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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 120 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
And Begorah - Dick Biondi - who was on rival WCFL for years (when I was in grade school and I'm 52 now!), then left the biz to make a comeback - is the afternoon guy on the same station. Biondi must be pushing 70! He was a top rock & roll jock way back when John Doremus was on WMAQ! Probably had better "numbers" too than John! Any way John "Records" Landecker is mucho toned down from his WLS days of 35 years ago.
Old djs don't die - they just come back on oldies FM!
I used to remember some of the old Greek guys names - most seemed to be Chris or Paul and there was (spelling I am unsure of here) Kostas Tslikas who had been written up in The World.
At KOTV - I think we called the news dept. run to the Coney - as "Coney Patrol".
$30 bought a humongous amount of food in those days. Boy did the news cruiser
used on the said "Coney Patrol" smell better afterward!
In other news, I'm still trying to get some copies of some good 80's KTUL stuff from Mr. Gary Elliott. He has a lot of things, but they're on 3/4 tape, and he has to dub them off to send in, and for me. Anyway, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I guess I should be asleep, I have to work tomorrow!
Merry Christmas, TTM contributors and readers. Without you, this site truly would not be possible.
I happened to come across one pic recently while going through some old boxes and thought you might like to see it. Both facilities (KRMG and KWEN) were really great back then. Both were high above Tulsa and located in Liberty Towers at 15th and Boulder. At KRMG News there were such pros as News Director Ed Brocksmith, Jim Back, Don Cummings, Joe Shurtz and Jim Bunn and Watson Jelks, Jerry Vaughn, Don Bishop, Bob Lafitte and Denver Foxx on the program side. Over at KWEN I did mornings, Randy Anson did middays, Bob Harvey did afternoons and guys like George Hummingbird, Dean Norris and Scott Brauer did nights and weekends. I'm also including a photo of Billy Parker from KVOO in the mid 70's. KVOO was a blast with greats like Alan Lambert, Jack Campbell, Marti Coffman, Ramona Huffman, Neal Kennedy, Jack Moore and myself doing news and Jack Fox and Otto Dunn, Dick Buchanan, Billy Parker and Mary Collier on the program side. I'm sure I've left some great people off the list. My apologies, no slight is intended.
Photos by Si Hawk
So, all in all, if you have any info, it would be well-appreciated if you could post it up here, or e-mail it to me at mudd_chick101@hotmail.com
Sincerely,
P.S. Any other film shots from Tulsa that have to do with The Outsiders would
also be great!
One of the easiest ways to start a fight is discussing chili, and to drill down even further, chili dogs. Unquestionably, the best are at Coney Island downtown. While at CNN, I occasionally ventured the four blocks to the Varsity in Atlanta, but their chili dogs were inferior, and, sacrilege, they'd also put cole slaw on 'em. Here in Washington, a local chain, Hard Times Cafe, tries a chili dog with choice of Texas or Cincinnati chili, but to my taste, neither quite fills the bill. I once tried a bowl of red at another local joint, Austin Grill, but the stuff was so pepper hot, I couldn't eat half the bowl. This would not happen to a younger man. So, here east of the Sabine River, chili is a do-it-yourself thing, and an extemporaneous event of coarse ground beef, tomatoes, onion and whatever spices are at hand. After last night's leftover pot has set in the icebox for 24-hours, the flavors have blended such that it can be reheated and stuck on hot dogs. Still not as good as Doug Dodd double-parking on Third Street in a news car and bringing back about four dozen Coney Islands for the newsroom aficionados.
Photos by Mike Bruchas
The copyright is 1993 CEMA Special Markets, a division of Capitol Records, but the label is Solaray Corp. 710 S. Adams, Sapulpa, OK 74066. There was a companion disc next to it, HARD ROCK OF THE 80s, but I didn't pick it up (I didn't notice the Sapulpa address on the disc I bought until I got home). Does anyone know about this company?
Solaray's products for the convenience store include sunglasses, cassettes and cigarette lighters.
Here in Washington, only a few restaurants serve Cincinnati chili, which
contains a pinch of cinnamon. Personally, I also enjoy the Texas style, just
not on a hot dog! And BTW, good Cincinnati chili has a kick and can cause
one to break a sweat.
You have to remember that there are people in Cincinnati who eat SWEET chili, lord save us, and even here I have seen a recommendation for BELL PEPPERS!
It's too much. I must lie down.
King Lionel's comments in Guestbook 61 cannot be construed as an endorsement for Phil's Diner.
"Ellis Chili with beans, Followed by something that sounded like
"Eedle-addle-eedle-addle-eedle-addle-eedle-addle And for something completely grim: Those bricks of brownish-black material that when heated resembled something sort of like chili.
Didn't Ranch House Chili come in brick form, too?
In 1895, Lyman T. Davis of Corsicana, Texas developed the original recipe for Wolf Brand Chili, which he sold for five cents a bowl from the back of a wagon parked on the streets in downtown Corsicana. He later opened a meat market in Corsicana where he sold his chili in brick form, using the brand name of Lyman's Famous Home Made Chili. In 1921, using the simplest machinery, he began canning his chili and marketing it in the immediate area. It was about that time that he adopted the brand name "Wolf Brand," in honor of his pet wolf, Kaiser Bill. By 1923, with improved equipment, Davis had increased production to 2,000 cans of chili per day. Because of the discovery of oil on his farm, he had neither the time nor the interest to devote to his chili business and, in 1924, sold his operations to J. C. West and Fred Slauson, two Corsicana businessmen. The new owners modernized production and introduced new marketing techniques. Among the most successful innovations introduced by West and Slauson were Model-T Ford trucks with cabs shaped like cans and painted to resemble the Wolf Brand label. A live wolf was caged in the back of each truck. The vehicles not only provided practical transportation for company salesmen but also were effective traveling advertisements for their products. In 1954, the company expanded into interstate markets, having previously distributed its products only in Texas. The new markets included New Mexico, Louisiana, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Quaker Oats bought the brand in 1957 but continued to operate the Corsicana plant as a separate division of the company, leaving Davis's original recipe unchanged.
In 1977, Wolf Brand, along with other chili manufacturers, successfully lobbied
the Texas legislature to have chili proclaimed the official "state food"
of Texas.
The location of the karate studio is actually on the southeast corner of Archer and Cheyenne, a few blocks from Greenwood. On the corner is Deadtown Tavern now. I used to live in the exact same room where Al and his friend lived. When I first discovered this, my friend who I lived with there discovered that it was the same place and that the same refrigerator was still there! And the alley where the Gandhi II stuff is shot is the alley behind the 320 S. Boston building in the heart of downtown. I enjoy seeing a bit of your great website dedicated to a really great movie. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for that new info. I can see that more video captures are in order for the UHF pages.
Of Frank Morrow: "...produced an award-winning program, "Alternate Views" for more than 19 years. Recently the tapes and written material for the program have been accepted for archival by the American History Center at the University of Texas at Austin." Need to ask Frank if he has come across Dirck Halstead - who is at UT - Austin now in semi-retirement. He started the website on news craft www.digitaljournalist.org.
Re Susan Silver: "...a nationally known media consultant with 30 years of
television experience, has moved back to Tulsa to found the world's only
non-profit production company responding to the tragedy of September 11.
Susan and 2 independent contractors working for her company have traveled
the country investgating and documenting how our country is responding and
how the government is reacting to the tragedy.".
There were no doppler radars, advanced storm tracking, and the stuff we have today. I remember very vividly Don Cummins saying on KRMG, after a tornado warning for the Tulsa Metro on 08 June 1974, "Tulsa, we're with you" as that storm was bearing down on us. He had to sign off because the funnel was heading toward the station, or something. My hat is off to this day to Lee Woodward, Don Woods and all the TV and Radio meteorologists who worked then because with all due respect to the 21st century guys we have now, they were more...real, I guess. They didn't have much to work with save a black and white radar and dead reckoning with a little help from the weather service. You knew if you heard it from them, you'd best get under something heavy.
Anyway, thanks Bob for your confirmation of that date, and by the way, I
was wrong on the bit about the Roughneck game interrupted by the tornadic
storm...it was a year later when that happened.
The year before I left KOCO - management did a trade-out with the most expensive Urban Cowboy Western wear store in OKC then - NOT Shepler's. We all got $20 gift certs - about all we could buy for $20 at the store was a handkercheif or part of a pair of over-priced Wrangler jeans - selling for half that price - a mile away at Shepler's! You could not cash them in for much needed cash.
It may have been the same year that 5 had bad numbers and the GM and ND blamed
the staff - no staff Xmas party. So a lot of us had an unofficial one at
a big nearby OKC restaurant - Joe Kelly's - on our own nickel. I think the
GM sponsored a Feb. party that year to make up for cancelling a Xmas tradition,
but only the serious drinkers went to it..... Previously what had been a
family event at 5, was cut down to staff and date event one year, then later
in time - no outside guests but clients and staff were invited. Been thru
several of these CLIENT and staff deals over the years at various stations
and it never really IS fun...
Fox TV's Jeff Hammond is a big fan and appeared at smaller ones here in the SE - but I forget what he does. He's the same Jeff Hammond who was Darryl Waltrip's crew chief for years. Speaking of DW - had to direct him in our plant to "the necessary room" today. He has shed his off-season beard and looks as normal as usual.
He and brother Mikey were here doing Speed Channel shows...
At the very bottom, where it recaps the year 1978 it shows a picture of the old Plaza 3 theater and it has the caption: "A tornado destroyed the Plaza 3 theater". A tornado did indeed destroy the theater but it was in December of 1975. I remember being herded by my Mom into the closet while watching my afternoon cartoons...Briarglen Elementary was having their annual "fun night" that night and NOBODY showed up, except me and my family...I was in 2nd grade at the time. The only tornado related event I remember in 1978 was one where we got caught at a Roughneck game at Skelly Stadium and the sirens blew. Rich.
Hmmm, possibly it was already rubble and fit well into the '78 coverage? Maybe Mr. Hillis can add some illumination.
You correctly named the rodeo associations from the minor league to the professional rodeo association. And now there's the professional bullriders association. When I started (a hundred or so years ago} there was an apprentice program. Until we got a union card, we were called "Turtles." I don't know why.
The AQHA is the American quarter horse association. It's still going strong
as the recognized registry for quarter horses.
While Johnnie Lee Wills was alive, Tulsa played host to his annual PRCA rodeo each May at the Fairgrounds Pavilion. After Wills died, the rodeo was abruptly discontinued. From its beginning in the early 1960s through most of the 1980s, Tulsa played host to the annual International Finals Rodeo (IFR) at the Convention Center (formerly the Civic Assembly Center). The IFR was the championship rodeo for the International Professional Rodeo Association, a circuit that competed with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). When the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo left Oklahoma City for much more money in Las Vegas in the late 1980s, Oklahoma City stole the IFR from Tulsa. Tulsa has also been host for the Central States Rodeo Association championship rodeos during the 1980s and most of the 1990s. The CSRA Finals were originally held the first weekend of November, but were moved to coincide with the Tulsa State Fair for several years in the 1990s and called the Will Rogers Rodeo Finals. I believe the CSRA, a minor league rodeo circuit, has since died out. And don't forget the Tulsa Twisters, Tulsa's entry in the long-gone team rodeo circuit (Major League Rodeo) during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Twisters had quite a collection of colorful characters, including a bull rider from the Bronx named Bobby DelVecchio, a bareback bronc rider with a double life named Jim Martin and an 11-year-old barrel racer named Metha Brorsen.
(Among other things, I covered rodeo for the Tulsa Tribune from 1978-1981
and served as public relations director of the Central States Rodeo Association
from 1981-1983.)
We were watching the PRCA on ESPN2 and I was trying to remember all of the Rodeo Sponsoring Groups. When the big groups came to Tulsey - before being wooed away to Lost Wages, NooVada - it was always a high time. We had IFR, NFR in Tulsey then I guess PRCA came about later. Whom else is out there?
AQHA was Amarillo-based for years and would send video or a "horse expert"
at the drop of a hat to appear on shows when I was at KVII-TV. Someone said
they may have moved to OKC.
We had ESPN2 up (my cohort was watching "Bass Masters" earlier = tough duty for an open water fisherman that he is...) while dubbing a gazillion NASCAR "melt" reels of footage from this year's racin' season and next up came the voice of Carl Arky - doing PRCA Rodeo coverage from Las Vegas. Never got a chance to see him on camera though....for you neophytes "melt" reels are often all nat sound of races but more often the backstory video of each race. Some with, some without commentary. They may feed winners circle stuff, too.
It seems on at least 2 of the tapes - one of the sideline photogs was VERY
concerned with the bust-lines of several drivers' gal-pals when he should
have been covering race action...how much can you use of someone from the
neck down in a highlights reel???
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