TOUR OF NBC 10!

HALL OF FAME/PERSON OF THE YEAR HONOREES:

Our committee has made its selections for Hall of Fame and Person of the Year for 2011. Inductees are being notified now and we will announce the full list during our July tour of NBC 10. The names will then be published in our August newsletter and on our website.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME:

Six weeks ago, you should have received your membership renewal form. Current membership expired at the end of June (unless you've already renewed). If you joined in the last couple of months, your membership won't expire until 2012. However, you still should have received a form. Please correct any contact information, if necessary. This information will be used to create our new membership directory, which will be issued this fall. For your personal safety and security, we do not maintain any type of membership list online.

Remember that Broadcast Pioneers is a mainly dues-supported non-profit organization that is federally recognized and state chartered. We have charitable status for federal income purposes. For those of you who wish to do so, there is a place on your renewal form to make an extra contribution to this organization. If you can do so and want to help out, an extra contribution would be appreciated. It will help keep Broadcast Pioneers strong. Check with your tax advisor, too, because membership dues and donations may be deductible on your federal income tax!

Send in your renewal now if you haven't already done so. Why? Your membership has expired. Please take a minute and mail it back today. Thanks for your continued support.

ADVERTISE IN OUR 2011-2012 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY:

Once again, we have started working on our new membership directory, which will be mailed to members in the fall. Our membership is at a record high, so advertising in our membership directory makes more sense than ever before. The cost per ad has NOT increased but the number of members is more than double what it was five years ago. We're giving you a chance to reach more people for the same cost. Ads start at $175 and help defray the cost of publishing the directory. Call us at (856) 365-5600 or e-mail us at pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS:

Full Members:

Bunny Gibson was one of the early high-profile regulars on "American Bandstand." Today, she is an actress and professional dancer. We've seen her in many TV shows and films, such as Homicide, Without a Trace, CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), How I Met Your Mother, Creepshow III, Glee and Search for Treasure Island. She lives in California but gets back to Philly every once in awhile.

Kim Martin (McClintock) started in the business in 1966. He worked at a couple stations in Scranton (WEJL and WARM Radio) before coming to WIBG in 1972. Four years later, he went to WMGK/WPEN where he stayed for 15 years. Then he worked for Philly 57 here in Philly. Since 1983, Kim has operated his own company, Kim Martin Productions.

Henry Clay has been involved with the Columbia Broadcasting System for over 40 years, locally and nationally. He is a regular contributor to the FORMER EAGLE DB Ray Ellis Show broadcast worldwide via VOICEAMERICA.COM. Clay has years of broadcast journalism and managerial experience both here in Philadelphia and New York City.

Associate Member:

Michael Crowley started in the business 4 years ago. Previously, he was a member of our student group, the Future Broadcast Pioneers. He is currently a newsroom production assistant at NBC 10. He produces "Baby's First Birthday" show segments, publishes content to the station's website and inputs information into the news production system.

We are thrilled to have these new members. They've helped to bring our total membership up to 433 (an all-time record). We hope to see as many of you as possible on our tour on NBC 10 and at our September luncheon.

ON THE SCENE:

Broadcast Pioneers members Frank Stone & Pat Merbreier
(at the time, Frank was the Director of the Franklin Institute)
set of "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark"
WPVI-TV, Channel 6
circa 1978

It was an early fall morning in the mid 1970’s when I pulled into the Channel 6 parking lot at City and Monument Avenues. As I entered the building, I was directed down a winding hall into a barely lit studio. I scanned with awe the set of "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark."

Within moments, the door swung open and in came the rascally captain with his first mate, Mrs. Noah. She was totally charming and friendly. I soon came to realize that the captain made you and your message feel important. Mrs. Noah made you feel welcome. I remember bringing donuts for the crew, to which she remarked, “Keep doing that and they’ll make you look and sound good.” I was with The Franklin Institute and the topic was science and technology, but mostly we talked about educational gifts and toys that were available in the museum stores. It was like a personalized PSA.

As the years passed, I became a regular on the show and was glad to refer to the Captain and Mrs. Noah as my friends. We lunched together often at the San Marco restaurant on City Avenue, (now it’s a KFC) and talked about the show, guest appearances they had scheduled and the challenges of producing a live daily show five days a week. They taught me the business and encouraged my curiosity.

Pat was the ultimate calm breeze that kept the Captain’s sails moving forward. Her attention to detail, soothing manner, delightful sense of humor, camera-ready beauty and angelic voice was ever present. At the close of a show, I sang along with “You Can Sing a Rainbow,” and I realized I was experiencing magical, history-making moments in broadcasting.

I find it difficult to write about my friend's passing. I will miss her smile, her warm embrace and sitting next to her at Broadcast Pioneers luncheons; listening to her sing along with Christmas carols, Broadway tunes or whatever the program had to offer; and, most especially, watching her always holding her captain’s hand under the table. There will always be rainbows in the sky, and with every one I’ll hear the singing, "Red and yellow and pink and green…."

Here is our tribute page to Mrs. Noah! There's details about her life and some memories about Pat from some of our members.

IN TOUCH WITH OUR MEMBERS:

Broadcast Pioneers board member Barry Reisman shared some good news he recently received. Barry has been hosting a daily Jewish music program in Philadelphia for the past 46 years. During that time, he had been heard on several stations including WQAL, WIBF, WSSJ and WNWR. Several weeks ago, the President of WNWR invited Barry to lunch to tell him the station would be changing formats (broadcasting programming in Chinese), which usually means it’s time to go out and look for a new station. However, WNWR management spent considerable time negotiating with several Philadelphia radio stations to pick-up the WNWR multi-cultural format. WWDB (AM 860) thought it would be a good idea, and that’s where Barry is currently broadcasting. As Barry told us, “Same time, different station.” Barry can be heard Monday-Friday mornings from 9:00-10:00AM. WWDB is the old WTEL Radio. Well done, Barry.

To give this a sort of "Twilight Zone" twist, not only have many of the WNWR programs moved over to WWDB, Sam Speiser, the former boss at WNWR, also moves over to WWDB as that station's general manager!

We heard from member Jack Rattigan, who told us how much he and his wife, Adelaide, enjoy the Broadcast Pioneers newsletter (over all the others he receives) since relocating to Norfolk, Virginia. We were delighted to see Jack his wife and his son, Neil, a producer for Eyewitness news, at the June luncheon. Thanks for keeping in touch, Jack!

Broadcast Pioneers member Larry Kane has released a new book, “Death by Deadline.” As we told you last month, it's currently available as an “e-book." Kane mentioned to us that it will be coming out in paperback at the end of this month. Larry said: “This is a different kind of project for me, thirteen years in the making. It’s a novel that involves law, murder, politics, sex and three television stations in a city named Philadelphia. It’s a murder mystery thriller with a message. The message is that when local television stations strive so hard to be first, they actually kill people with misinformation. It has heroes, villains, violence and sex, and the greatest aspect of television, which is fear and loathing. For people in the business this book is a treasure. For those not in the business, it can tell you what can go wrong. For corporations, it’s not pretty!” Larry Kane has made over twenty media appearance discussing his new book and said, “I applaud the stations for allowing us to openly discuss this book.” Sounds like a must read!

Chris Stigall, the morning guy on WPHT Radio, was talking with member Beasley O'Reece the other week. Well, at least that's what Chris was calling CBS 3's Beasley Reece, who had just returned from an all-guy trip to Ireland. Beasley's wife, it seems, has some Irish blood in her; her maiden name was Fitzpatrick. Reece said that when he was in the Emerald Isle he saw the Fitzpatrick family crest. He also promised Stigall that next time, he'll take his wife. By the way, the news anchor and sidekick on Chris' broadcast is Ellen Kolodziej. She was one of our scholarship winners in 1990.

If you were up early over this past weekend, you might have heard Broadcast Pioneers President Jerry Klein on WHAT Radio. He was on "The Business of Sports," hosted by member Bonnie Squires. The program aired Saturday from 7:30 to 8:30 am and Sunday morning from 7 to 8. The broadcast was recorded on this past Wednesday. Our Chairman of the Board, Gerry Wilkinson, was originally scheduled for the show but he's been under the weather for the last couple of weeks. Besides, Wilkinson kids,"I don't know much about sports. Isn't Ed Bouchee still on first base and Chico Fernandez on shortstop for the Phils?"

Last month, member Harvey Sheldon's Internet radio station which plays all Philly music returned to the airwaves. The station was off the air for the last two years. Previously, it ran for a half-dozen of years before going dark. You can listen at harveysheldonphillyradio.com. Harvey tells us that the response has been overwhelming.

We heard from member Fred Woskoff who wrote this about Joe Grady:

I wanted to make note of one thing more to remember Joe Grady with: his time at WKBS-TV as co-anchor of the “Grant and Grady Report,” the 10 pm newscast on channel 48, which ran from around 1971 into 1972, I think. That was actually the third version of Channel 48’s 10pm news. I think the original one had John Carlton as anchor and aired in late 1965 into 1966. In early 1968, they started up with Doug Johnson as anchor, but in 1970 they changed the entire news team and brought in Carl Grant from Ohio. After some months they expanded the show to an hour and added Joe Grady to the mix, changing the name to the “Grant and Grady Report.” It was either late 1971 or sometime in 1972 that the newscast was cancelled.

For those who don’t recall, the newscast was cancelled one afternoon, with no show that night. Kaiser cancelled news at their stations in Boston, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Detroit along with WKBS all at once. I remember Jack Rossin coming into my office to say, “They cancelled the newscast….starting tonight.” Being young and not well versed in the ways of the business yet, my immediate reaction was “What are we going to run at 10 pm?” It was either “The Avengers” or “Wild Wild West."

We heard from Kim Kline who was the Promotion Manager at WKBS-TV. She said:

I was the Promotion Manager at WKBS for the sign-off (and the Revenge of the Creature - I still have the press kit for that!) and often think of the people and times of that odd event. As a result of the station signing off, I had to move to St. Louis and then Sacramento. I am still in touch with a few of the friends I made there but would truly love to re-connect with so many others.

I had followed my father, Jack Kline, into the business. My dad was a "Pioneer" as one of the original Channel 17 employees. I have a silver plate engraved with that name which all of my (then) teenage friends used as his nickname; to this day those friends call him 'The Pioneer!"

DIGITAL ARCHIVAL PROJECT NEWS:

In 1984, WCAU-TV, Channel 10, aired an one-hour special entitled"The Road from Paradise," featuring Broadcast Pioneers Board Member Emeritus Herb Clarke. The premise of the show was Herb driving from Paradise, PA to the Jersey Shore--well, actually they started a few miles west of Paradise, but who's counting? Herb drove a classic white Mustang borrowed from a collector. The 60 minutes in our video archive comes from Herb's personal VHS collection, which was donated to the Broadcast Pioneers about a year ago. We present here a 4-minute clip for your enjoyment.

Watch in Real Video!
Watch in Windows Media!

39 years ago, on Monday, June 26, 1972, WCAU-TV aired a report on the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes. It was anchored by Broadcast Pioneers member John Facenda. Judd Hambrick (who was Facenda's co-anchor of the station's newscasts) was also on the telecast, as was Broadcast Pioneers member Herb Clarke.

Watch in Real Video!
Watch in Windows Media!

We have now finished digitizing all of the Al Alberts Showcase programs that were donated to us a little while ago by WPVI-TV. We also have digitized the 46 "Captain Noah and his Magical Ark" broadcasts in our video archive. Plus, all of the 75 Dancin' On Air/Dance Party USA programs (donated by board member Michael Nise) have been totally digitized. All have been transferred from the original station/network tapes.

Remember, History is ONLY What Gets Saved!
(If there were no portraits of George Washington, how would we know what he looked like?)

OUR NEW OFFICERS AND BOARD:

Starting on Friday, the new term for our officers and Board of Directors started. Terms for all are for one year. Gerry Wilkinson remains as Chairman of the Board and Jerry Klein continues as President. Complete list of officers and board!

MORE IN TOUCH WITH OUR MEMBERS:

Some great news for "Danny and the Juniors" and our members Joe Terry and Frank Maffei. On January 6, 1958, "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors was the number one record. We have an American Bandstand show in our video archive from December 18, 1957, and Dick introduced that particular song as number one. Well, a little more than a half-century has passed, and again the group is number one... and not just in our hearts! A song called"First Kiss to the Last," (written by Joe Terry) is number one (May 23, 2011) on the Cashbox Carolina Beach Music Chart. It was also number one during the following week. Terry said:

This is quite a thrill for us to be #1 again after all these years. I find it even more gratifying because since the late sixties, Rock n Roll radio stations have had a policy that abandoned the playing of new music by original rock and roll artists. They just played the old hits, locking out our ability to achieve continued success. They disregarded our audiences, who at personal appearances would always ask if we were still recording. Also, now most radio stations have even stopped playing songs older '64, ignoring not just us but people like Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Thank goodness the Carolina Beach Music stations have not forsaken us. It's fun to be #1 again.

Member Carol Chzanowski (Philly Carol from WVLT-FM) was featured as one of the cast members in performances of "Cabaret" last month. The shows were held at the Landis Theater in Vineland.

Member Ken Jeremiah wants us to know about a very special event happening at 8 pm on Saturday, July 16th, at the Landis Theater in Vineland. It's a great rock and roll show with Lesley Gore, the Soul Survivors, The Jeremiah Hunter Band and MC member Tom Lamaine. The week before, July 9th, Bobby Rydell is at the same venue. Don't miss out. Be There.

For some reason, this story was unintentionally left out of the June newsletter: We heard from member Debbie Elias (Ed Elias' daughter) that she was back in Philly a little while ago. She told us that "How to Make a David Lynch Film" was dedicated to the memory of her dad. Lovingly, she called her father "Tubby" (his nickname) and said that he saw David's last film, "Money Please." He was so thrilled with it that he contacted Lynch with his comments and thoughts. David was so moved by the communication that he dedicated his new film to Ed Elias, much to his daughter's surprise. The film recently came in 2nd place for the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Industry Award at the 14th Annual Dances With Films Festival. Debbie says, "And the web series,'Co-Op of the Damned', created and written by Ned Ehrbar, and of which I am Executive Producer, is about to launch its second season on the web. You can watch episodes here. We're in post production right now. Plus, I am working on another as yet untitled 3-D animated web feature film project with Ned."

Member Todd Tuckey tells us:

A local production team contacted me. I own TNT Amusements. They wanted to shoot a pilot TV show to be offered to cable networks about the selling and reconditioning of classic arcade video games and pinball machines. I have been in business since 1984 and have have hosted an almost-weekly, one-hour "infomercial" since 1995.

This proposed new program will be more reality-based: private homes, local auctions, and warehouse "finds" where old equipment is stashed or waiting to be found and reconditioned! Comedy mishaps, and general mayhem will hopefully keep audiences coming back! The pilot is 22 minutes long and they will be finishing up shooting in another week.

Member Corky Warren now has his "Corky's Time Machine" radio broadcast on www.coventgardenradio.com. You can hear it Sunday morning at 9 am if you're in London. For those of us in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States, that would be Sunday morning at 4 am. Members Joe Terry and Frank Maffei of Danny and the Juniors are often featured on the broadcast. Be advised that when we checked the Coventhardenradio.com website, we couldn't find Corky's show. However, Warren said that they just haven't updated their website. Those of you in Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland counties, and parts of Atlantic and Camden counties, get a special treat: Corky's Time Machine can be seen on Comcast Channel 190 every Saturday evening from 7 to 10 pm.

Member Maura McKinney Mastro (Jack McKinney's daughter) told us that she's appearing every Wednesday from 4 to 7 pm at the Rockpile Grille at the Cape May Ferry Terminal. She'll also be appearing at the Annual United Methodist Women's Day on July 28th. She's the guest speaker and will be entertaining as well. The Methodist Women's Day get-together is at the South Seaville Camp Meeting, 188 Dennisville Road, South Seaville, NJ, near Sea Isle City.

Board member Michael Nise tells us that WPHL-TV, Channel 17, will air four original "Dancin' On Air" shows. The station has transferred the video from the original 3/4 inch tape cassette masters. There will also be "funny moments" from the program. The air date is Saturday, July 23rd, from 8 pm to 1 am. A similar program called "Dance Party USA" aired on the USA Cable Network. We have several of those shows in our video archive, along with music highlights from both series. Member Brad Seecof is currently transferring 75 tapes from both series from one-inch tape into a digital format for preservation in our archives. Between the two series, there were more than 3,000 broadcasts, and all have survived.

WE REMEMBER:

Patricia Bosley Merbreier, better known as all of us as MRS. NOAH has passed away. See more information above in our "On the Scene" column.

Rick Beardsley, who supported Temple School of Communications & Theater students in the studios and by supervising "Temple Update" for the past 26 years, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 52. Although not faculty, he was a great teacher. Some of his passions were his family, sports (especially ice hockey) and photography.

Jane Bartsch, who was Vice-President and General Manager for WJBR-FM, a Beasley station in Wilmington, Delaware, passed away last month after a battle with cancer. Dan Sultzbach will take over the reins on a temporary basis.

ON THE HEALTH FRONT:

Broadcast Pioneers member Ray Didinger, an award-winning sports reporter, is recovering nicely from heart surgery. Ray hopes to be back in time for football this fall. Ray can be heard on WIP Sports Talk Radio and seen on Comcast SportsNet.

Broadcast Pioneers member Todd Tuckey who owns TNT Amusements had a heart attack several weeks ago. He's recovering fine and hopes that our members will see less of him as he loses weight.

Broadcast Pioneers board member Bill Wright, Sr. had a bad slip and fall while down home in Alabama. Turned out to be a serious bruise but nothing broken. He's on the mend.

Broadcast Pioneers member Sylvia Kauders is recovering from surgery. We spoke with her towards the end of June and her throat was swollen. However, Sylvia says that she's not going to let this keep her down. She's planning to attend AFTRA convention in Seattle later this month. Way to go, Sylvia.

Broadcast Pioneers member Jane Norman (aka Pixanne) has just returned from Paris. However, she has mentioned that she has a persistent cough. She's had tons of tests and everything looks good, but she can't stop coughing. But you know what they say... "A coughing Pixanne is still just as loveable."

Broadcast Pioneers' Chairman of the Board Gerry Wilkinson has been under the weather for the last few weeks. He too was coughing. However, he did tell us that he's never been to Paris, but he was recently in Marcus Hook where he bought some French pastry. Close, but no cigar. In fact, Gerry, skip the cigar; it will just start the coughing all over again.