[78-L] Buffalo Radio-TV Memories

[David Lennick]

Might be of more than local interest. Be warned, it will have pledge breaks.

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/television/article270901.ece

Remember when: WNED special recalls great moments in Buffalo broadcasting
By Anne Neville

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Published:
December 2, 2010, 07:57 AM



A young Irv Weinstein, an even younger Kevin O'Connell, and such memorable 
shows as "Meet the Millers" and "Hi-Teen Quiz" will return to TV screens when 
an hourlong show packed with decades of radio and television memories debuts 
Monday.

The WNED-TV local production of "Don't Touch That Dial: Great Moments in Local 
Broadcasting," traces the history of Buffalo radio and television from the 
1950s through the early 1980s, with plenty of unforgettable -- and some better 
left forgotten -- moments.

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TV PREVIEW

"Don't Touch that Dial: Great Moments in Local Broadcasting"

  8 p.m. Monday and 5 p.m.  Dec. 11 on WNED-TV

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"If people were born and raised in the Buffalo area, watching Buffalo 
television, they will not only love seeing the vintage clips of newscasts or 
'Rocketship 7,' but they're going to love the interviews with the folks that we 
were able to get," says Lynne Bader-Gregory, producer of the show. "Seeing 
these people now will be another thrill."

The show includes plenty of archival footage, as well as fresh interviews with 
Kevin O'Connell, Dan Neaverth, Rich Kellman, Joey Reynolds, Barry Lillis, Doris 
Jones, Susan Banks, Sheila Murphy, Van Miller, and Weinstein's sidekicks in the 
legendary top-rated Channel 7 news, sports and weather team, Tom Jolls and Rick 
Azar.

The show begins with radio, starting with WGR-AM in 1922, followed by WEBR, 
WKBW and WBEN, founded by The Buffalo Evening News. Clint Buehlman ruled the 
morning air for decades, providing entertaining news and talk, and 
groundbreaking disc jockey George "Hound Dog" Lorenz ushered in the era of rock 
'n' roll.

"Buffalo" Bob Smith never forgot his roots when his "Howdy Doody Show" went 
national, but another Buffalonian, Fran Striker, worked at WEBR before going on 
to create "The Lone Ranger," "The Green Hornet" and "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon."

The 50,000-watt WKBW radio, playing Top 40 songs, dominated the eastern 
seaboard at night. Radio veteran Neaverth quips that the dramatic and 
high-energy "WKBW Pulse Beat News," featuring a very young Irv Weinstein, 
"would be enough to scare you, even if there was nothing happening!"

Neavearth calls Joey Reynolds, who worked at a string of local and national 
stations, "probably one of the best, most exciting disc jockeys I've ever heard 
and worked with, and totally irresponsible ... [he] had every top radio job in 
the country for six months, and then he would do something really silly, or 
stupid and would get fired."

When the story shift to the rise of television, video augments the soundtracks.

Archival footage was contributed by all three local TV channels, and 
Bader-Gregory says one particularly interesting sequence fell into their laps.

Barry Lillis, who punctuated his weather forecasts on Channel 2 with wacky 
antics, tells about a Halloween broadcast from a viewer's yard that had been 
set up as a spooky graveyard. The story segues into a historic clip that shows 
a lighted candelabra toppling to the ground as Lillis talks. Still talking, 
Lillis throws himself nimbly onto a casket and blows out the flames before they 
can spread. The clip ends, and Lillis quips, "and as I'm trying to do the 
weather, I'm stomping out the fire."

"He told that story without us even knowing that that tape existed," says 
Bader-Gregory. "Channel 2 had delivered their footage to us probably three 
weeks later and my jaw dropped when I saw that and I said, 'We absolutely have 
to include this.'"

Other highlights include:

•WKBW radio's 1968 Halloween night adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic, "War of 
the Worlds," in which local radio and TV personalities broadcast fictitious 
reports of an alien landing on Grand Island. As it had 30 years earlier, the 
broadcast caused panic among people who had missed the starting explanation or 
failed to recognize the classic. "It was great, it was a lot of fun," says 
Weinstein, who imaginatively narrated the action from high atop Buffalo City 
Hall until the aliens got him.
•Sports coverage through the years, including Van Miller's Buffalo Bills 
broadcasts and Rick Jeanneret's enthusiastic Sabres calls. Neaverth calls 
Miller "the all-time greatest broadcaster in Buffalo, in my opinion." Miller 
says, "I was a Buffalo fan, naturally, but I tried to be very honest and 
objective in the play by play."
•The long-dominant Channel 7 Eyewitness News, from the unforgettable opening 
tune to the pointed question, "It's 11 o'clock, do you know where your children 
are?" Weinstein discusses his punchy, often alliterative lines, although in a 
phone interview from his home in Irvine, Calif., he denies ever using the 
phrase "pistol-packing punks" on TV, saying he was not sure he could have kept 
a straight face. "It was a chemistry, it was something that people saw in Irv, 
Rick and Tom that they liked," says Azar of the trio's success.
•The role of women in TV news, which lagged far behind their male counterparts 
until well into the 1970s. Pioneers included Liz Dribben, Paula Drew and Jones, 
who recalls that she often modeled fashions provided by local stores and 
affixed sparkly icons indicating snow or rain to her weather maps. Later women 
reporters and anchors included Carol Crissy (later Jasen), Susan Banks and 
Sheila Murphy, the first full-time prime-time co-anchor.
•The Blizzard of '77, about which O'Connell says, "I think the blizzard for me 
was the first test that I had at communicating, really communicating ... 
information that [people] needed. We had to be bigger than a weather forecast 
at that end of the desk at that time." True to form, a clip shows Lillis going 
to lunch on a sled pulled by two dogs.
•Programs for young people, ranging from "It's Academic" to "A Visit With 
Santa," which ran annually from 1948 to 1973 on Channel 4. "Even as a kid, I 
knew that was the real Santa," says Mike Randall. Tom Jolls says people still 
mention his red-jacketed days as "Commander Tom," and "that bit of recognition 
makes my whole past worthwhile." Dave Thomas reminisces about being at the helm 
of Rocketship 7, dealing with the antics of Promo the robot.
Bader-Gregory says she "really enjoyed listening to these broadcasters talk 
about not only their own careers but each other. You could tell that even if 
they competed with each other on the air, they had a real respect for the 
industry and when they looked back, they knew the kind of history they were 
making."

But Weinstein differs a bit. "It depends on how far back you go," he says. "In 
the really early days, it was very competitive and there wasn't a lot of 
camaraderie. There were individuals who I chummed around with, but generally 
speaking there was not a lot of warm interplay. That developed about 20 years ago.

"There was more palling around in radio, when after we were done with our day's 
labors we might meet at a bar or at the Town Restaurant for some rice pudding 
and hot coffee."

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A free viewing party for the premiere will begin at 7 p.m. Monday in Founding 
Fathers Pub, 75 Edward St. It will be hosted by local history Web sites 
ForgottenBuffalo.com and StaffAnnouncer.com, whose creators, Steve Cichon and 
Marty Biniasz, also appear on the show.



  aneville at buffnews.com