Bob left and went to that crappy little Dallas market and on to ABC News in Nu Yawk! Bad career move! It is said; "If you want to know a man's character, play a round of golf with him!" I played one time with Duane and Howard Whitely and two others, maybe Art Ford and whomever. I will say this! Duane was the Will Rogers of golf. He never found his ball in a position he didn't like! Duane was an affable hustler, on and off the course!

Is Duane Harm still around in the Griffin empire? KOTV'd be old hat to him.

I dunno about KTUL's coffeepot mix, but I don't recall the blend used at KOTV as being any great shakes either. A dab of Griffin syrup-or Griffin beans, for that matter-might have helped it out. That was looong before Starbucks, and newsroom coffee was supposed to be bad.

One last note on holiday parties...Mike's correct in remembering the door prizes were often glommed from sponsors. I still have a Zebco fishin' rod from Looboyle that I got from Joe Krieger when my ticket was drawn out of the hat in '77 or '78. It lacked a reel, and Joe clearly expected you to come down and pick one out for cash money.

Thinking about the Griffin's buy of 6 reminded me of the late and beloved "Huckleberry" Findley West at 8. Who said they could have no other brand of coffee at 8 while Griffin-Leake TV was in business but Griffin's - yuck. .

I do not know if the FCC was the reason Griffin-Leake split but for years a station in Fajardo, Puerto Rico was listed as an asset or on corporate stationary. I know it was sold but may never have gone on-air while I was 8. We always wondered why Okie folkies would buy a station in P.R. Also were told old gear was sent there to be used "some day".

To get back to Huck's infamous joke remark - plagiarized from Wolf Brand Chili -- "When was the last time you had a hot, steaming bowl of Griffin's Syrup? Well it's been too long!".

Got an e-mail from Richard "Ricardo" Wilson - who shot news and ran camera at 6 & 8 re the 6 sale.

He heard that The Next Generation of Griffin kids wanted 6 to be a locally owned showplace. That was said about 8 and sometimes it was and most often not....Again - does Griffin Enterprises still own a Springdale/Ft.Smith station?

Tulsey IS closer to Muskogee and there might be some cost savings in a dual city - joint newsroom operation. If KWTV is running a news channel on cable in OKC - maybe this could be linked to Tulsey...

On holiday bonuses at KOTV: I remember Buddy and Leon saying that they'd gotten the same bonus--$100--for something like 20 years. This was in the midst of late 70's stag-flation, and what the C-note would buy was much devalued over that time, not to mention taxes.

It's probably not all that puzzling on Belo's sale of KOTV. Belo has been acquiring a lot of late, particularly in the West. Tulsa, which was the 52nd market when I was there, is now the 59th. Belo's strategy probably requires at least top-50 markets. Griffin's math, on the other hand, probably includes the idea that a lot of functions could be consolidated for two CBS affils linked by fiber and only 100 miles apart.

With that calculus, Griffin probably made Belo an offer it couldn't refuse.

It'll be interesting if Griffin's style is back to the days of Corinthian, which used the Robert Hall philosophy-low overhead.

On Griffin's buy of KOTV:

As you know, Griffin once owned both KTUL and KWTV as part of Griffin-Leake TV until the FCC (I think) made them split due to their overlapping coverage in the Grade B area in east-central Oklahoma.

In 1983, we at 8 knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were to be purchased by A.H. Belo. Leake's kids wanted that deal, and by that time they were running (ruining) the show at KTUL.

The old man, in the meantime, was wheeling and dealing around the kids with a guy named Joe Allbritton. He wanted a family to run the stations (KATV and KTUL) like he felt he had done. In response/retaliation after the sale, Belo quickly snatched up KOTV from Corinthian, with the express intent of burying Allbritton and Channel 8 in the Tulsa market.

Now it's coming somewhat full circle. Sometime I'll have to tell you about the key swap at 8 from Leake to Allbritton in 1983. Strange days indeed!!

I guess I went to school with chair-boy and we must have been in band together at Gilcrease and McLain. I've been trying to figure out who he is but it's been too long. Fred Shields, who came to McLain when I was a senior, died fairly recently.

To TV talk, the reason I did not do a lot of media work was the politics and pay. I heard so many horror stories that I stayed away, mostly. Fun to read about what I missed!

Pass the ranch dressing, please.

I don't see any odd motives behind Belo's sale of KOTV. Very simply, I think it is because Tulsa is a small market. Look at the markets Belo has: Dallas, Houston, Seattle, St. Louis, et al. All huge markets. Tulsa just doesn't provide the kind of revenue the other stations do.

Of course, you can expect KOTV's newscasts to begin to look quite similar to KWTV's. I think this is a really exciting deal for KOTV and Oklahoma.

KOTV sale - how very bizarre! If 6 truly IS the market's #1, Belo should be keeping it. There must be other issues at play behind the scenes here....9 IS successful in OKC but not a rich company like Belo - why Belo is selling is weird!

Read all about it on KOTV's site:

Belo Announces Agreement to Sell KOTV to Griffin Communications LLC, Oklahoma City

Here in DC - 2 employers that I worked for, threw the normal employees and spouses/dates only Xmas party - just like back in OK. Those were the most fun. A lot of same sex dates are seen here too - so we are always politically correct in not asking questions. But parties are getting smaller and places spending less money on them. Several places donated $$ to charities at Xmas - which I approve of but then nixed their parties for staff, "because of this". They never say how much they donate to the staff though...Kind of an altrusistic political correctness...

The Canadian Embassy Education Office used to rent space from NAB (National Assn of Broadcasters) when I was there - long before the beautiful new embassy was built here. They threw lavish parties using NAB's meeting rooms, but I learned not to ride the elevators during one - most folks had fine Canadian alcoholic clouds surrounding them - lighting a cigarette would have caused a small explosion!

NAB itself walked a thin line on spending member radio/tv stations' money but threw very formal Xmas parties - all folks expected in suits and no drunkeness or you might find yourself unemployed after Xmas. We also had to suck up to a lot of board members at these - they DID pay our salaries and many felt NAB treated "it's hired help" too well. To them - a ham works better than a party at the local Pizza Hut in Bug Tussle AND it can be a trade-out!

A trend here seems to be now "client/employee parties" where instead of thanking the staff - companies thank the clients and any food left over is for staff - sorry no dates. Discovery Channel and Geo invitees invariably send their "little people" not VP's - to nosh for the home team.

But also management never seems to realize all the other non-current (or shady) former clients that come out of the woodwork at these - mooching a free meal. Salesmen hope to lure them back to spend $$ again, but us staffers know after a while whom is there for a feed and free booze and NOT coming back....

Burch-Ruddle-Miller,

Charles Dickerson was my band instructor also at Goosegrease Jr. High. I remember making my folks sick with "Mr. Dickerson says this and Mr. Dickerson says that" stuff. I thought he was a terrific teacher. I was 14. Fred Shields was my marching band instructor at McLain.

Yo quiero rhubarb pie!

One of the first things I heard when I signed on with the Peacock was that NBC stood for "No Bonus Christmas."

Love live tv - been at work since 5am with a NABET crew here in DC doing "hits" with Al Roker in the Today Show. He is in DC for a Court TV show. You folks don't realize he and Katie Couric start early and do local promos for stations all over the country BEFORE 7am Eastern time or are busy during local holes where you see local news inserts. Busy busy busy doing promos for radio + TV.

On the NBC closed circuit - very weird seeing Dallas' 5 morning news (and WMAQ Chicago, WTVJ Miami and stations in Phillie and Detroit) with Katie's audio out of sync - she says the same thing to all but is prompted by staff on anchors-on-duty names for "the toss" as if a real friend to all.

Xmas bonuses - yeah - birds and hams became MORE prevalent over the years everywhere.

34 in OKC - we all got $40 clock radios and a decent feed - originally GM Ted Baze was going to give all of the start-up staff new color TV's but they choked at the cost.

At 5 in OKC 16-17 years ago the GM was "bummed out" because of business and ratings and cancelled the party.The employees had their own at a local watering hole then he realized his faux pas and had a "January" non-Xmas party that few attended at the same bar that the unofficial party had taken place.

Best party ever here in DC was with the old Nostalgia TV - all of us guys were rented tux and gals given cash to buy formal dresses and we rented the banquet room at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Bob Jones - VP of Knowledge TV now and formerly a great Gannett manager in Louisville and Seattle - threw a memorable, posh wingwing...

When I was at channel 8, you got either $50 or $100 as a Christmas bonus, depending on how long you'd been there.

I always thought that was great till moving to Dallas. For the first ten years I was down here, you got a week's pay at Christmas.

But after 4 different owners and two networks in the last five years, our bonus has become something Harold Stuart would be proud of.

KTUL-Radio continued Christmas bonuses after moving from Boulder-on-the Park. I remember one year (probably 1959) we got a sack full of silver dollars plus a turkey.

Later, when I went to Channel 2, it was somewhat disappointing when on Christmas Eve, owner Harold Stuart made the rounds, shaking everyone’s hand and wishing them the best over the holidays. Someone remarked, “I’m not going to wash my Christmas bonus for a week!”

Except for the low salaries, KTUL was a reasonably happy place to work in the early-mid-1950s. There wasn’t so much complaining on the announcing staff as there was at KAKC, where the announcers toiled, not only in poor working conditions, but also with the knowledge that they were working for a scuzzy radio station.

The most memorable occasion at Boulder-on-the-Park each year was the Christmas party, when the station coughed up a month’s salary as a Christmas bonus. Giving these bonuses out annually was one of the excuses for keeping salaries low, and it was a good way to keep staff around a while. Of course, in typical civilian fashion, no one ever told anyone else what their salaries were. Never even a hint. The announcers all thought that the engineers received more, because they had a union.

So, each Christmas I would exit the party $250 richer, that is until I had been there two years and they raised my monthly salary to a whopping $275.

Edward Dumit sighting alert!

Actually, I had lunch with Edward yesterday, and told him he had been mentioned here recently with a time mentioned as to when he might be on the web and could answer various questions. He wanted everyone to know that his plans to upgrade his computer and get online had to be pushed back as he has had to do some fairly major work at his house (the ceiling fell in) (literally.) However, he is fairly sure he will be online by December and will make himself available to one and all here for questioning.

Charles Dickerson was among the various Tulsa talents used by my father from time to time. I remember "Stout Hearted Men," at some of the Lew Miller-produced shows.

I do believe he was a winner on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout program. Jim Ruddle and Lowell Burch must be my age...(really old!)

Charles Dickerson had one of the finest natural voices one could expect to hear. Beginning in junior high school--Horace Mann, no less--he developed a ringing baritone voice that was simply magnificent. He had a teacher, an elderly brocaded lady whose name now escapes me, but who taught nearly all those in Tulsa who aspired to classical or semi-classical singing.

Somewhere, Dickerson forgot his lessons, or, perhaps, he needed a different teacher. Of course, he could belt out "Old Man River" or "Stout Hearted Men," and frequently did so, but he began to sound as though volume was all, and what had been a peerless voice became just another one. Maybe it was the Lanza syndrome and he simply strained it away.

Until the previous posting, I never knew what happened to him.

Speaking of TJE's death on Gunsmoke, my old Gilcrease Junior High band director, Charles Dickerson (rest his soul), claimed to be to last person to be shot dead on Gunsmoke. He made some other outrageous claims to us kids back then and I often wondered how he got hisself involved in showbiz. My answer came a few weeks ago when, on OETA's Movie of the Week, they showed his picture with Arthur Godfrey as a Talent Show winner. That was quite a prestigious achievement back in days of yore (I know, Yore what?), and a decent springboard into the venue.

Back in days of yore, and a de-scent'd spring boar on the menu?

Several years ago as a lark I put together a video for my own amusement entitled "The Many Deaths of Teddy Jack Eddy". It featured scenes from Teddy Jack's movies, both memorable and otherwise, where he met an early demise. It opened with the broncho-busting induced "brain hemorrhage" from "Gunsmoke" (reportedly Teddy Jack Eddy was the last person to die on this series), and ended with the fade-out scene from "The Buddy Holly Story". In between there were scenes from "Lethal Weapon", "Let's Get Harry", "Predator 2", "Under Siege" and several more.

I've included a vidcap from the episode of "Gunsmoke" for your viewing pleasure. In this episode, Teddy Jack Eddy, against Doc Adams' advice, has successfully ridden the horse that injured him earlier in the show, all the while defying certain death.

I trust the irony of this is not lost on you many TJE fans out there.

Hi, your mom was here at the Tulsa Public Library.

Love, Mom

Hi, Mom!

Just finished Guestbook 57. It might as well be called the "8's The Place" Guestbook, since it is filled with comments and pictures from former KTUL people!

In #57, '70s KTUL management took it on the chin. Roy Pickett and the Tulsa State Fair were discussed. We have outstanding queries about one "Jim Bobillbob" and Jim Kudlacek, former KOTV director.

The Guestbook is really one long, continuous commentary, so take a look back first, then carry on!