245 May 12 2013 at 08:48:49 Name: Mitch Gray Topic: Matriarchs Email: North Of You Comments:
Shout out to all the mommies today.
Thanks for bearing (with) us!
244 April 29 2013 at 18:53:07 Name: Lazzaro Topic: TAMA/preservemusic.org Email: Comments: Answering my own question:
I was able to reach Mr. Todoroff and it seems he has donated all his material to the Oklahoma Historical Society for their proposed OKPOP museum in Tulsa. Hadn't heard of OKPOP - what a great idea. I hope his efforts live on in that venue one of these days.
243 April 26 2013 at 18:13:03 Name: Lazzaro Topic: TAMA/preservemusic.org? Email: Comments: Hi
Does anyone know what's become of Steve Todoroff's TAMA (Tulsa Area Music Archive) and/or preservemusic.org? He has an incredible archive of Tulsa music and interviews in podcast format that I've enjoyed in the past. I haven't visited his site, preservemusic.org, in a year or more and when I did today it appears to be down or gone. I hope this is a hiccup and not something more serious...
242 April 24 2013 at 11:03:59 Name: Greg Topic: The G-Bomb Anchor Email: Comments: Did the so-called "F-Bomb Anchor" A. J. Clemente previously work as a week-end sports anchor at KOTV, Channel 6? I saw a report (probably on CNN) yesterday that carried a brief clip of some of his previous work & I could swear it showed the KOTV ID in the bottom of the screen. Just wondered if anyone else saw that or remembered if he worked at Channel 6 in the past.
241 April 20 2013 at 13:51:21 Name: Chuck Fullhart Topic: What's going on at KJRH? Email: Comments: Dan Threlkeld is leaving 2, Casey Roebuck and some of the other news staff is leaving. What's going on?
240 April 15 2013 at 18:06:39 Name: Ken Ragsdale Topic: "Yours truly,KOMA, 1520 fun! Email: Ragsdaleand assoc@aol.com Comments: A stroll down memory lane.
"When the shadows grow longer, the signal grows stronger."
From the Cascades and the Sierra Madres on the west, to the Wabash Valley on the east; from Hudson Bay on the north, to the Rio Grande Valley on the south;
239 April 15 2013 at 13:56:32 Name: Webmaster Topic: New KAKC book; book signing Email: Comments:
A new book by Steve Clem, "Tulsa's KAKC Radio, The Big 97" is in the stores.
Steve is Operations Director at Public Radio Tulsa.
There will be a book signing at Tulsa Historical Society on Tuesday, April 16, 6:30 pm.
Steve and several of the former KAKC DJs will also be on hand to sign books, including Scooter Segraves, Dick Schmitz and Mike McCarthy.
Hope to see you there!
238 April 14 2013 at 00:18:12 Name: Darrell in MWC OK Topic: Billy Parker's KVOO Allnight Show Email: Comments: What Tune Started Billy Parker's Allnight Show On KVOO AM 1170 From 1974-1980 ???? I'm Thinking It's Sound Wave by Loyd Green, But Not Sure. Haven’t Ben Abble To Find It.
237 April 13 2013 at 23:00:40 Name: Carol Mann Reeder Topic: Musics Good Ole Days Email: Comments: It seems to be quite perplexing that music genres are somewhat blerred. There are really no longer, it seems to be radio stations for Pop, rock & blues. For instance, Taylor Swift is really not a Country musician. But where would you put her? If Michael Bolton came out with a new great song, where would you put him on radio? Is it just me? I mean Tulsa has 5 or 6 country stations!? What's going on in radio?
236 April 08 2013 at 12:55:42 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: John Bateman! Email: Comments: Where have you been since KOTV in the late 1970's????
You fell off the radar to some of us who worked with you
and loved it!!!
235 April 08 2013 at 12:53:30 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Take off your Mouse Ears in homage... Email: Comments: Annette Funicello - one of the original Mouseketeers has died at age 70.
She was suffering from MS.
For those of you whom watched all of the (later in her career) goofy beach movies with her and Frankie Avalon - you'll remember that we never saw her in a bikini - just a modest 2-piece swim-suit if not her usual 1-piece. She was that modest of a gal....
She never really made the transition from faux beach bunny to "real" actress but had a long career in fan-dom.
234 April 04 2013 at 15:56:31 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Email: Comments: I thought more than 30-thousand people wanted to see me in my underwear.
Crushed again.
233 April 04 2013 at 08:38:06 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Easter Pageant Email: Comments: For Jim Ruddle: When did they start having the Easter Pageant at Memorial cemetary? The two years I was "on stage" in my junior and senior years, it was at Memorial on that huge built-up stage of earth. The same area was use at least through 1955 when I co-narrated the production. From what my poor math abilities tell me, your participation at Woodward Park must have been either your junior or senior year, or both. You were two years ahead of me, graduating in 1949.
Also, I've always wondered how Miss Ronan pulled off these coups such as the Pageant at Memorial Park, KVOO Day, and "Experimental Theater of the Air" over KOME and produced in the studios of TU.
By the way, the Tulsa newspaper--I don't remember whether it was the World or Tribune--said that 30,000 people would see it. If this accurate, I conclude that the pageant was the third largest in the world, only exceeded by the performances at Lawton and Oberamagrau. Could this be correct?
232 April 03 2013 at 22:01:11 Name: John bateman Topic: Memories Email: Batemanjt@msn.com Comments: This is like walking down memori lane. A lot of people I have though about many times through the years. I don,t think we enjoyed the time while we where in it. It was a great time and a lot of ground breaking in TV news, we had Great leadership. Enjoy everyone stories. Please keep writing love to se them.
231 April 02 2013 at 16:55:08 Name: JIm Ruddle Topic: Woodward Park Pageant Email: Comments: I, too, was involved in the Easter pageant produced each year by Isabelle Ronan.
I guess it was my senior year--or perhaps the one before--but Noel Confer and I for some demented reason agreed to portray the two thieves who also hung on crosses.
This particular morning it was 28 degrees, I believe, and there was a freezing mist falling. In our little breechclouts, Confer and I became cold, colder, and something BirdsEye might have fancied had they been in the frozen meat business. For some reason, Roy Ball was delayed in his appearance, then that part of the pageant dragged on interminably, and, after he was taken away, it took several more minutes to hoist the two of us down to the ground.
We were afraid our feet might burst open because they were frozen.
I've been on frozen Great Slave Lake in the Canadian Northwest Territories, in February, with the temperature at 48 below and I was nothing close to as cold as that morning in Woodward Park.
230 April 01 2013 at 08:08:41 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Easter Pageant Email: Comments: Easter was just yesterday, bringing with it many memories of being in Isabelle Ronan's Easter pageant when I participated in the early to mid-1950s. One nice thing about yesterday's Easter was that the weather was beautiful. In all the years I was a part of the production, the weather always was very cold, sometimes with thunderstorms.
When I participated for two years in minor roles on the huge stage, we all wore lots of warm clothing underneath our costumes. But poor Roy Ball, playing Jesus, wore only a lonely loin cloth to cover his rapidly bluing body when he was on the cross. It was undoubtedly a blessed event when lightening chased him down from the cross one year.
The program continued only via KRMG. After all, there had to be some background noise to play in the many cars with their steamed-up windows of the younger people who became "religious" one night a year during the repressive and uneducated 1950s.
During those freezing performances I yearned to be in the warm place in the little building where Miss Ronan directed the pageant and Bob West so beautifully narrated it. They shared the space with the engineering man in another room.
Later I was so fortunate to be chosen by Miss Ronan to co-narrate the performances for two years. I still have the KRMG audio tapes of the pageant for one of those years.
229 March 31 2013 at 06:08:50 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Happy "BIRD" Day! Email: Comments: Best wishes to my very old friend and former colleague, Gary Chew. Hope you have many more. Looking back, I wouldn't trade our time at KTUL-Radio (Turley) and KOTV for anything!
Happy Birthday, Gary. Enjoy your Day!
228 March 27 2013 at 20:33:05 Name: Gry Chew Topic: Obituary of a Good, Good Man Email: Just Northeast of Eden Comments: Professor Harold Hill(retired from TU)died during the day yesterday, March 25, at his home on Lewis Place near 15th Street. He was 92. I never had a class with Dr. Hill, but I've shared a connection with him, even unto just the other day. Unread emails of mine to him are, likely still in his inbox there in Tulsa. I broadcast a series of his campus lectures on KWGS when I was Station Manager there back in the 70s. A finer man I've never met. His last email to me carried with it a message to me about Dr. Hill's belief that I have a strong spirit of generosity. I not so sure about that, but I am sure that such a remark coming from Harold Hill is a very special compliment for anyone who has gotten such from him. I think he might have 'invented' generosity.
I have no doubt that Harold Hill will rest in peace. What a guy he was. -gc
227 March 27 2013 at 02:07:24 Name: Gary Chew Topic: Sonic Web Stite Email: Northeast of Eden Comments: Check out my sound cloud stuff at ...
http://wwww.soundcloud.com/decibellydancer
226 March 22 2013 at 22:11:30 Name: Erick Topic: Bill Mitchell Email: Comments: Boy, the hits just keep coming for KTUL. Yes, Bill retired a couple of months ago. I saw him at the new Reasors in Bixby around Thanksgiving and he looked quite frail. But he was very nice and polite. I grew up watching Bill at KOCO in OKC. Thoughts and prayers to the family and his friends.
225 March 22 2013 at 20:14:52 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Bill Mitchell passes... Email: Comments: I thought that Bill had just retired a few mos. back.
224 March 22 2013 at 13:57:16 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Bill Mitchell dies Email: Comments: According to the Ch-8 website, former KTUL reporter Bill Mitchell has died after a lengthy illness. He was 69.
223 March 19 2013 at 09:49:09 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Dale Robertson Email: Comments: Mike Bruchas noted a few weeks ago that Dale Robertson had died in California. He, along with James Garner, was one of the more interesting and authentic Oklahoma fim and television personalities. He sounded like an Oklahoman and he never changed, even though the normal Hollywood understanding is that if you are from Oklahoma you are mentally challenged. He did well as an actor/producer. He not only starred in "Tales of Wells Fargo," he created it and owned it until he decided to sell if.
During World War Two, he was in Patton's third Army, in North AFrica and Europe and according to his obits, was wounded twice, and received both the bronze and silver stars and, of course, the purple heart.
Now, my limited knowledge is that in some units (not all by any means) bronze stars were given pretty freely, however, the silver star was always reserved for the truly brave. What Robertson did to receive his doesn't appear in anything I've read.
Does anyone know the story?
222 March 09 2013 at 20:52:56 Name: David Batterson Topic: Bonnie franklin Email: Just send a singing telegram Comments: I think it might have been "The Boys of Syracuse," based on Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors."
221 March 01 2013 at 15:05:25 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Bonnie Franlin Email: Comments: R.I.P.
One Day At a Time - a CBS show which all of us then KOTV folks hated but the public loved.
I saw her before this circa 1970 at the Old Lady of Brady in a touring Broadway musical based on a Shakespearean play and she was great. Now if I can just remember the name of that show about 2 sets of twins...
220 February 28 2013 at 13:31:05 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: KFOR Danny Williams tribute Email: Comments: Go to this link:
219 February 28 2013 at 12:55:29 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: ...and how do you say Chevrolet... Email: Comments: A luxury car dealer here in Chicago is a branch-off from an original "Chevrolet agency" way back when.
The Chevy dealer spots have a yellin' pitch-man who can't say, Chevrolet.
He says Chev-0-lay....
218 February 28 2013 at 12:51:53 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Dale Robertson passes.. Email: Comments: Oklahoma-born actor, Dale Robertson, has passed at 89 in CA. I thought that he was older...
He starred in WELLS FARGO on TV and had several movie roles...
217 February 23 2013 at 23:46:34 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: KRMG vs KAKC Email: Comments: In 1956 and '57, KRMG was king of the hill until the "New KAKC" came upon the scene. KRMG was a traditional station that featured laid-back disk jockeys, who selected their own music, and regular news programs that were at the top of the hour. Additionally, there were some traditional 15-minute news programs.
The only unusual programming was done via the Newsmobile, which I drove, after John Chick requested after a couple of weeks that he be reassigned from Newsmobile duty because it was giving him ulcers. I was moved from the night music slot that John Doremus had previously had and was given the Newsmobile. (Chick took over the afternoon DJ show that had been hosted by Joe Knight for several years.)
It was a fun job for the most part, chasing car accidents, interviewing significant visitors in the city, finding interesting things around the city to feature, and going to the airport to make broadcasts from in front of a tiny radar scope to report on tornadic weather. I featured anything I could find that I thought would be interesting .
With the "New KAKC" emerging, there became a great rivalry between the 50,000 watt KRMG and the weak-signal upstart. KAKC started programming only the Top-40 and mixing in the emerging rock n' roll music. The disk jockeys spoke with heightened volume and rapid speech, and playing a limited number of records. Bud Curry, a former KAKC announcer, told me that the announcers were greatly limited in what they could play, at times being allowed to play only ten songs or less, repeating them over and over. One day, as a stunt, they played the same record continuously all day long.
Another different feature of KAKC was that they started programming their five-minute newscasts at five minutes before the hour rather than waiting until the traditional top of the hour. KRMG changed to playing more of the Top Forty, although still permitting great latitude for their jocks. Both stations heatedly competed in finding news stories to send to the Associated Press for entering onto their news service. The AP would send out a monthly certificate that the winning station could pin up on its newsroom wall.
When I left Tulsa to join the Navy in July, 1957, both stations were still competing furiously, I lost contact with the situation. (A curious note: When I returned to Tulsa for a short time in late 1967, the station was still calling itself "the NEW KAKC.")
In retrospect there was more going on than just two capitalist companies battling for ratings and money. To me it represented the start of a cultural clash between the old, "swing" generation and the new, emerging generation of rock music. The old group was the "Quiet Generation" that was born during the Great Depression; the new group featured the very different rock music, no-touch dancing, and soon the sexual revolution and the peace movement, leading to a great challenge to the Establishment. The Quiet Generation challenged nothing; the rock generation was extremely creative, energetic and combative.
Now, swing music is only a distant memory, not even featured on "Golden Oldie" music shows. KAKC was the wave of the future.
216 February 23 2013 at 20:58:18 Name: Gene B Randall Jr Topic: KOTV Alumni Reunion Email: grandall@versatechind.com Comments: What a FUN afternoon, February 19, at the new KOTV Studios!! Thanks, also, to everyone who participated and put the entire event together!! It was great to visit with the former personnel that I worked with and, also, to personnel that I knew from afar and new ones that I have learned to respect over the years after I left.
I worked at KOTV in 1971 and 1972 in the engineering department while working toward my Electrical Engineering Degree at the University of Tulsa.
George Jacobs hired me, first to finish the new Audio Console that Corinthian was building for WISH-TV in Indianapolis, then Chan Allen brought me downstairs taking care of maintenance duties, as well as Audio and Video/Projection duties for on-air telecasts.
So many names and good times still run through my head when I think of those days. One of the more memorable times was working Audio on Les Garland's last Dance Party telecast one Saturday afternoon. It was just like old times, since we both were from the Springfield, MO, area and worked together for a couple of years at KWTO.....I as engineer and he as announcer.
215 February 21 2013 at 10:49:20 Name: DolfanBob Topic: KAKC programming Email: DolfanBob@lycos.com Comments: Frank that is awesome. The old WKRP in Cincinnati format.
I wonder how far a Station would get today if they let their Jocks pick the song lineups for the four hour Jock blocks? Instead of one Program Director picking everyones song list.
In the late 70s KKUL changed format to top 40 and had their A.B.C.D. list of all the months hits. And they had to be rotated during the jocks four hour show, and all the rest was songs picked by the on air personality as fillers. This was kind of the beginning of the current Program Director takeover. Fun times indeed.
214 February 20 2013 at 09:49:41 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: KAKC programming Email: Comments: KAKC in the early '50s had a strange programming philosophy that contrasted greatly with that of subsequent owners who implemented "the NEW KAKC." They didn't care what the disk jockey played. Consequently, I played pop and swing, Bill Walker played only jazz, and Charlie Ellis, who only was on the air infrequently as a fill-in announcer, played classical music. It was as if the management and, perhaps, owner Sam Avey, didn't care what was on the air because the preachers would bring in enough revenue on their own.
213 February 20 2013 at 08:41:39 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Morrow's Angels Email: Comments: Frank Morrow and I were observers of some of the oddest hucksters in radio.
Brother Conley was the brashest of the Holy Money Grubbers. I've seen him with a stack of letters from the prayerful, ripping the ends open, blowing into the envelope to ascertain the contents, then tossing empties in the trash. He drove a cadillac convertible--or his little chum and acolyte did.
But Conley wasn't the greatest shouter. KOME once had a Sunday morning (to early afternoon) lineup that was unmatched for volume. You didn't need to look at the clock to tell the time: The elevation of the VU needle showed how far into the program it had progressed. Starting low, it built to a crescendo that was dangerous.
One of these bellowers tried that "Put your hand on your radio" bit one day and Bob Elmore, the on duty control-room engineer, stood up and yelled through the studio glass "You touch that microphone and I'll break your arm."
I don't know how many people were not healed that morning.
212 February 20 2013 at 00:40:32 Name: Erick Topic: Danny Williams Email: Comments: Longtime OKC radio and TV icon Danny Williams has passed away at age 85. He was the longtime program director at WKY radio during it's heyday in the 1970's and also starred as DDD Danny on WKY-TV and hosted his own daytime talk show for many years on that station.
He recently retired as the host of KOMA radio's morning show in 2008.
211 February 18 2013 at 16:42:51 Name: Robert Walker Topic: Lee Bayley Email: Comments: Beau called me this morning with word that a seminal radio figure, for us, from KAKC days past crossed over yesterday. Lee Bayley died in Texas, near Dallas. Randy Brown spoke with Lee's wife Jerriann and his son Stuart. Apparently everything happened suddenly without much warning.
Thanks guys, so sorry to hear this. Our deepsest condolences to Lee's family and many friends.
More about Lee and some of his comments on TTM here: KAKC's Lee Bayley.
210 February 18 2013 at 14:03:03 Name: Stan Ruth Topic: Lee Bayley Email: Comments: I have read reports (also confirmed by Beau Weaver) of the passing of Lee Bayley, who was remembered by many decades later from his days at KAKC.
RIP, Lee.
209 February 18 2013 at 10:36:10 Name: Rick Clark Topic: Blogs Email: clarkrick@yahoo.com Comments: I see a couple of bloggers on KOTV--Tasha Does Tulsa & M C Swab--and I'm curious how they make money talking about their "adventures".
I believe Tasha also works at This Land magazine. Ms. Swab, I'm not sure. Usually it would be by ads, like Google ads. Not something I've worried about on this site.
I used Amazon originally as an additional source of content in the sparse early days. It's still there to help recreate the commercial TV experience (the sell) and I've added a lot of informative (I hope) comment on related items in the TTM aStore, but it's not a big money maker.
208 February 16 2013 at 10:46:08 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: KAKC preachers Email: Comments: Brother Conley was the most devious of all the KAKC preachers, but the most interesting. His daily 15-minute program introduced me to healing cloths and salvation cloths. The latter were more expensive, I assume because salvation was more important than good health. In each program he asked people to put their hands on the radio so they could be healed. He then would say the same prayer every day, ending with, “We believe it’s DONE! And we praise you for it.” When he said, “DONE,” he would yell so loud that the V/U meter would double up. I soon surmised that this outburst would be so loud that it might make the radios jump or at least quiver, making the people whose hands were on the radio to think that “the power of the Lord” was being received. Deviously, I started cutting down the volume just befor the word “DONE,” not only to spite Conley, but also to protect the equipment.
One day, with trembling voice, Conley cried that he would have to go off the air the next week because he was not receiving enough contributions. The next day, when I was setting up the connection with him, I asked him if he actually were going off the air. He said, “Oh, no. I’m paid up a year in advance. I just have to say that ever now and then to get the money coming in better.”
The only time I saw him was when he came to the studios and stopped by the control room. He asked me, “How much money do you make, son?”
I told him, “$1.00 an hour.”
He replied, “That’s not much. You should get into the preachin’ business. Look at me. I have a big home in Osage Hills and two Cadillacs. You’re in the wrong business.”
On Sunday morning we had a preacher and some hangers-on in the main studio. The preacher would get so worked up that he would foam at the mouth and would mumble and yell incoherently for the last half of his program. I would have to wipe off the microphone after he left.
One day after he had finished his program a lady called and was weeping. She said, "Didn't Brother ____ deliver a wonderful message today?"
I told her, "Well, I couldn't understand him. He was frothing at the mouth and was incoherent."
The woman was highly indignant and hung up.
There was a Catholic program on for a while. It started with people coming into the studio and doing their thing, being on their knees and saying the same thing over and over. After three weeks they just brought down a big, 15-minute transcription (a huge record, for you young folks) of the "mysteries." One day, after I put their record on, a woman called and informed me that I was playing the wrong side, that the other "mystery" should be playing. When I answered, "How can you tell? Both sides sound the same to me," she tried to explain, but I still didn't understand.
What was pathetic was to see those rather crumpled, dirty envelopes that would be sent to the station, addressed to one of the preachers. Holding them up to the light, you could see a couple of dimes and nickles and occasional quarter inside. I was appalled that those poor people would send their last pennies to those predacious preachers.
207 February 16 2013 at 09:37:50 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Email: Comments: Frank's right. Gene Winfrey was always polite, always willing to get things arranged properly at his end of the remote. I always felt that I was being disingenuous with him because I was an outright heathen.
There was another preacher who used to come into the studios in the wee sign-on hours and go into a private, self-inflicted prayer service before air time. He sometimes got so involved that he lost all sense of time or place. As I recall, Bill Walker was the announcer who came in, heard thumping and bumping in the studio, turned on the light and saw the preacher man rolling around on the studio floor. He called the station manager, Wheeler, I assume, reported that the preacher was undergoing an attack of some sort and asked for help.
"Oh, he' s just getting ready for the program."
Sure enough, when told it was air time, the goodly cleric rose, brushed himself off, and launched into the battle for salvation.
206 February 16 2013 at 08:20:09 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Winfrey, Gene Email: Comments: Here is a name that probably only Jim Ruddle would recognize: Gene Winfrey, one of KAKC's former preachers died at the age of 90. He advertised himself as "the youth evangelist," and he came on the air for 15 minutes every weekday. Winfrey seemed sincere, unlike some of those snake-oil preachers that were found on the station.
One evening I got a call from someone who wanted to know when "that little boy preacher" came on. At first, I didn't know what this young person was talking about, but then I remembered Winfrey. The person on the phone was disappointed when I told her that Winfrey was actually an adult. (He would have been 28 years old at the time.)
205 February 14 2013 at 13:01:36 Name: David Batterson Topic: Akdar Email: batterson@southerncalifornia Comments: I think the nearby bar was the Taj Mahal.
204 February 14 2013 at 08:06:00 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Cimarron, etc. Email: Comments:
KRMG was in the Akdar building, but--isn't this correct?--
KVOO-TV was at 4th and Denver, as well.
There was a nearby bar, but I don't remember that very well. It was hot outside.
After KVOO moved to Brookside, they never looked back downtown.
203 February 13 2013 at 01:47:44 Name: Chet Cheever Topic: Johnny Martin Email: Comments: Thanks for the information on the KRMG studios. How interesting that years later, many of those big bands that played at 4th & Denver would again play to entertain many thanks to The Johnny Martin Show over the airwaves of KRMG which originated from that same same building. Now that's amazing stuff when you think about it.
202 February 12 2013 at 16:18:06 Name: Greg Topic: Cimarron Ballroom Email: Comments: Thanks to Frank Morrow for confirming the location of KRMG at 4th & Denver in the Akdar Shrine bldg., which also contained the Cimarron Ballroom. I have vague memories from my childhood of that bldg. & I agree its demolition was a terrible move on the part of the city or whoever!
201 February 12 2013 at 13:07:26 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Cimarron Ballroom Email: Comments: The Cimarron Ballrom was located in the Akdar Shrine Building at 4th and Denver. The studios for KRMG, where I worked in 1956 and 1957, were on the west side of the building.
Before WWII my mother took me to see a play there. After the war almost all of the big swing bands played in the ballroom. I went to all of their dances from 1952-1956. A few of the names of the bands were Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Ray Anthony, Ted Weems, Ralph Flanagan, and Ralph Marterie.
The tearing down of that beautiful building will be an eternal blot on the history of Tulsa.
200 February 11 2013 at 22:32:58 Name: Greg Topic: Johnny Martin/KRMG location Email: Comments: Just one small correction to the Johnny Martin post. I believe KRMG was located in the old Cimarron Ballroom at 4th & Denver, where the downtown Tulsa Transit bus station now sits. Although a bit before my time, I've heard/read reports of concerts/other events that were held there. A few years ago, a "live" recording of Patsy Cline performing there around 1960, I think, was released on CD.
199 February 02 2013 at 15:41:32 Name: Chet Cheever Topic: Johnny Martin Email: Comments: Upcoming anniversary: February 18, 1963: The Johnny Martin Show debuted on KRMG, changing Tulsa nighttime radio until the King's final show in June of 1978. The KRMG studios were located at the Cain's Ballroom building in those days, right? The move to Liberty Towers was ... 1967?
198 January 31 2013 at 21:31:52 Name: Scott Thompson Topic: KOTV alumni reception at new bldg. Email: scott.thompson@newson6.net Comments: Channel 6 is putting together a reception for former employees at the new Griffin Communications Media Center in February so that you can see it. If you'd like to attend, please email with your information.... kortney.smith@newson6.net.
197 January 30 2013 at 13:51:54 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Yahoo hack / Educational opportunities Email: Comments: Webmaster:
Hey, I worked in television for many years, remember? I already know about crud-related programs.
196 January 30 2013 at 12:10:48 Name: DolfanBob Topic: Chera Kimiko Email: DolfanBob@lycos.com Comments: Chera Kimiko has taken a job as co anchor at CW channel 19. The news broadcast will expand to a hour starting in April. I'm glad that she is not leaving the Tulsa market.
195 January 30 2013 at 09:02:25 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: hacked Email: Comments: Too late the warning.
I got a thing supposedly from Mike Ransom that told me how to make money at home. I replied that I wanted to learn how to be an oil field roustabout, and asked if there were any training programs for eighty year olds. I also noted that my long-term goal was to be a "Mud Doctor" for a drilling company, and would be willing to go to a Pre-Mud college if that would help.
No response, so far.
Webmaster: There is only a small niche market for home-based roustabouts. But when it comes to crud-related professions, sky's the limit!
The Soiled Seniors program provides curricula for mudders (and dirty daddies). Some of their offalings include Mudieval History, Oozology, Soily Pie (not to be confused with Poly Sci), Muckraking, and Janitorial Studies.
And the classes are dirt-cheap!
194 January 19 2013 at 15:43:14 Name: Erick Topic: KOTV Email: Comments: The first newscast from KOTV's new palace in the Brady District at 303 North Boston is tonight at 5. Last nights final broadcast from the old building is available at newson6.com.
193 January 18 2013 at 23:23:09 Name: Erick Topic: KOTV Email: Comments: Just watched the final sportscast from 3rd and Frankfort. Charlie Hannema gave shout outs to the legends of KOTV sports...including Ken Broo. Nice to see a guy remember those who did his job before him.
192 January 18 2013 at 22:03:47 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: "Moves" + KOTV Email: Comments: KOTV and TTM's server moving - is the apocalypse coming?
Jack Hobson said a few mos. back - it might be neat to tour what is left of the 3rd and Franklin building after the *NEW Griffin Mega-Galactic Communications Center*...
(I'm sure some old 2" tape and "lost" news slides might turn up...).
To me - it would remind me of touring the shuttered KOME studios of nearly 40 years ago in the then Harrington's building.
My year plus sojourn at 6 (76-77) was spent in the control room, shooting 3/4" production footage, later news footage and handling other odd jobs in the back of the "annex".
191 January 18 2013 at 09:59:21 Name: Webmaster Topic: TTM's moving, too Email: Comments:
This site has been hosted on a computer over at Dick Schmitz' Irving Productions for the last 7 years. Now TTM is moving from that computer to commercial web hosting. It should be a completely transparent move (I hope).
Thanks to Dick (and Tim) for all the years of hosting!
190 January 18 2013 at 09:29:41 Name: Webmaster Topic: KOTY studio moving Email: Comments:
Tonight is the last cast from the old building. See TTM@Facebook for links to a series of stories from KOTV's past, including Lee & Lionel, Mazeppa, Dance Party, Lewis Meyer, Betty Boyd, Cy Tuma and more.
189 January 14 2013 at 21:40:03 Name: Ken Broo Topic: KOTV At 302 So. Frankfort Street Email: ken@kenbroo.com Comments: So it's moving time for the "Mighty 6"? I always thought they were holding onto that building just in case International Harvester wanted to buy it back. There are some great memories I have of that place.
Mr. Wrestling II arrived for an interview there one afternoon, wearing his underwear over his head, of course. I forget the name of the elderly receptionist but I do recall she thought the place was about to be held up.
There was also the night that we reported, accurately, that the NCAA was on the ORU campus investigating the school's basketball program for proselytizing. The front window was shattered that night, though I can't say for sure the two were related.
I remember the news director's office was missing some mortar around the bricks that served as its wall and being able to see out into the parking lot.
I'm also quite certain that when the wrecking ball hits the building it will find a least a dozen Bob Losure audition tapes, perhaps even a Lil Newby pencil or a stray air check of the "Dodd The Newsman, Doug The Diabetic" award winning special. Those are also among the things I remember.
And, of course, the many, many great people that I worked with in what seems like a lifetime ago. It was a great time to be in television and a great television station to work at. The ratings weren't good (in fact they were awful) and I'm not sure anyone in the Corinthian Broadcasting offices in New York could find Tulsa on a map. But I would not have traded that time, in that building, with those people for anything. I'm sure the current staff at KOTV will quickly find out that a building doesn't define a television station. But it sure will hold a lot of memories. Will the last one out, catch the lights.
188 January 14 2013 at 08:13:14 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Email: Comments: Lots of memories of the old building. Why some stand out, I can't say, although there's no denying the impact of certain events:
Sitting with Joe Louis in the tiny employees lounge while two or three of his handlers--flashily dressed--chatted about where they were going next. Joe seemed disconnected, said little, and unlike his handlers, wore nondescript clothing and drooping white cotton socks.
The time the herpetologist from Mohawk Zoo brought a bag of rattlers to the studio and as I interviewed him, the cameramen climbed onto their pedestals because the bag had been left open and the damned snakes were slithering on the floor around us.
Any live Perry Ward commercial.
187 January 13 2013 at 13:33:20 Name: David Batterson Topic: Patti Page Email: dwbatterso[at]gmail[dot]com Comments: RE: Besides, think how lucky she was: She might have been "Patti Glencliff."
Oh she could have been Mary Meadow Gold!
186 January 12 2013 at 17:40:18 Name: John Hillis Topic: KOTV's move Email: Comments: My memories of 302 S. Fankfort will be of some remarkable people--Clayton, Bill, Lee, Buddy, Leon, Irv, Kitty, and many more of whom it can be said the mold was broken after they were made. Ken Broo visiting with Andre the Giant, Ken Ragsdale visiting with Barbara Mandrell, lunches at Nelson's, the D&B board visit, coneys and hundreds more moments.
Good luck to 6 at new digs. Everyone should change their address every 65 years or so.
185 January 10 2013 at 20:30:45 Name: Scott Thompson Topic: KOTV's move Email: scott.thompson@newson6.net Comments: I wanted to let the readers of Tulsa TV Memories know we begin a week-long look back at some of the memories of our Frankfort Avenue building on Monday, January 14, and continue through the week, where they will be featured in every newscast for the week, 6am, Noon, 5,6,9 and 10pm.
Beginning Saturday, January 19, we being stories about the new building and the new neighborhood. I don't know if those continue for a week, but they will be airing in all newscasts at least through the beginning of that week. After 64 years, our last newscast from our Frankfort Avenue building will be Friday, January 18 at 10:00pm. I hope to add a little tribute to the old place at the very end that night.
Thanks, Scott.
184 January 10 2013 at 10:26:33 Name: Chuck Fullhart Topic: Louise O'Brien Email: SteampoweredAOLat theedgeoftheearth.com Comments: To Mike Miller and Jim Ruddle: Your mention of Louise O'Brien was interesting.
Louise is a distant cousin of mine, and when she appeared on TV in the early 50s and through the 60s, it was always proudly pointed out to me that she was a member of the family--a cousin--but no one at the time was really sure of the exact relationship. I guess family is family.
I do remember her early appearances on "6", and later in the early sixties on national TV.
The last entry on the IMDB for her shows her as a production assistant on American Idol in '02.
Thanks for adding some items to the memory bank.
183 January 10 2013 at 08:17:10 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: John Hillis/Patti Page Email: Comments: John, I guess Patti warmed to the name as success grew. Besides, think how lucky she was: She might have been "Patti Glencliff."
182 January 09 2013 at 23:14:34 Name: Erick Topic: Bill Howard Email: Comments: For OKC TV folks:
Bill Howard, best know for puppeting "Pokey" on KOCO's Ho Ho the Clown, has died of cancer.
181 January 09 2013 at 21:31:01 Name: John Hillis Topic: The Singin' Rage Email: Comments: The Billboard obit for Patti Page says "Tennessee Waltz" was the first pop tune to cross over to country; but the songwriter credit goes to Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart, who first cut it on disc a few years before Patti made it a giant hit.
Interesting to read the story of the overdubbing on "Confess" and realize it was done before tape came into use, so all the overdubs must have been on discs. Syncing everything up had to be a technical challenge in those days where most records were recorded with orchestra and singer and one bum note from anybody would mean another take on a new disc.
I'm not sure if her reaction to the nickname was as negative as Mel Torme's to "The Velvet Fog", but I recall reading somewhere that she didn't care for it.
180 January 06 2013 at 21:53:51 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Email: Comments: Mike, you reminded me of a couple of things. One is the lovely Louise O'Brien, whom you mentioned.
At one point in the early fifties, we had a small cast that performed for various groups and functions. There were five of us, as I recall, a guy named Louie Ford, two other people--a male and a female--Louise and me. We had one running gig at Southern Hills where we were supposedly floatin' down the Mississippi, singing all the way. It ran for several weeks, starting up river and traveling musically down all the way to New Orleans, with appropriate songs hanging on that peg. Great fun and we did get paid. Louise was a real trouper, in no sense a glamour girl personality, even though she was gorgeous.
A few other engagements occurred, although the cast of characters was fluid.
Pleasant things to remember.
179 January 04 2013 at 16:30:34 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Hey Rube performers Email: Comments: Some of the names I recall from the Hey Rube shows included my dad’s partner, Ford Jarrell, who later ran a dance studio on North Lewis. Lew Miller was emcee and produced the shows; he and Ford did stand up comedy (which included some slightly blue jokes.) Ford Jarrell was a comedian who also played strange musical instruments. Logan Wait had a magic act, and Louise O’Brien was a singer who later became a Miss Oklahoma and Miss America runner up in 1951.
I believe Shug Meade was also an entertainer on some of those army shows.
178 January 04 2013 at 16:11:32 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: "Hey, Rube!" shows/Skilly's School of Ballroom Dancing Email: Comments: I remember hearing and reading about the "Hey, Rube!" shows, mainly because the name came from an old carnival shout that warned the members of the crew that there was trouble afoot.
I knew several of the older vaudeville and minstrel show performers, but sadly I can't recall many of their names. They all had day jobs doing other things, but occasionally got on stage for some event or other.
One guy who was a permanent ornament for Tulsa nightclubbers was the comedian Shug Meade who introduced many of us to blue humor in public.
Oh, and the other dance studio of note was Skilly's.
Larry Bettis' wife, Suzanne, ran a ballet school and one of her tiny charges later became a Broadway star of the second order, Susan Watson.
177 January 04 2013 at 16:03:42 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Lew Miller Email: Comments: Jim Ruddle: Not many contributors to this incredible site remember the string of dance studios on 15th Street west of Peoria. I don’t think we’'ve met but I'’m always impressed when someone recalls those days long gone.
Lew Miller, Sam Avey and Glenn Condon formed the “Hey Rube” shows during WW II. Both Avey and Condon were pioneers in early Tulsa sports, entertainment and radio broadcast history.
In addition to the dance studio, my dad was a theatrical booking agent.
176 January 04 2013 at 13:27:45 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Patti Page/Lew Miller Email: Comments: Tulsans were surprised and proud back in 1947 (if memory serves--and sometimes it does) when one of our local talents, Patti Page, made the airwaves with "Confess." That was just the beginning. She outsold many others who have been enshrined by various media bow-wows and was never given full credit for her talent and style. Of course, the sea change in music in the late fifties and thereafter kept her from the sanctification that occurred for many lesser performers.
As for Mike Miller: We've never met (unless that memory I mentioned has failed again) but Lew Miller's Dance Studio was a solid fixture in town and many of the kids I went to school with took lessons there. The Central Daze always had lots of dancing numbers which, no doubt, often grew from your dad's studio. I can't even do a time step.
175 January 03 2013 at 11:30:24 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Patti Page Email: Comments: Clara Ann got her start with a 15-minute show on KTUL. The sponsor of her program, Page Milk, had her name announced as Patti Page. Clara Ann was coached by a talented KTUL engineer and musician--Charlie Lawton.
174 January 02 2013 at 19:43:53 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Patti Page Email: Comments: During World War II, my father, Lew Miller, produced entertainment shows for our troops, called "Hey Rube."
Those shows at various military bases throughout Oklahoma and adjoining states, included Joe Linde's band, a line of girls (dancers), a magician, comedy acts and a singer.
Among those who performed was a very young Patti Page who earned $5.00 a performance! I did some walk on gags on those shows so I probably worked with Patti but was too young to remember.
173 January 02 2013 at 18:02:50 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Patti Page passes Email: Comments: Here is a link to her obit in Billboard but I will always think of her as a pop music singer - not country.
KTUL RADIO gave her start and Page Dairy sponsored a show that she performed on.
172 January 02 2013 at 12:16:15 Name: David Batterson Topic: Patti Page - RIP Email: dwbatterson(at)gmail(dot)com Comments: Page, real name Clara Ann Fowler, died Monday night at the age of 85 according to staffers at the Seacrest Village nursing home in Encinitas, CA (north of San Diego).
What a talent and a class act.
171 December 30 2012 at 18:13:32 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: xmas Email: Comments: One of the drawbacks of being a radio announcer was having to work during the holidays. It was bad enough that no one else was in the building unless you were working with an engineer who handled the board.
Making the experience more poignant was having to read all those thirty-second Christmas "commercials" for the various businesses. They were without commercial content. {"Brown-Duncan wishes you a very merry Christmas and hopes you will have a wonderful New Year.") The station made good money from these advertisers, but it wasn't always pleasant to read them.
New Years Eve also was really a struggle, hearing all those celebrations from Times Square, etc. However, there occasionally would be an older, married announcer who would kindly take all or a part of my shift so that I could go to a party.
It's important to point out that in all my years in radio I was treated very well by all but one of the older announcers, even though I was only a kid of 18 and early 20s and had limited experience at first.
170 December 29 2012 at 20:12:54 Name: David Batterson Topic: new song and video Email: dwbatterson@gmail(dot)com Comments: Former Tulsa deejay Mark Giles and I came up with a new song. And Mark's friend created the music video. It's called "I Got To Go Poop" but don't worry, it's G-rated!
169 December 24 2012 at 09:58:12 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Merry Christmas Email: Comments: Merry Christmas to all who linger here. The older element is thinning out, but the newer ones will soon realize that there's much to be gained from maintaining connections with those who shared the same turf in Tulsa.
Again, enjoy!
168 December 20 2012 at 20:35:46 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: 12-21-2012 Email: Comments: IF the world does not end on Friday - I will be 62 and Ed "Moe" Morris - whom I spoke with today - is 68.
It would have been Bob Hower's birthday, too....
In the next day or so - it would have been Don Lundy's 66th - I think.
Funny how so many guys that I worked in TV with in Tulsa and other markets had "Christmas week birthdays"...
I'll never forget them - all....
167 December 16 2012 at 20:17:58 Name: Wesley Horton Topic: The Rubiot Email: okc_rn at yahoo dot com Comments: Regarding Terry Shonkwiler, and David Worrell's quesiton about the infamous, "An Evening at the Rubiot."
It seems that Sonny Gray is on the staff of the music department at TU. I sent him an email a while back asking if any copies of this still exist or are available. I have received NO response.
I have noticed that Sonny Gray still appears and performs on occasion here in Tulsa and the surrounding area. I have not been able to find a convenient place where his scheduling are listed.
I would certainly think SOMEONE has a copy that they are not planning their retirement account on. . it is just a matter of finding one . . .and I have been looking for a while.
I noticed when looking at the label for the album, it was recorded in Mono sadly.
I guess we will all keep looking and hopefully one day someone will find it!
166 December 12 2012 at 06:42:22 Name: David Bagsby Topic: 12-12-12 Email: Comments: Here is my Citizen Kane...the longest 24 seconds of your life:
165 December 12 2012 at 00:43:53 Name: David Worrell Topic: The Rubiot Email: david dot j dot worrell at gmail Comments: I would also be very interested in hearing that album "An Evening at the Rubiot". I see a few used copies of the vinyl out on the internet going for $200 or so (one is on eBay). I have no turntable so I'll have to pass.
I never went out to that club, but my ex-mother-in-law used to tell me about the place - apparently they went there all the time and knew Sonny and Susan, because she was married to a guy named "Gordon" who was heavily into jazz and for a time was the announcer at the summer jazz concerts they used to have in Skelly Stadium.
So I've always wanted to somehow get an earful of that scene...
164 December 09 2012 at 17:37:41 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Pearl Email: Comments: My father had been listening on the car radio, parked in the driveway. My mother and one of my two brothers were at home, as well. It was a normal, quiet Sunday.
Suddenly, my father rushed into the house saying :The Japs have bombed Pearl Harbor."
I had heard the name, but knew nothing about it. I was nine at the time.
My mother winced as my father said, "This means we're at war." She was thinking of my older brother who was fourteen, but who might--and eventually did--get called into service before it was all over.
Years later, on board a ship in drydock at Pearl, looking across the harbor at the Arizona memorial where all ships and shore installations take their cue for the daily raising and lowering of the flag, I remembered that day, and the changes in wrought in the lives of my family and all the others.
163 December 07 2012 at 18:57:22 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: December 7th, 1941 Email: Comments: Before my time - but what of you from that age - still have a memory of Pearl Harbor Day?
A former girlfriend - born in Bulgaria but a naturalized citizen - is off for a month in Hawaii. Her daughter was a US Park Service Ranger at the time of 9/11 back then. She now lives there.
Both have said - it seems like younger generations - unless a "service related family" - have kind of gotten out of step in even thinking about Dec. 7th - it might as well have been a Civil War battle....
162 December 04 2012 at 21:44:25 Name: D Williams Topic: Bob Hower Email: jonahpro at hotmail dot com Comments: Guess I'm a little late on this but I live in Kansas City now and I just heard about Bob Hower's passing. I left Tulsa in 1987 but I grew up listening to and watching Bob Hower. Then in my 20's while I was performing at the City Club on 31st around the mid-70's I wrote this song called the Oklahoma Brown Baggin' Blues, cause the clubs were all getting busted almost nightly it seemed for serving drinks open-bottle. Not long after, Bob Hower and his crew showed up at the door and wanted to film that song for a segment on 'Bob Hower's Tulsa'. Very professional man. First time I met him in person but he made everyone feel comfortable. Guess he will always hold a spot in just about any subset of Tulsa memories. RIP Bob.
161 November 27 2012 at 17:31:10 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: 2" tape Email: Comments: As previously noted - for years I had an ABC News Archives 2" on the Watergate Hearings (I think) as my door stop at Atlantic Video.
Somebody later boosted it.
ABC had forgotten about it - we were doing 1" and BetaSP dubs of it and much more for the National Archives...
160 November 26 2012 at 18:25:12 Name: Terry Shonkwiler Topic: Albums Email: terry@shonkwilerpartners.com Comments: Does anyone have a copy of Sonny and Susan Gray's album:
An Evening at the Rubaiyat?
The Rubaiyat was a supper club off Riverside Drive and 81st (?)
in the mid 1960's.
Anyone remember?
Terry Shonkwiler
Las Vegas, NV
159 November 24 2012 at 19:16:50 Name: John Hillis Topic: Wire Recorder Email: Comments: I vastly enjoyed Mr. Ruddle's explanation of the wire recorder, and not just because it used an explanation of measurement based on the size of a 100-foot reel of 16 mm film.
Also on the subject of abandoned technologies, I had occasion recently to hear that a decorator out West was looking for the shipment cases used with two-inch videotape (the big teal-colored ones), as a home accent. Not interested in the tape, mind you, just the boxes that we used to pick up at the bus depot from the next station on the Mike Douglas Show bicycle route.
Presumably, they've found some way to remove the thousands of labels that were slapped one over the other on the sides, or maybe they just add to the decor cachet of the things.
158 November 23 2012 at 12:10:55 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Nov. 22, 1963 Email: Comments: JFK was slain in Dallas.
CBS and most documentaries haul out the Walter Cronkite scene of him pronouncing JFK dead on air...
157 November 23 2012 at 09:05:28 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Wire recorder Football Email: Comments: Writing about how the wire is fixed in the recorder:
The word is "led" of course. Like the "Moving Finger" of Omar's poem, once you've sent an entry,
"..nor all your Piety nor Wit,
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."
156 November 23 2012 at 08:56:27 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Football Fun Email: Comments: Frank Morrow's lament about high school football and radio brought back bitter memories.
In the fall of 1948, Ted Machler and I were tasked with hauling back to Central High School a slice of the color of a game between the Braves and some other worthy group of athletes. How we were to do this is a watershed in the alteration of technology and its effects on broadcasting.
We were to accomplish our chore not with a tape recorder--which the school did not yet own--but with a WIRE RECORDER, a device from hell, personally engineered by the Devil himself.
In case you never dealt with one of these malignant inventions, imagine a 1950's model transistor radio, relatively small compared with older tube portables, but a handful, nonetheless.
Now, picture a reel of hair-thin wire, the reel about half the size of a 100-foot
16mm film spool.
This copper-colored wire was loaded into the machine and was lead over the recording/playback heads, an activity that seemed destined for tangles and snarls. When running, there was a solid, scraping, metallic contact and it degraded the recording almost faster than it made it.
But that was nothing compared with the editing process. To accomplish an edit, one broke the wire, or snipped it, then--so help me--a square knot was tied to join the disparate pieces. When that knot went over the playback head the resultant "pop" got your attention. Also, it undoubtedly scored a nick in the head.
Then, too, the wire was so damned flimsy and unmanageable that sweet personalities like mine were turned to hate. I've read that in Finland they have annual contests to see who can throw cell phones the farthest. They should have had one earlier for wire recorders.
155 November 21 2012 at 21:51:53 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Old days Email: Comments: The stories about covering high school football and Forrest Brokaw brought back some memories for me. When I was driving the KRMG Newsmobile in 1956-57, one of the places I would visit would be the high school football and basketball games. Reporting on them would help me fill out my quota of events to report on each night. I'd pull the vehicle (a VW Microbus with a transmitter and tape recorder) into Skelly Stadium or park it outside a gymnasium and report the progress of the games.
Forest Brokaw was program director for KVOO-TV when I was employed by KRMG. I really liked my job and the people on the staff of the radio station, but was curious about working in TV. Consequently, I got an interview with Brokaw. Unlike the four radio stations I had worked for previously, he had no formal material for doing a tryout. He merely found an old poster in a trash can and asked me to improvise a commercial. After the interview he said that as an on-camera announcer I would be given $400 a month. Although this was much better than the $1.00 an hour I was given at KAKC or the $275 a month at KTUL, it was less than the $425 I was making at KRMG, which was a good salary at the time.
I happily resumed my work at KRMG, but I'll always remember my hour of being underwhelmed by Brokaw and TV in Tulsa. I had the impression that local TV stations wanted people to work for peanuts just to have the "glory" of being on TV.
154 November 20 2012 at 10:48:34 Name: aubrey Topic: great fundraising event Email: churchofsaintpeter01@yahoo.co.uk Comments: we had a great event, thanks for the info.
churchofsaintpeter01@yahoo.co.uk
153 November 17 2012 at 09:29:18 Name: Mitch Gray Topic: Wonder-ful Aroma Email: North Of You Comments: One of the best places to be in Tulsa, around 2 in the afternoon,is near 11th and Sheridan. The Hostess bakery would be in full swing and the air is filled with the smell of fresh baked bread. But no more.
After decades of baking, Wonder Bread is shutting down.
So long Ho-Hos. Goodbye Ding Dongs. Adieu Twinkies.
152 November 16 2012 at 18:02:33 Name: DolfanBob Topic: Local media guys Email: DolfanBob@lycos.com Comments: That was a great read Dave. But speaking of Scooter Segraves. He and another TTVM poster have seemed to disappear from Facebook. Gary Chew was another of my friends on there and now both have gone. Any news as to what has happened to them? I always enjoyed reading Mr Chews reviews and keeping up with where Scooter B was.
151 November 16 2012 at 01:15:49 Name: Dave Dryden Topic: KELi Radio Email: Comments: Just came across the piece on KELi – complete with an illustration by Gailard Sartain, who graduated from Will Rogers a few months before I started there. Although I never met Gailard, even after he graduated he was much talked about at school – especially by Bill Cochran, who later was a DJ at KRAV for several years before moving back to Coalinga, CA, where he was born and lived until shortly before high school. Bill was a couple of years ahead of me at Rogers.
Rumor has it that Gailard, who wrote scripts and regularly appeared on the tv program Hee Haw, was largely responsible for Roy Clark’s buying house near 20th and Terwilliger and moving to Tulsa from Nashville. As the story goes, the two frequently met in both cities to work on scripts, and Clark fell in love with Tulsa. I can’t vouch the accuracy of that. (Speaking of accuracy, Wikipedia says Gailard graduated in 1963. Since he graduated before I started there in 196w. that can’t be right.)
I had a summer internship in photography at the Tulsa Tribune in 1962, the summer before I started high school, and I took most of the Tribune's high school sports photos during 1962-63.
The Tribune had some budget cutbacks the next year, including big cuts in the budget for part-time employees. Just before the beginning of the 1963-64 school year, KAKC announced that they would have live reports from Skelly Stadium during high-school football games, done by George Basil Segraves III (aka Scooter Segraves) and sponsored by Orbachs. So I made an appointment with Bill Miller, who was then program director at KELi, and suggested that KELI do the same – but have a high school student do the reports. He asked if I had anyone in mind. “Yeah, me.” I was kinda surprised when he bought the idea.
This was before KELi moved to the faigrounds. They operated from a small house in north Tulsa that had three large towers (they were directional southwest, as I recall) outside. After they moved to the fairgrounds, the transmitter and towers remained in north Tulsa.
So that fall I did 10-12 live reports during each high school game at Skelly. The stadium had (and apparently still has) that three-tier press box on the east side. The bottom level was print media. The second level was radio. The top level was tv. I had the tiny booth at the south end of the second level (large enough to seat two people – barely) for high-school games. Scooter Segraves had the one just north of mine. The big booths were at the center of each level, on the 50-yard line. Toward the ends they got progressively smaller.
During halftime (especially when the weather was cold or wet), cheerleaders from both schools somehow managed to find the radio booth – and both booths were crammed way beyond capacity, with people sitting on laps, etc. Whatever hot chocolate I had left at that point quickly disappeared.
Even though he went to Edison, Bob Losure (later of KVOO, KOTV and CNN Headline News) was a good friend of mine. He wrote sports stories for Tulsa School Life (back when there was one weekly newspaper for all eight high schools), and Bob often went with me when Edison was playing at Skelly. Bob used to borrow my binoculars during halftime at Edison’s games and gawk at one of the Edison baton twirlers (whom he finally met years afterward at an Edison reunion, while he was working at KOTV, and later married just before going to CNN). Last time I heard from Bob, he had remarried and was living in Henderson, NV. (Wikipedia says Bob was born in 1942. That’s about five years off. We both graduated from high school in 1965.)
The next summer, KELi gave me two Tulsa Oilers season tickets and several rolls of dimes and sent me to all the Oilers home games and call in the score from a pay phone at the ballpark after each inning. KVOO had the contract to do the play-by-play for Oilers games that summer. Other stations could only give the score after each inning. Bob went with me to some of the games.
A few weeks before the end of the summer, I got a call from the World. One of their photographers was going to be in the hospital for a while, and I was asked to work there full-time. I took Bob out to KELi and introduced him to Bill Miller and asked Bill if it would be okay if Bob called in the scores for the rest of the season. He agreed, so handed over the tickets and what was left of the dimes and took the job at the World.
Around 1994, after I had moved to St. Louis, Bob wrote a book (“Five Seconds to Air: Broadcast Journalism Behind the Scenes”) about life at CNN. I went to the Borders in Creve Coeur, a St. Louis suburb, to see Bob at his book signing and hear what he had to say. There were 200+ people who went to see him, get his book autographed and listen to his remarks. At one point Bob pointed to me and said, “That’s Dave Dryden, the guy who gave me my first job in broadcasting.” I thought, what the @)#!@ is he talking about?
Then he launched into the story about KELi and the Oilers. He mentioned that a country-western radio station in Sapulpa had a sign on the left centerfield wall at Oilers Park. That station gave him his second broadcasting job – as a DJ from 2-6am. Bob said he was convinced that nobody was listening during the wee hours – and one night he decided to find out. He announced that the fourth caller would win – $1 million. (That was a lot of money back then.) There wasn’t even a question to answer. One light on the phone lit up. It was the program director of the station. Shortly after that Bob moved on to his third job in broadcasting – at KVOO. After that, he was co-anchor (with Clayton Vaughn, who formerly did a morning shift as one of KAKC’s “big seven rockers”) of KOTV 6pm News.
After that, the late Ed (“no relation to Ted”) Turner, who grew up in Bartlesville and was producer of the CBS Morning News for several years, hired Bob as an evening/weekend anchor and special projects director at CNN Headline News. (After CBS, Turner retuned to Oklahoma as news director of KWTV in Oklahoma City, where he built an award-winning news staff. When Turner started at CNN, he took his entire staff at Channel 9 – producers, directors, editors, reporters, anchors, camera operators – with him. The only exception was Jerry Adams, formerly one of KAKC’s “big seven rockers,” who had resurfaced as an evening news anchor at KWTV. Jerry and his wife Carol opted to remain in Oklahoma City.)
Back in high school…. one evening I was at the station talking to Bill Miller when Jerry Adams came out to ask Miller about a job. Miller’s response: “We don’t hire people from KAKC – unless their last name is Segraves.” Miller did tell him about an opening at KTRN in Wichita Falls, TX, which was owned the owner of KELi, the T&O (Texas and Oklahoma) Broadcasting Co. Although I came across Jerry again in Oklahoma City several years later, I don’t know whether he took the job in Wichita Falls or not.
I also worked with Forrest Brokaw, who was news director at KELi back then. Forrest later became PR director at the Sun Oil refinery in Tulsa. I believe it was a Sinclair refinery before Sun acquired it. My senior year (when I as doing photography at the Tulsa World), Horst Jankowski had a record called “A Walk in the Black Forest” – which Mike Kelly (we all know that wasn’t his real last name – lol – but I won’t give it here) introduced at least once as “A Walk in the Black Forrest Brokaw.”
Throughout the 1980’s I worked in public relations for Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville while Forrest was at Sun. Jim Lange, the editorial cartoonist at The Oklahoman in OKC (where I worked for ten years after high school and college), was president of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and the association’s annual meeting was to be at the Sheraton in downtown OKC. Jim called me and asked if maybe Phillips would spring for breakfast and lunch one day during the meeting – and provide the convention program that morning. Of course we did – and brought in the American Petroleum Institute and Sun to make it more of an industry-wide effort.
We had four speakers – an executive VP from Phillips, A VP from API, Forrest’s boss (who was VP of refining at Sun) and Jim Gillie, a Will Rogers-style humorist whose full-time job at Phillips was giving speeches. I was in Oklahoma City for a couple of days before the meeting. The Phillips exec flew in on a company plane the morning of the program. I picked him up at the airport. I was supposed to leave the keys to my rental car with the bell captain so he could drive himself back to the airport after the luncheon. I was going to take the hotel’s limo to the airport and fly to Washington later in the day after tying up some loose ends.
Forrest’s boss was going to catch a plane to New York and had to leave before the luncheon. Forrest was supposed to drive him to the airport at the end of Sun’s part of the program, which was just before lunch. But Forrest had parked his car on the roof of the parking garage that morning – and left the lights on. Forrest, out of breath, rushed up to me just before lunch and asked me to help him jump-start his car. We couldn’t get it started, so he asked to borrow my rental car so his boss wouldn’t miss his flight. Reluctantly I handed him the keys after Forrest assured me he’d give the keys to the bell captain by the end of the luncheon.
When Forrest got back to the hotel with the keys, the Phillips exec was explaining to the bell captain that he knew the bell captain had the car keys – besides I said he’d have them. Forrest handed him the keys and tried to walk off – but he couldn’t get away without giving an explanation of the convoluted chain of events.
150 November 10 2012 at 05:58:45 Name: David Bagsby Topic: TSO Email: Comments: The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra is indeed a top drawer unit. The pianist last week was Steven Lin and incredible.
149 November 09 2012 at 08:10:50 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Tulsa Symphony Email: Comments: Last week's concert of the outstanding Tulsa Symphony brought back a lot of Tulsa memories. There is a long, continuous line of such concert groups, going all the way back to the Starlight Concerts that my mother took me to at Skelly Stadium in the late 1930s.
In the '50s, the Tulsa Philharmonic performed at Convention Hall, now called the Brady Theater. I didn't miss a performance because KTUL's Program Director, Karl Janssen, would give me a free, complimentary ticket. Karl hosted a classical music program on KTUL (radio) each week. KTUL's Traffic Supervisor, Rudy Cohen, played violin in the orchestra.
When the Tulsa Philharmonic was trying to become recognized as a major orchestra in the US, they would haul out two dazzling works to perform for the people who would come to town to evaluate the Philharmonic. One was the "Firebird Suite" by Stravinsky and the other was the "Pines of Rome" by Respighi. The latter was played by the Tulsa Symphony last Sunday.
Another factor that stimulated a memory for me last Sunday was the playing of Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," a piece that is much like a concerto for piano and orchestra. One of the variations (the 18th, I believe) was used to make a very popular 78rpm record that was played on regular disk jockey programs all over the country in the early 1950s. It was extremely unusual for a purely classical arrangement to be made for popular consumption. (There were many classical themes that had been adapted for popular arrangements, but not in a purely classical format.)
The record propelled a young American pianist, William Kapell, to national fame. What made the record even more interesting, as well as poignant, is that this wonderfully gifted performer was killed in a plane crash a few months after the record took the country by storm. Memories of Kapell buzzed through my mind Sunday while listening to another young prodigy play the same work with the Tulsa Symphony.
148 November 01 2012 at 13:29:53 Name: Nancy Grayson Topic: Orleans Cafe Email: gngrayson at cox dot net Comments: Does anyone remember the Orleans Cafe located on Boston, between 2nd and 3rd, west side of street? It was was there in the late 1950s.
Awhile back, Michael Bates of BatesLine.com created a Google file from the 1957 Polk's City Directory showing Tulsa's restaurants as of 1957, marked with a knife-and-fork icon: Google Map of Tulsa eateries in 1957. There I see: Orleans Café, 214 S Boston Ave. Here is how it looks there now.
147 November 01 2012 at 12:47:22 Name: Frank Morrow Topic: "Engineering" console Email: frankdotmorrow@coxdot net Comments: I haven't been in a radio station since 1957 when I left Tulsa and the radio profession for a new life in the Navy. I'm curious what a contemporary studio and "engineering" console looks like now. Do any stations still run "combo?" With so many local stations being controlled from out of town and with so much different equipment being used nowadays, I can't imagine what such an installation looks like.
My first guess is that 78rpm records are no longer played.
146 October 26 2012 at 21:18:24 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Kortney contact Email: jruddle@earthlink.net Comments: Dear Kortney--I'm reachable through my email address (above) or perhaps the national crime database. In either case, I'd be delighted to hear from you.
Jim Ruddle