Veteran newscaster Morley Safer passed away yesterday, the last of the big four from the golden days of 60 minutes (along with Ed Bradley, Mike Wallace, and Andy Rooney).
Young people today probably don't get why we like and mourn for these "old guys". But back in the day, you didn't have three hundred channels of shows, some dedicated specifically to news programming with a particular "spin". Nope. Back in the day we had 3 channels (4 with PBS). That meant that you had a handful of news anchor people addressing the entire nation with the news each night. We had FCC requirements which prevented political bias and we trusted these guys to give it to us straight. And to a person, they did. Good or bad. They told us what happened that day, week, or month. In the case of 60 minutes, they gave us a glimpse into what was going on in our world. We respected these journalists. And they were something that is sorely lacking today: respectable.
Along with those local news anchors, I would watch the news every day to see what was going on when I was little. I remember the first newscast I watched and it scared me to death. Something about how fighting had broken out in Vietnam and I remember asking my mom if there was anything to worry about. After that day, I watched the news, the local and national news.
Al Schottecottie(sp?) which was Channel 9
Nick Clooney, yes that Nick Clooney I think he was on channel 12
Then on Sunday mornings we would watch Charles Karult. After Karult on channel 19, there was always an Abbott and Costello movie on or some classic comedy.
(05-20-2016, 09:54 PM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: Along with those local news anchors, I would watch the news every day to see what was going on when I was little. I remember the first newscast I watched and it scared me to death. Something about how fighting had broken out in Vietnam and I remember asking my mom if there was anything to worry about. After that day, I watched the news, the local and national news.
Al Schottecottie(sp?) which was Channel 9
Nick Clooney, yes that Nick Clooney I think he was on channel 12
Then on Sunday mornings we would watch Charles Karult. After Karult on channel 19, there was always an Abbott and Costello movie on or some classic comedy.
So many memories.
Then you'll certainly remember these guys:
We used to get some of the Cincy channels like channels 5, 9 and 19 up in Dayton, but the reception was pretty fuzzy. I used to like channel 19 because it was independent. We didn't have any independent stations in Dayton in the 70s, just the big four (ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS). WXIX used to have some good old timey shows on Saturdays as I recall, like the Bowery Boys, the Three Stooges and Our Gang. My mom told me they were her favorites when she was a child, so I would watch them too.
I would watch Bob Sreves on weekend nights and just watch him get drunker and drunker as the night went on. That guy had to fill time between movies and when there was no commercial for that time slot, he would do some crazy stuff. One night I remember watching a movie and Bob had to fill in a whole 2 minutes of time during a commercial break. When the channel cut to him, all that you saw was a puppet pig head and Bob was just doing the Porky Pig stutter for the whole two minutes.
I didn't like the Cool Ghoul though, he got on my nerves with that sound he would make.
(05-21-2016, 03:50 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: Then you'll certainly remember these guys:
We used to get some of the Cincy channels like channels 5, 9 and 19 up in Dayton, but the reception was pretty fuzzy. I used to like channel 19 because it was independent. We didn't have any independent stations in Dayton in the 70s, just the big four (ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS). WXIX used to have some good old timey shows on Saturdays as I recall, like the Bowery Boys, the Three Stooges and Our Gang. My mom told me they were her favorites when she was a child, so I would watch them too.
Remember them as well, even though I never visited one of their stores. We also used to watch a lot of Cincinnati shows despite being in the Dayton market. My sister and I watched Uncle Al, and my mom was a big fan of Paul "Baby" Dixon and Ruth Lyons.
60 Minutes did a retrospective on Morely just the Sunday before last, and he died a few days later. But, his family said he got to see the show. He was an old school reporter, to be sure.