My Life of Channel-Surfing

“Good morning, yesterday, 

You wake up and time has slipped away

And suddenly it’s hard to find the memories you’ve left behind.

Remember, do you remember?” (Paul Anka)

My life has been a true Game of Numbers.

Channel numbers, that is.

During the course of a broadcasting career that began more than a half-century ago, I was fortunate to work at some of the best television news operations in the nation.

Of course, I got to cover innumerable major stories. But there were also so many wonderful and strange and “did that really happen?” events that took place at the stations where I worked.  Trust me, I won’t mention every station (you’re welcome).

Let me tell you a story…

**

KFSN-TV, Channel 30, Fresno (then CBS; now ABC)

I was 23 years old when I was hired as the youngest TV reporter in Fresno, California, history, in January 1974.   (I think I may still hold that title.)

I had graduated from Fresno State and had become the news director at a teapot radio station in northeastern California.  After six months, I ran out of money and was homesick for Fresno.  So I went back.

As luck would have it, Channel 30 needed a reporter and I was handy. I’d already worked there during college as a floor director and film editor and announcer-director. They knew me.

In my second month there, on Valentine’s Day, I covered a young high school newspaper editor who had gotten into trouble because she had published a story about drug abuse on campus.  Of course, the school administration did the wrong thing — kept the paper from being distributed.

That became a statewide story — and on that Valentine’s Day, I went down to Washington Union High in Easton.  I interviewed the young and smart and cute editor — then went back to the newsroom and told folks I had met the girl I could marry.

They laughed.

Sixteen months later, Sharon and I got married, and we still are.  Our 49th anniversary is coming up next month.

Besides meeting the love of my life when I was at Channel 30, I had — along with everyone else — the time of my life.  We became Action News when I was there, and almost immediately went from Number Nowhere in the ratings to Number One.

I’ll never forget our station manager — the great and personable Phil Beuth, who would go on to become the top man at ABC’s “Good Morning America” — coming into our newsroom that afternoon, holding the latest ratings book.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said — waving the book.  “You just did a 48 share at 6 o’clock. Congratulations.”

That meant we were close to having more viewers than the other stations combined.  We were a gigantic hit.

And Channel 30 Action News is still a dominating Number One to this day.  Those of us who were there when it first happened are extraordinarily proud to have played a role.  It was a great time to be young and at Channel 30.

Let me tell you a story…

**

KPNX-TV, Channel 12, Phoenix (NBC) 

My next broadcasting stop was with the finest news director I would ever have the pleasure of working with.  I had gotten to know Al Buch when he was news director at one of the stations competing against us in Fresno.  And now, he was in Phoenix.

He offered me a job there — a Top-20 market — and I jumped. And we had a great time and great success.

KPNX was in the process of overtaking the long-time TV news leader in Phoenix — just as 30 had overtaken the long-time news leader in Fresno.

Al had put together a magnificent, talented group of folks.  He also had created “helicopter journalism” in the United States by buying the world’s fastest jet copter and hiring Jerry Foster from the competition to fly it.

And we always beat the other stations to stories with Sky 12.  It was no contest.

Al was a personable, supportive, encouraging leader.  He hired me as executive producer and told me I knew what to do, so go out and do it.

With that encouragement, I produced the finest TV election coverage ever seen in Arizona.  Don’t take my word for it — that’s what the news directors at our competitors told the Arizona Republic newspaper afterward.

And I always will remember our first Christmas Eve in Phoenix.  It was 1981, and I was producing our 10 o’clock news (the Mountain Time Zone had early prime-time network programming, and our late newscasts were on at 10 rather than 11).

We were all feeling rather subdued, having to work on Christmas Eve. Then Al called our newsroom and invited us to a party — our party — at his Scottsdale condo.

We were all delighted, of course.  After the news, I picked up Sharon, and we drove to his place, along with the other night-shift people.  The first thing he said when we walked in:  “That was the finest newscast in the United States.”

Al was that kind of guy. A great boss.  A news visionary. He would later go to Miami as news director and then to Kansas to buy several TV stations.  He tried to get me to come to both places, and the one I likely should have gone to was Kansas.  I might have gotten a piece of ownership there.

Al remained a friend until the day he died last year.  He was a fine man, and I miss him to this moment.

Let me tell you a story…

**

WJBK-TV, Channel 2, Detroit (CBS)

Sharon and I spent about 10 minutes in Detroit.  Actually, it was several months, but you get the idea.

Detroit was a miserable, dying industrial city. But it was the 7th biggest market in the nation — and since I was playing the “climb the broadcasting ladder” game (which many of us played, if we were lucky), I took the job as executive news producer. And I got to work with an old friend, John Howell, who had worked with me at Channel 30 and who had become news director in Detroit.

Both of us were out of place in Detroit. But we put on a good-looking newscast at this station that was trying to find its way out of the ratings wilderness.  We weren’t there long enough to make that happen — and, actually, it has never happened, to this day, for Channel 2.

Sharon and I rented an apartment in Birmingham, just a few miles outside Detroit.  Downtown Detroit was a deserted mess.  The auto industry, which had built the city, was dying.  No one went downtown.

One afternoon — a Friday, I recall — some guy driving a convertible stopped in downtown — stood up — and unloaded dozens, maybe hundreds of rounds from a semi-automatic.  No one was injured because — even during drive-time on a Friday afternoon in the middle of the city — no one was there.

We did not cover all the murders that took place in Detroit. There were too many.  A body floating in a canal?  Not worth a mention.

Two quick memories:  On the Fourth of July, our newscast rented a chopper and flew alongside the fireworks that were being detonated over the Detroit River.  That made a magnificent 11 o’clock show opener.

And one night, John and his wife Donna and Sharon and I went out to dinner in the only safe place in downtown Detroit — Greektown.  It was a two-square block area of great restaurants.

We left our restaurant around 11.  John was driving.  He got lost, trying to get out of Greektown.  At one point, we ran into a dead-end street.

All of us could visualize the headlines the next day:  “California idiots killed in downtown Detroit.”

I don’t know how we eventually made our way out. But I do know that shortly after that incident, both the Harts and the Howells shuffled off to Buffalo.

Let me tell you a story…

**

WKBW-TV, Channel 7, Buffalo (ABC)

Yes, a few months after both John and I had taken jobs in Detroit, he was offered the job as news director at the dominant station in Buffalo — the great WKBW.  He took me along as assistant news director.

Why would we go from market No. 7 to Market No. 30?  Because WKBW was owned by CapCities — which owned Channel 30 in Fresno, and which was about to buy the entire ABC Television Network.

CapCities was, indeed, a fantastic media company.

WKBW needed no “tweaking” by John or me.  It had been the ratings king in Buffalo for years and years. Our jobs were just to avoid screwing it up.

We were, by the way, working for a station manager by the name of Phil Beuth. Yes, the same Phil Beuth who had been my station manager in Fresno (before John arrived there as a reporter). Just as Al Buch was the finest news director I ever worked with, Phil was, by far, the best station manager.

CapCities had likely just parked him in Buffalo to get him closer to taking over their dominant station in Philadelphia. But fate intervened for Phil after CapCities bought the ABC Network.  He was moved to New York City to take over “Good Morning America.”  And he did what we had done in Fresno — toppled NBC’s top-rated “Today Show.”

As for the Harts and the Howells — we each bought nice places outside Buffalo.  We spent many Friday and Saturday nights together at the Center House Tavern in Amherst, devouring chicken wings and onion rings and watching hockey. Yes, hockey was gigantic in Buffalo. We had the Sabres, and just across the border, Toronto had the Maple Leafs.

We also spent time together in John and Donna’s hot tub in their backyard.  Just California folks, trying to make their way in a strange land.

How strange? For one thing, we kept enduring blizzard after blizzard. Driving west on I-90 into the station, I remember encountering “lake-effect snow” from Lake Erie, blowing right at me — horizontally.

I remember having to go out into our parking lot outside the station to start our cars every hour or so.  Everyone did that. If you didn’t, your oil would freeze.

I remember coming out of our condo one morning after a blizzard and not being able to find our vehicle in the parking lot (we had only a one-car garage and had to park one vehicle outside).  Snow had covered the lot, and the tops of cars were not visible.

But I also remember seeing downtown Buffalo at night, as we came out of a theater at Christmastime after seeing “The Nutcracker” live on stage. Snow was falling, and the city was lit up. It was magical.

Buffalo was a hard-working city that had seen tough times.  We respected that.

But just a few months after we’d all moved there — John got a job offer from Pittsburgh.  Station manager. He could not turn it down.

He wanted us to go along.  But — having just been in two cold-weather cities having hard times — we said no.

And we headed back West.

Let me tell you a story…

**

KPIX-TV, Channel 5, San Francisco (CBS)

From the time I was in junior high school, I’d always wanted to live and work in The City, as San Francisco was called.  Heck, I even subscribed to the San Francisco Chronicle when I was in high school, so I could absorb everything I could about the Bay Area.

After John went to Pittsburgh, we decided enough was enough.  We knew someone at KPIX who had worked with us in Detroit (yes, it very much was a business of “who knew whom” back then). 

And that person got us hired at KPIX, which was in a gigantic ratings battle with KGO-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated station in The City.

It was pressure-packed.

But the people I got to work with at KPIX were outstanding, and, equally as important, easy to get along with. Dave McElhatton. Wendy Tokuda.  Wayne Walker on sports.  Joel Bartlett on weather.  Wonderful individuals.

During the course of our seven years there (not consecutive years — as I will explain) — major story after major story took place.

The biggest, of course, was the massive earthquake in 1989 that killed dozens of people, brought down part of the Bay Bridge, leveled the three-story Cypress Freeway, and destroyed the Marina District in San Francisco along with the entire downtown in Santa Cruz.

I was in our third-story newsroom at Battery and Broadway when the quake hit.  It was the first time in my life I felt as if I were going to die.  I’ll spare you details.  It was terrible.

For hours, I did not know if Sharon and Bradley and Amy had survived.  We were living in the Oakland Hills, and that granite monolith shook but did not crack.

Of course, we covered other major stories.  The Democratic National Convention in San Francisco in 1984. Riots in the streets of The City during a visit by then-president George H.W. Bush.  Floods. The AIDS crisis, unfolding in front of us.

Because there were so many big stories taking place, there were plenty of chances to produce really good newscasts.  I was fortunate to win some major awards — including two Emmys — and I give much of the credit to the news itself.  There was lots of it.

Let me tell you a story…

**

WSB-TV, Channel 2, Atlanta (ABC)

After a few years at KPIX (between the 1984 Demo convention and the 1989 earthquake), a friend (yes, that friend thing again) who had moved on from KPIX to Atlanta as news director called and offered me a job there as an executive producer.  I said yes.

Why? Well, the pressure in SF — and the commute — had worn me down.  I figured Atlanta would be a nice change of pace.

Besides, WSB was an absolutely legendary station in the Deep South. It and its sister station, WSB Radio, operated in the same White Columns building on Peachtree. Both had been Number One in Atlanta since the day they had signed on the air.

And, besides, the Democratic National Convention was coming to Atlanta in 1988 — and I had experience in producing that in San Francisco. So we figured, why not?

We built a lovely home in Kennesaw, northwest of Atlanta. One strange thing about Kennesaw is that a local ordinance there required families to own a gun. Yes.  It’s true.

We violated that law the entire time we were there.

Atlanta was a great, up-and-coming city. Top-20 market.  One of the busiest airports in the world.  Great sports town (we went to plenty of Braves games).

And that dominant TV newscast.  Monica Kaufman was the primary anchor, and she was a powerhouse.  She also was incredibly easy to work with.

Not so easy was the gent the station hired to replace our outgoing male anchor. I won’t name him. Let’s just say he had been widely known on CNN. He brought his “I know more than you do” attitude to our local newsroom, and that caused difficulty for everyone.

But our time in Atlanta — two years — was exciting.  Almost too exciting.

Producing the Democratic Convention in Atlanta took me a year of planning.  The week of the convention, I worked about 120 hours.  Little or no sleep.  It was exhausting.

Prior to the convention, I took the un-named anchor and a photog to San Francisco — my old home turf.  Because I knew the Bay Area — and because I had been there four years earlier when the Dems had held their convention there — we decided to do a five-part series on what Atlanta could expect.

And so there we were, my photog and I, coming out of a Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant on the second or third night of our stay.  That’s when a group of residents from the Castro District — all of them dressed in stylish leather and chains — approached us and asked if we wanted to “have a good time.”

My photog — who had never been in the Bay Area — had no idea what was going on. But I did. After I waved the highly dressed guys off — I told him that they thought we were couple.

You know.  A “couple.”

My photog was outraged and wanted to go after them.  But he calmed down when I told him it was no big deal — just life in the Bay Area.

Let me tell you a story… 

**

KNBC-TV, Channel 4, Los Angeles (NBC)

Going to KNBC was the professional highlight of my career.  This was, after all, one of NBC’s Owned-and-Operated stations.  When you worked there, you worked at the network. Your paycheck had “National Broadcasting Company” imprinted on it.

So there we were in the mid-90’s.  Executive producer. Number 2 market.  Big-time TV.

And there were so many major stories.  Earthquakes.  The Rodney King riots. Flooding in the San Fernando Valley.

And Johnny Carson.

That’s the story I want to tell you about.

You need to understand that my office at KNBC was right above the studio where Johnny did the “Tonight Show” and where Bob Hope did his specials.

And working for the network, we had the chance to get tickets to “Tonight” tapings, which took place at 5:30 each afternoon.

So Sharon and I often went to see Johnny and Ed and Doc, live. Then we’d go home and watch the network play the show at 11:30 that night.

Johnny retired in May 1992.  It was a very big deal across the nation, indeed.  After all, he’d hosted “Tonight” for three decades and been the ratings king every year.

As his retirement neared, his TV audience swelled, and people began lining up — camping out — outside our NBC building in Burbank.

And on that last day — Friday, May 22, 1992 — it was incredibly sad all around NBC.  We knew an era was ending.

And I knew we had no chance to get tickets to that final show.  Johnny’s family and friends got those.

Until — yes, this actually happened — until 4 p.m., when a co-worker rushed up to me and — knowing I really wanted to see Johnny’s final “Tonight” — said that a few of Johnny’s family members were not going to make it.

If I hurried downstairs, I might be able to snag a ticket.

And that’s how I got to be in the audience for that show.  I got the last available ticket — then called Sharon and said, “I’ll be a bit late tonight.”

That final audience was the most emotional group I’ve ever been part of. All of us stood and gave Johnny a three-minute standing ovation when he came out to start the show.

We never wanted him to leave our lives.

During the commercial breaks — when the network back East was inserting commercials that would air with the program later that night — Johnny and Ed and Doc reminisced, off-air.

They cried.

And so did we, when Johnny said his final good-bye.

When we all walked outside — still emotional — crews from all the networks were there, asking us what it was like.

I could not speak. After all, I had watched Johnny for 30 years.  He had been part of my life.

I drove home, told Sharon all about it — and then we watched the show air on the network at 11:35 p.m.

And that, my friends, was, and is, one of the highlights of my life.  Being one of about 500 people in Johnny Carson’s last audience.

**

Yes, my life has been a Numbers Game, in so many ways. And those numbers — channels in various cities — gave this kid from Fresno the luckiest breaks imaginable and more excitement than I could ever dream of.

It really was a Wonderful Life.  And I’m grateful I didn’t need to go the George Bailey route to figure that out.

**

“The seasons are passing, one by one. So gather moments while you may. 

 Remember, will you remember, the times of your life?”  (Paul Anka)