TBS, WGN and the WB

[brad...@dwx.com]

----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Hass [mailto:hassg...@gmail.com]
Sent: 11/2/2005 8:26:26 AM
To: tvb...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: "Tush"

> Here's my question: at what point did the various superstations start
> splitting their programming to this level? IIRC, way back when, the
> superstations were simulcasts of the OTA broadcasts.

I don't know if there was a specific date but it was around the time
that cable and superstations stated being more available around the country
and the distributors of syndicated programming realized that they were having
a harder time selling off-network programming because the superstations were already carrying it to a majority of the cabled households.

FWIW, the reason that cable subscribers get the WGN evening news and the mid-day news (if it's still on)but not the morning news show is because that telecast uses a lot of syndicated news features that are sold to other local markets and are required to be blacked out like much of the local off-network programming WGN runs on their Chicago-only feed.

During the Jordan-era the NBA put a cap on how many Chicago Bulls telecasts were allowed to be on the satellite feed (due to national rights agreements)and that's why occasionally there will be a movie on the satellite feed when channel 9 is showing the game in Chicago.

(And he goes on...) The ironic thing is that WGN carries the WB in Chicago and early on Warner loved the fact that their network got national distribution via the superstation. A year or two later they determined that the distribution they loved was also keeping local stations from signing up for the network. And that's when WGN started blocking out the WB programs with that exciting low budget syndicated programming in the evenings.

[Mark J.]

The midday news is still on and on the national WGN--gotta keep the Tom
Skilling cult happy.

In addition, "Sex and the City," the weekend airings of "DaVinci's
Inquest" (which I thought was going to be on WBBM here--guess they
didn't want it next to the "CSI" reruns) and "Andy Griffith" and
"Matlock" air on the national and Chicago feeds at the same time. (In
Chicago, WGN only airs the black-and-white "Andy" eps, since Don Knotts
left when the show went color--when they used to use it as summer
relief in late fringe, it seemed to be promoted not as "The Andy
Griffith Show" but "The Barney Fife Show," complete with the promo set
to Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives.")

[KJB]

At 09:37 AM 11/2/2005, brad...@dwx.com wrote:
>The ironic thing is that WGN carries the WB in Chicago and early on Warner
>loved the fact that their network got national distribution via the
>superstation. A year or two later they determined that the distribution
>they loved was also keeping local stations from signing up for the
>network. And that's when WGN started blocking out the WB programs with
>that exciting low budget syndicated programming in the evenings.

The blackouts go all the way back to "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman". Local
broadcasters were convinced they were seeing a ratings drop because viewers
could catch the show on WGN earlier than it was being run locally (it is
one of the few times the locals were probably right). They complained and
that started the blackout practice - up to that point, the contracts didn't
have to contain a blackout stipulation for satellite or cable because it
didn't exist - the worst that would happen would be that you could catch
the station in Topeka that ran the series if you lived in KC with a really
good antenna.


KJB

[KJB]

At 10:05 AM 11/2/2005, Mark J. wrote:
>it seemed to be promoted not as "The Andy
>Griffith Show" but "The Barney Fife Show," complete with the promo set
>to Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives."

I remember those promos - brilliant stuff. There are times when you get
someone at a local station that starts to have fun with the pretty
thankless job of cranking out promos every day for 40 year old TV
shows. We had a couple of people at KSMO in KC for a while that were
having a blast with things like "Frasier" promos. In some cases, they were
funnier than the show.


KJB

[Mark J.]

Wasn't "Mary" (WFLD carried that show), it was "Donahue," which WGN
carried live one week before any other station during the days of
"bicycling" in syndication (sending tapes from one station to another,
meaning that the big cities show an episode long before small towns).

The Syndication Exclusivity Act was repealed sometime in the early 80s,
but got reinstated mostly as a reaction to WWOR picking up the "Cosby"
reruns (and airing Arsenio at 11:30 p.m. ET, before he came on in some
markets). While the cable systems did their own blacking out the first
time around, when Syndex came back the distributors of WWOR and WGN to
cable systems decided to do their own replacing. Now, WGN does its own
purchasing and scheduling, I believe, while WWOR EMI Service ceased
cable distribution in 1996--WWOR's feed to digital and BUDs is now the
same as what New York viewers get (and they can also access UPN
programming on Boston's WSBK, which was also distributed by EMI Service
in its broadcast superstation days).

[KJB]

At 10:56 AM 11/2/2005, Mark J. wrote:
>Wasn't "Mary" (WFLD carried that show), it was "Donahue," which WGN
>carried live one week before any other station during the days of
>"bicycling" in syndication (sending tapes from one station to another,
>meaning that the big cities show an episode long before small towns).

Actually, thinking back, it was both. I remember the "Donahue" brouhaha
now as well. The one that has always stuck in my head was the fight over
"Mary" during that first season when it was the syndie success story. One
of the markets that screamed the loudest was Des Moines and it was all over
the news. It was a big deal - barter syndication didn't exist yet so
stations had to pay cash for the episodes. If there was someone else
getting to the viewers before you could, your station stood to lose a lot
of money.

God, I remember having to help out with bicycling the tapes and films at
KCBR. I also remember we used to have one of the stations in the loop that
was terrible about keeping up their end of the deal - they'd send us stuff
like "Bob Newhart Show" late and we'd have to repeat an episode we'd played
earlier in the week or, even worse, they would do their hatchet job on
"Trek" episodes and 'forget' to re-insert the footage like they were
supposed to. Some of those "Trek" prints had so much splicing tape that it
was nearly a second layer to the film.


KJB

[brad...@dwx.com]

Mary Hartman was not carried in Des Moines
the first season it was on. I lived in Des Moines
back then (still do)and we didn't get it
until much later in the run. It was shown on
channel 32 in Chicago and my mother used to send
periodic updates of the show in the mail.

[Ed Dravecky]

Mark J. <mjef...@wr-llp.com> wrote:
> While the cable systems did their own blacking out the first time
> around, when Syndex came back the distributors of WWOR and
> WGN to cable systems decided to do their own replacing.

When syndex came back th first few weeks my cable company just ran a
black screen with a chyron message explaining why. They quickly
realized that they could just as easily drop in an hour of a home
shopping channel with an occasional crawl explaining why the show you
wanted was missing. Now WGN can at least get some ad revenue while
freeing we the viewers from yet another hour of people hawking
commemorative coins and diet creams.

--
Ed Dravecky III
Allen, Texas USA

[KJB]

At 12:23 PM 11/2/2005, brad...@dwx.com wrote:
> Mary Hartman was not carried in Des Moines
>the first season it was on. I lived in Des Moines
>back then (still do)and we didn't get it
>until much later in the run. It was shown on
>channel 32 in Chicago and my mother used to send
>periodic updates of the show in the mail.

I lived there, too. I remember Pascizzi at channel 8 being really pissed
about it. I'll have to go back and look - it may have been when a DSM
affiliate picked it up for the second season that they really had to scream
about it. It was coming through Hawkeye Cable from somewhere outside of
town and one of the locals didn't like it. I thought they all behaved like
asses back then so I initially thought it was just another local station
trying to convince us that cable was the "monster in our livings rooms" (I
actually have one of those promos around here somewhere). But the locals
had a point, especially during the days of having to pay cash for
syndicated series.


KJB

[Mark Roberts]

On 11/2/05, KJB <osi...@idir.net> wrote:

The blackouts go all the way back to "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman".  Local
broadcasters were convinced they were seeing a ratings drop because viewers
could catch the show on WGN earlier than it was being run locally (it is
one of the few times the locals were probably right).

Well, Columbia, Mo. did not get WGN on cable until about 2002, but 25 years earlier, the then-worst television station in the world, KCBJ, carried Mary Hartman episodes *one year* late.

Yes, *one* *year*. Every night at 10 pm.

##

[Mark Roberts]

On 11/2/05, Mark J. <mjef...@wr-llp.com> wrote:

The midday news is still on and on the national WGN--gotta keep the Tom
Skilling cult happy.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

Would you prefer Roberta Gonzalez? Trade ya!

##
 

[bradford]

Might very well have been from Uncle Ed and KSHB in Kansas
City. That was coming into the market along with a station from
Minneapolis. I didn't have cable then.

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[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 2, 2005, at 10:51 PM, bradford wrote:

>
> Might very well have been from Uncle Ed and KSHB in Kansas
> City. That was coming into the market along with a station from
> Minneapolis. I didn't have cable then.

I have somewhat hazy memories of sticking KSHB on good ol' Channel 10
(LO channel) around every night at midnight for a while unless we
forgot to flip the switch, which was often. Then we switched to WTCG
(Watch This Channel Grow!) before it moved to its own channel on the
system. Seems like we used the Minneapolis station mostly to pick up a
soap opera WOI didn't air. Or Twins games. Or both. Geez, my memory is
going fast.

Hawkeye Cablevision: The eight dollar home improvement. That song goes
through my head every time I look at my increasingly ridiculous
Mediacom bill.

Melissa N.

[Mark Roberts]

On 11/2/05, Melissa Neal <drm...@earthlink.net> wrote:

I have somewhat hazy memories of sticking KSHB on good ol' Channel 10
(LO channel) around every night at midnight for a while unless we
forgot to flip the switch, which was often. Then we switched to WTCG
(Watch This Channel Grow!) before it moved to its own channel on the
system. Seems like we used the Minneapolis station mostly to pick up a
soap opera WOI didn't air. Or Twins games. Or both. Geez, my memory is
going fast.

I think KSHB was one of those stations that was carried on regional microwave links. Those may or may not have been CARS relays. Columbia got KSHB on a  CARS relay because the local CBS affiliate was upset about plans to carry St. Louis's KPLR instead. KPLR was a true regional superstation at the time and quite popular among ex-St Louisans, including many University of Missouri students. Oddly enough, KRCG, aforesaid CBS affiliate, based in Jefferson City, apparently never objected to the fact that the same relay system made it possible for the Jefferson City cable system to carry...you guessed it...KPLR!

There was a lot of horse-trading that went on to get that Columbia system up and running with the St Louis signals that were highly desired. We did get the Big Three plus PBS from KETC (and KCPT in Kansas City). All those signals except KSDK and KETC have dropped from that system.

I've heard that Oakland's KTVU was similarly a regional superstation but I don't know many details.

##

[bradford]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Melissa Neal" <drm...@earthlink.net>
To: <tvb...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 10:30 PM
Subject: Re: TBS, WGN and the WB


>
>
> On Nov 2, 2005, at 10:51 PM, bradford wrote:
>
> >
> > Might very well have been from Uncle Ed and KSHB in Kansas
> > City. That was coming into the market along with a station from
> > Minneapolis. I didn't have cable then.
>
> I have somewhat hazy memories of sticking KSHB on good ol' Channel 10
> (LO channel) around every night at midnight for a while unless we
> forgot to flip the switch, which was often. Then we switched to WTCG
> (Watch This Channel Grow!) before it moved to its own channel on the
> system. Seems like we used the Minneapolis station mostly to pick up a
> soap opera WOI didn't air. Or Twins games. Or both. Geez, my memory is
> going fast.

I believe the Cedar Rapids stations on a microwavve feed were used to pick
up
network programming that was being pre-empted by the local stations. (I can
sense the fingers hovering over the DELETE key as I type this!)

>
> Hawkeye Cablevision: The eight dollar home improvement. That song goes
> through my head every time I look at my increasingly ridiculous
> Mediacom bill.

Yeah, well there is no Hawkeye Cablevision anymore. It's Mediacom now.
Or in my home, DirecTV!

[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 3, 2005, at 12:15 AM, bradford wrote:

>
> I believe the Cedar Rapids stations on a microwavve feed were used
> to pick
> up
> network programming that was being pre-empted by the local stations.
> (I can
> sense the fingers hovering over the DELETE key as I type this!)

Yes, I remembered that about two seconds after I hit the send button.
There was no trouble remembering to flip the switch on that one--every
phone line would light up ten seconds after the show was supposed to
appear. Where's my soap, damn you! I'm coming out there to kick your
ass!

Come to think of it, I had my life threatened quite regularly while
working for Hawkeye.

Hey, I could really bore everyone and talk about my epic appearances on
Floppy, or the stuff Russ van Dyke used to say when we edited news
footage. Funny guy. We had a lot to laugh about back when we had a 50
share.

Melissa N.

[Stan]

Cablevision on Long Island carried KTVU for about a minute back in the
mid 80's. I don't know the specifics, but at different times we also
had WSBK and WGN (of course), WTAF/29 (pre Fox) and WKBS/48 (and maybe
even channel 17) from Philly, a second Boston channel (56?), and WVIA
from Scranton, PA. All on a 36 channel system.

Some of those early days were pretty cool ;-)

-Stan

[Mark Roberts]

On 11/2/05, Melissa Neal <drm...@earthlink.net> wrote:

Hey, I could really bore everyone and talk about my epic appearances on
Floppy, or the stuff Russ van Dyke used to say when we edited news
footage. Funny guy. We had a lot to laugh about back when we had a 50
share.

Don't forget the weather map! We always wondered why all the anchors at channel 8 were left-handed.

The topics you've described wouldn't bore me, but <http://www.cosmos-monitor.com/etc/cville-1969-channels.html> should explain why.

##

[KJB]

At 09:51 PM 11/2/2005, bradford wrote:
>Might very well have been from Uncle Ed and KSHB in Kansas
>City. That was coming into the market along with a station from
>Minneapolis. I didn't have cable then.

That was later, when KCBR went on the air and forced KSHB off Des Moines
cable (we considered ripping off "All Night Live" but the General Sales
Manager didn't want to actually do his job and go out to sell ads for the
overnight block). "Mary Hartman" was a lot earlier than that.


KJB

[KJB]

At 11:45 PM 11/2/2005, Melissa Neal wrote:
>Come to think of it, I had my life threatened quite regularly while
>working for Hawkeye.

That's nothing. You should have heard the calls from irate "Star Trek"
fans when we'd pull the series to run I-Cubs games at KCBR (now KDSM). And
this was long before "Next Generation" was even on the drawing boards -
we'd get death threats over repeats of a 13 or 14 year old series.

>Hey, I could really bore everyone and talk about my epic appearances on
>Floppy, or the stuff Russ van Dyke used to say when we edited news
>footage. Funny guy. We had a lot to laugh about back when we had a 50 share.

Oh, I've got some Floppy stories, too. Like the one where Duane Eliott
(the man who made a living by sticking his hand up a balsa wood dog's butt)
had an open account at the Casa Bell Adult Motel......

Des Moines media - it's just as annoying and provincial as you think it is.
;-)

Hey, you don't happen to know anyone still working at WOI, do you. Or,
better yet, somebody at ISU that might know what happened to some of their
old film library? There's a kid's show that WOI ran as part of Magic
Window I'm trying to track down prints of for a reference book I'm working
on. Apparently, none of the US prints for this series are still in
existence but it was one of those that WOI had rights to run forever (kind
of like those ancient prints of "Maverick" they ran for 20+ years) .


KJB

[brad...@dwx.com]

Nope, KSHB was on cable in Des Moines
at least in the early/mid 1970s - if not
before. It was definitely on cable in
1976 when I got my first apartment and
my first cable installation (the aforementioned
"eight dollar home improvement").

KSHB would show a movie in prime time and
then repeat it around midnight. On the rare
occasion that it was a good movie, I would
watch both telecasts. (Did I hear somebody
say "get a life"?)

----- Original Message -----
From: KJB [mailto:osi...@idir.net]
Sent: 11/3/2005 2:04:16 PM
To: tvb...@googlegroups.com

[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 3, 2005, at 5:15 PM, brad...@dwx.com wrote:

> KSHB would show a movie in prime time and
> then repeat it around midnight. On the rare
> occasion that it was a good movie, I would
> watch both telecasts. (Did I hear somebody
> say "get a life"?)

I used to watch Braves Replay. There. I said it out loud. I'm not
ashamed any more.

Melissa N.

[Mark J.]

>Well, Columbia, Mo. did not get WGN on cable until about 2002, but 25 years
>earlier, the then-worst television station in the world, KCBJ, carried Mary
>Hartman episodes *one year* late.

Yes, *one* *year*. Every night at 10 pm.

Pretty common for first-run syndicated shows in the small markets back
then. Guess it was cheaper than buying the current run (and Lear
may've also required that any station airing "Mary Hartman" had to
start with the very first episode and go in order).

Even happened in the large markets--neither WGN nor WBBM carried the
syndicated revival of "What's My Line?" on the same season as current
production--they were always a year behind, which led to seeing Gina
Lollabrigida plugging her movie "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell," long after
it had stunk up the nabes. And WFLD picked up "George Jessel's Here
Come the Stars!" (a celeb roast show emceed by Jessel) in 1969 or 1970,
a show that had been in the can so long some of the people on the dais
on the individual episodes had gone to their rewards--not Jessel,
besides that's too easy a joke.

And Mark, that was not a mock of Tom Skilling. No way. After all,
when Nicholas Cage wanted advice on how to point to Chroma-Key screens
in the filmed-in-Chicago "Weatherman," who did he go to? Not Steve
Bakerville. Not Jerry Taft. Sure as hell not the brain-dead Michelle
Leigh. He went to Da Man--Mr. Skilling.

[brad...@dwx.com]

Yeah but you were just waiting for Bill Tush's
overnight newscast...and "Dinner With Jeff". <g>

----- Original Message -----
From: Melissa Neal [mailto:drm...@earthlink.net]
Sent: 11/3/2005 4:27:12 PM
To: tvb...@googlegroups.com

[Mark Roberts]

On 11/3/05, KJB <osi...@idir.net> wrote:

Oh, I've got some Floppy stories, too.  Like the one where Duane Eliott
(the man who made a living by sticking his hand up a balsa wood dog's butt)
had an open account at the Casa Bell Adult Motel......

I think it was Duane Ellett and, yes, you have now ruined my image of Floppy FOREVER. My inner 10-year-old is TRAUMATIZED!

Also, by the way, during the period of time you're discussing, I'm pretty sure the KSHB calls were still KBMA.

##

[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 3, 2005, at 10:35 PM, Mark Roberts wrote:

> I think it was Duane Ellett and, yes, you have now ruined my image of
> Floppy FOREVER. My inner 10-year-old is TRAUMATIZED!

I saw the Floppymobile (VW van with a huge picture of Floppy on the
sides) parked at some interesting places, including the Heritage Cable
studios when Mr. Ellett took a fancy to one of the programmers. I so
did not want to walk in on whatever they were doing. Thinking about it
is bad enough, but actually seeing it...gah.

Melissa N.

[Mark Roberts]

Then it may have been a good thing he never visited Centerville Cablevision, but I don't think Centerville Cablevision had any programmers, unless you count the guy who lubricated the rotating camera for the all-weather channel.

##

[KJB]

At 04:15 PM 11/3/2005, brad...@dwx.com wrote:
> Nope, KSHB was on cable in Des Moines
>at least in the early/mid 1970s - if not
>before. It was definitely on cable in
>1976 when I got my first apartment and
>my first cable installation (the aforementioned
>"eight dollar home improvement").

"Nope" to what? We (KCBR-TV 17, the first independent TV station in the
state of Iowa) knocked KSHB off cable in Des Moines when we went on the air
in 1980. I wasn't talking about mid-70's.


KJB

[KJB]

At 09:35 PM 11/3/2005, Mark Roberts wrote:
>I think it was Duane Ellett and, yes, you have now ruined my image of
>Floppy FOREVER. My inner 10-year-old is TRAUMATIZED!

Duane Elliott (I'm pretty sure that's right) was the stereotypical kid's
host that couldn't wait to get away from the little shits. The first time
I ever met the guy (I was about 10), he was doing his live schtick a the
Warren County Fair and I went backstage because I wanted to see Floppy (for
the out-of-towners: "Floppy" was a balsa wood dog's head with floppy ears
and a turtleneck sweater, that lived in a large, rectangular box to hide
Duane's arm). Floppy was in his carrying case and Duane was ragging on the
kids he had to put up with that night. Years later, I appeared on his noon
show (which always seemed to have a little more adult humor) with the local
comic's club to promote a mini-convention we were putting on. For some
reason, he thought we were a comic's club as in comedian. He had a look of
utter confusion when he asked one of our member what his favorite comic was
and he got the answer "Spider-Man".

>Also, by the way, during the period of time you're discussing, I'm pretty
>sure the KSHB calls were still KBMA.

Nope, by the time KCBR went on the air, the calls had switched to KSHB but
hadn't been that way for long, no more than a year or so.


KJB

[bradford]

If you had included what I was responding to you would have seen what
the "nope" was about. The discussion was about Mary Hartman, which was
on from 1976-1978. This was long before KCBR came on the air. KSHB
was still being carried on cable in the Des Moines market but they didn't go
with the show when it first became available.

And you are giving KCBR a lot more credit than it deserves. It didn't "knock
KSHB off cable" at all. Those were two seperate issues. The
first was that the Kansas City station was starting to ask for payments that
the
Des Moines system didn't want to fork out. That was the major factor in its
being dropped. In fact, there were some executives at the Des Moines system
that didn't want to carry KCBR at all because, being a new station, it
didn't have
a large enough audience to fall under the "must carry" clause for cable
systems.
I worked for the Des Moines system for 17 years and attended some of
those meetings.

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[KJB]

At 12:57 AM 11/4/2005, bradford wrote:
>And you are giving KCBR a lot more credit than it deserves. It didn't "knock
>KSHB off cable" at all. Those were two seperate issues. The
>first was that the Kansas City station was starting to ask for payments that
>the
>Des Moines system didn't want to fork out.

I remember fees being involved as well but we also duplicated some of the
programming.

>That was the major factor in its
>being dropped. In fact, there were some executives at the Des Moines system
>that didn't want to carry KCBR at all because, being a new station, it
>didn't have
>a large enough audience to fall under the "must carry" clause for cable
>systems.

Well, all I know on that is what our GM (who made WKRP's Mr. Carlson look
like a GM with his finger on the pulse of everything going on at his
station - I actually witnessed a syndication rep walk out of the GM's
office, big smile on his face. About 5 minutes later, the GM's voice boomed
from his office to the secretary outside, "Jenny, what did I just do?" Jen
looked at a contract sitting on her desk ad yelled back, "You just
committed us to a Monday - Friday strip of "Wonder Woman" in prime." The
big shock was that it actually did pretty well.) told us on that one since
we weren't in those meeting. But the result was that we launched and took
the place of KSHB on the cable systems.

>I worked for the Des Moines system for 17 years and attended some of
>those meetings.

I only produced & hosted a daily series for about 7 years before I escaped
to a (slightly) larger market.


KJB

[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 4, 2005, at 1:08 AM, KJB wrote:

> Duane Elliott (I'm pretty sure that's right) was the stereotypical
> kid's host that couldn't wait to get away from the little shits. The
> first time I ever met the guy (I was about 10), he was doing his live
> schtick a the Warren County Fair and I went backstage because I wanted
> to see Floppy (for the out-of-towners: "Floppy" was a balsa wood dog's
> head with floppy ears and a turtleneck sweater, that lived in a large,
> rectangular box to hide Duane's arm). Floppy was in his carrying case
> and Duane was ragging on the kids he had to put up with that night.
> Years later, I appeared on his noon show (which always seemed to have
> a little more adult humor) with the local comic's club to promote a
> mini-convention we were putting on. For some reason, he thought we
> were a comic's club as in comedian. He had a look of utter confusion
> when he asked one of our member what his favorite comic was and he got
> the answer "Spider-Man".
>

It's Ellett. Here's a page that will tell you more about Floppy than
you ever wanted to know:
http://www.karen.hart.net/floppy.html

I'll say this about Floppy--he wasn't nearly as creepy as what we had
to offer at KCCI: Cy the Eye. That thing creeped me out even when it
sat unused in a dark corner of the studio.

Melissa N.

[KJB]

At 01:17 AM 11/4/2005, Melissa Neal wrote:
>I'll say this about Floppy--he wasn't nearly as creepy as what we had to
>offer at KCCI: Cy the Eye. That thing creeped me out even when it sat
>unused in a dark corner of the studio.

Eugh - yeah, I remember. Almost as creepy as Pascuzzi. Is Brubaker still
roaming the halls over there?


KJB

[bradford]

Mary Brubaker left channel 8 long ago. I used to work with her
daughter-in-law and....well, let's just say that while Des Moines
may have loved her, there were members of her family that didn't
exactly share that opinion.

----- Original Message -----
From: "KJB" <osi...@idir.net>
To: <tvb...@googlegroups.com>

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[KJB]

At 08:18 AM 11/4/2005, bradford wrote:
>Mary Brubaker left channel 8 long ago. I used to work with her
>daughter-in-law and....well, let's just say that while Des Moines
>may have loved her, there were members of her family that didn't
>exactly share that opinion.

LOL - I remember going on my first television press junket for the film
"Just the Way You Are" (we had just launched a daily entertainment series
on KCBR) and hearing stories from everyone else in the country about
Brubaker. She was definitely the DSM version of Sue Ann Nivens.


KJB

[Mark Roberts]

On 11/3/05, KJB <osi...@idir.net> wrote:

> "Nope" to what? We (KCBR-TV 17, the first independent TV station in the
> state of Iowa) knocked KSHB off cable in Des Moines when we went on the air
> in 1980. I wasn't talking about mid-70's.

Then that sounds about right with respect to the call
letters...Scripps-Howard bought KBMA around that time from the
Business Men's Association, a Kansas City insurance company that put
KBMA on the air as an investment. "SHB" for Scripps-Howard
Broadcasting, naturally.

##

[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 4, 2005, at 7:39 PM, KJB wrote:

> LOL - I remember going on my first television press junket for the
> film "Just the Way You Are" (we had just launched a daily
> entertainment series on KCBR) and hearing stories from everyone else
> in the country about Brubaker. She was definitely the DSM version of
> Sue Ann Nivens.

Yeah, I had a couple of nasty knife fights with her in the alley that
ran alongside the studio. She wouldn't stay down! Why wouldn't she stay
down?

Okay, I made that up. Actually, I liked her and I can't remember her
ever being bitchy at anyone. Really. I think she brought doughnuts once
or twice.

But I did have to direct this gawdawful kid's show that featured an
enormous horrible woman and her fat horrible kid dressed in squirrel
costumes and running around a set that vaguely looked like a nest in a
tree but actually looked more like a trash dump. After one episode, it
was a tossup which of them we wanted to shove in front of a speeding
truck first.

Somehow she finagled the traveling Ronald McDonald into appearing in
one episode and quickly drove him up the wall. After the shoot
mercifully ended, he came into the control room, plopped into a chair,
and asked me: "What the fuck is that bitch's problem, anyway?" When I
started laughing, he wasn't too thrilled with me, either. I mean,
Ronald McDonald talking trash? I'm lovin' it!

Melissa N.

[Stan]

I just looked at those pictures. Yeesh! Did the hairpiece have its own
show too? ;-)

-Stan

[bradford]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Melissa Neal" <drm...@earthlink.net>
To: <tvb...@googlegroups.com>

I may be thinking of another horrible show but are you sure they
were squirrels and not gigantic, obnoxious mice?

[KJB]

At 12:39 AM 11/5/2005, Stan wrote:
>I just looked at those pictures. Yeesh! Did the hairpiece have its own
>show too?

They shot a pilot but it scared the children. So they gave it the 10PM
news, instead. ;-)


KJB

[Melissa Neal]

On Nov 5, 2005, at 11:14 AM, bradford wrote:

> I may be thinking of another horrible show but are you sure they
> were squirrels and not gigantic, obnoxious mice?

I just remember that they looked ugly and gray and rodent-like. So did
the costumes.

Nelissa N.

[bradford]

Can't argue with that.

Reminds me of the time a co-worker and myself spent literally
all day editing ONE of her blankety-blank shows and just when we
thought we were finished she said "Are you sure there's enough
contrast in the audio?"

I was about ready to punch her but I said "(Name witheld to avoid
lawsuits), there's a knob on every TV that's marked CONTRAST.
If they have problems, they can just turn that knob and adjust it."

As my co-worker was going into convulsions to keep from laughing,
she turned to me and said "Oh. OK." and we were FINALLY done!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Melissa Neal" <drm...@earthlink.net>
To: <tvb...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 11:53 AM
Subject: Re: Des Moines media WAS: TBS, WGN and the WB


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