If you're looking for a Friday soundtrack... it's been 30 years (!) since this Sept. 1991 guest DJ spot on Radio Free Hawaii, a week before I headed off to college. Fun mix of The Cure, Jane's Addiction, Dee-Lite, Joy Division, Anthrax/Public Enemy, The Smiths, Information Society, Chris Isaak, Real Life, When In Rome, Faith No More, and much more!
This may be one of the most unusual local TV promotions ever: In 1972, KABC-Channel 7 held a contest to come and do a newscast at someone's home. Early that summer, that's exactly what the station did: They essentially moved into the San Fernando Valley home of the Jensen family, and did a newscast.
It was... awkward. Eyewitness News anchors Joseph Benti, John Schubeck, Ralph Story, Stu Nahan, and Alan Sloane, sat with the camera-shy family in their living room and around the dining room table.. and did the news. Sports anchor Nahan at one point thanks Mrs. Jensen for the "garbanzo beans and the hot dogs wrapped in tin foil." (I also love the son who doesn't take his sunglasses off.)
It's pretty amazing, and it's been saved in all its glory on YouTube. Watch below:
Broadcasting magazine covered the story; here's what they wrote in their June 26, 1972, issue:
Billed as the first complete TV newscast ever broadcast from a home, the event was the culmination of a two-month promotion content is which viewers were asked to tell the station what hearing the news from a friend means to them. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jensen of the Sepulveda section of the San Fernando Valley won the right to KABC-TV's housecall and they were inundated by the following:
• Remote truck at the site, powered by its own generator for running equipment and audio gear.
• Inside the truck monitors, switching equipment and studio staff.
• Cables from cameras to power units, with cable running through doorways of the home.
• Plywood laid to protect carpeting and floors. Various other protection used for walls and furniture.
• Direct telephone lines from the home into Studio B at KABC-TV Hollywood for news updates.
• A news teletype wire at the site.
• A Telco (telephone company) truck at the site, which transmitted the sound and picture via microwave signal to a Telco transmitter on Mt. Wilson, the highest point in Southern California.
Personnel at the newscast in the home included: a director, a producer (a second producer was located back at the station), associate director, stage manager, technical director, lighting director, video control engineer, audio man, two cameramen, two utility men (to handle microphones, set up equipment), engineering maintenance man, three electricians, two prop men and set designer. News personnel included the on-air news team of Joe Benti, John Schubeck, Stu Nahan, Alan Sloane and Ralph Story. Also on hand were a show coordinator and several newswriters.
On the newscast, the Jensen family was introduced on-air (the Jensens' 17-year-old daughter, Linda, actually sent in the winning entry). But the delivery of the news, for the most part, was presented int he normal fashion of the regular KABC-TV newscast.
Dr. George Fischbeck also wrote about it in his memoir, and Time magazine even did a piece on it.
The other amazing thing about this newscast: Chuck Henry, who's seen reporting a story, is, of course, still active in Los Angeles TV as KNBC-Channel 4 anchor. Now that's career longevity!
Are drive-ins making a comeback? April Wright writes, via Zocalo on KCRW:
Across the country, people are remembering how fun it was to go to the drive-in and realizing what we’ve lost. Since the year 2000, at least 30 old drive-ins have re-opened in the U.S., and at least 35 new ones have been built. There were five more new drive-ins opened up in 2014.
Sometimes these drive-ins are built on new land, on the outskirts of a town just like the original drive-ins. But in many cases, drive-in owners are looking for what they call a “footprint”—a plot of land that used to be a drive-in and still has the zoning and layout of a drive-in. Maybe it still has the grading and the ramps. Maybe it still has a ticket booth, or a snack bar standing, or in some cases even a screen.
I know the people of Los Angeles have been hungry for the outdoor movie experience. The Cinespia screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery are always packed. The Electric Dusk Drive-in—a blow-up screen on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles—is also thriving. The handful of drive-ins that stayed open in Southern California, like the Vineland, are well-attended. A little further east, you’ll find other survivors—the amazing Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair and two in Riverside: the Van Buren and the Rubidoux.
The Santa Barbara Drive-In in Goleta reopened in 2012 after being dark for nearly 20 years. And we have many drive-in footprints in Southern California, including the Roadium Drive-In in Torrance, the Santa Fe Springs Drive-In off the 5 Freeway, the Starlite in South El Monte, and the Paramount. All of these operate only as swap meets today, but the Paramount Twin Drive-in will be re-opening as a drive-in later this spring thanks to the son and grandson of the man who originally built it.
I think I've well-established that I was obsessed with television as a kid... and really obsessed with TV Guide Magazine. (As in, I collected TV Guides. Created my own version. Programmed my own imaginary TV station. I could go on.)
Back in Honolulu, one of the weird things I would do was actually contact the local news stations. I interviewed several anchors for a school project (that's me above on the news set of KGMB in 1989 or 1990)... and I would sometimes send them goofy things in an attempt to get on the air. I especially bothered local ABC affiliate KITV--particularly its weather and sports folks, since they were pretty loose on the air and open to goofiness.
One day, while reading TV Guide, I saw an ad featuring a model who looked suspiciously like one of KITV's anchors. I sent it to the station... which ended up having some fun with it on air. Watch the clip below; toward the end of the clip, Dan Cooke namechecks me and even notes that I am a "future journalist and avid TV Guide reader." So true. Fast forward 25 years, and here I am at the magazine. It was meant to be!
Nostalgia ruled Thursday night at the Hollywood Bowl, as children of the 1980s crowded into the ampitheater in order to hear classic tunes from both iconic groups. It was the first Hollywood Bowl concert for Duran Duran, which still features original members singer Simon Le Bon, bassist John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and drummer Roger Taylor.
Solid-out crowd at the Bowl.
It's a little bit disconcerting to realize that yes, you're now attending concerts sponsored by an oldies station. And that "oldies" means 1980s music. And that 1980s music is 30 years ago. Just as in the 1980s, music from the 1950s was from 30 years ago. Sigh.
Chic feat. Nile Rodgers setlist:
Dance, Dance, Dance
Everybody Dance
I Want Your Love
I'm Coming Out / Upside Down / He's The Greatest Dancer / We Are Family
Get Lucky
Let's Dance
Le Freak
Good Times
It's truly impressive the number of hits that Nile Rodgers has been involved with through the decades. "He is RICH," Maria proclaimed.
Chic's set ended with a dance party on stage, as several people -- including Craig Robinson -- were brought out to groove behind the group during "Good Times." (Nile also did a solid first verse of "Rapper's Delight," which, of course, used "Good Times" as a back beat.)
Duran Duran setlist:
Paper Gods
Hungry Like the Wolf
A View to a Kill
The Reflex
Come Undone
Last Night in the City
What Are the Chances?
Notorious
Pressure Off
Planet Earth
Ordinary World
White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
(Reach Up for the) Sunrise
Danceophobia
Too Much Information
Girls on Film
Encore: Rio
Simon Le Bon turns 57 later this month, and still had ladies swooning in the audience.
Some interesting choices for their Hollywood Bowl set, including their 1995 cover of Grandmaster Melle Mel's "White Lines."
The show ended with "Rio"; unfortunately, things had to end there, as the Hollywood Bowl has a strict 11 p.m. curfew. Which meant planned performances of "Save a Prayer" and "Wild Boys," reportedly planned to be a part of the encore, had to be scrapped.
I thought the name Kaye Lani Rae Rafko rang a bell when Stephen Colbert recently guest hosted the Michigan public access show "Only in Monroe." She was one of the more familiar Miss America names in recent memory... and this may be why, above: The Sept. 10, 1988 cover of TV Guide magazine, with Rafko, as Miss America, on the cover.
Here's how she looks now, on the left, with her "Only in Monroe" co-host and Colbert:
And if you haven't watched Colbert's guest hosting gig yet, you must right now!
In a new spot for Mini Cooper (above), Tony Hawk and his family sneak into an abandoned waterpark to skate:
Of course, anyone who takes the 15 to Las Vegas recognizes it as the remains to Lake Dolores and Rock-A-Hoola, a failed water park in the middle of the desert (Newberry Springs, to be exact).
Of course, in these drought times, the idea of a waterpark that deep into the desert is preposterous. But it was always a crazy idea. Yet, Lake Dolores had been around for decades before it went bust 15 years ago.
Here's what the front of the water park looks like now, via the Mini ad:
And here's what it looked like in full operation:
I wrote about it in 2011:
Opened by Bob and Dolores (the park's namesake) Byers in 1962, Lake Dolores is considered one of the first -- if not the first -- water parks in the country.
A popular recreational attraction for much of the 1970s and 1980s, it finally shut down in the late 1980s. Ten years later, in the late 1990s, it reopened as the 1950s-themed "Rock-A-Hoola." Here's a promo video from 1998:
The new owners went bankrupt, and it shut down for good by 2004. Since then the water attractions have been removed and the location has been vandalized. Now, it's a spooky shell of its former self. See more at my 2011 post here.
It's hard to believe, but this month marks the 25th anniversary of the summer I spent with a bunch of kids from around the state of Hawaii living at the University of Hawaii dorms and getting hands-on experience in the worlds of TV, radio and journalism. It was the State of Hawaii's Summer Program for the Enhancement of Basic Education (SPEBE), a pretty cool program that fell victim years ago to budget cuts. But it made my summer of 1990 -- the summer before my senior year of high school -- a transformative experience for me. (I also returned as a counselor, overlooking a whole new crop of kids, in 1993).
We were all high school juniors and seniors from all over the islands: In-town and rural Oahu, Kauai, Maui, the Big Island and even Lanai. For six weeks while living at the UH dorms we also produced video projects, created a newspaper and did a weekly radio show on UH's KTUH radio station.
A few years ago I shared my bad acting as lothario "Bruce" in one of the cheesy videos we made that summer, "Love Story" (link here).
Now, I just uploaded my first-ever actual on-air radio show -- and it's horrifically cheesy as well. It's the "Dr. Mike and Damon V. Show" (Damon was my roommate), recorded at midnight on Thursday, June 28, 1990. The music is quite the hodge-podge (The Smiths, Jane's Addiction, Phil Collins, Inspiral Carpets, Madonna, The Sundays, Janet Jackson, etc.) and I hog the mic (sorry, Damon!) way too much. Stick around for the news report from Eugene and Marisa. I have cut down the songs so it's not too long of a slog. Here you go:
CBS is getting back into the comic book business this year with "Supergirl." But the Eye network has dabbled in plenty of comics in the past, including "Wonder Woman" (which aired first on ABC) and "The Flash." Remember in the late 1970s when CBS when a bit comic book crazy? The network had "The Incredible Hulk" and, briefly, "The Amazing Spider-Man." And then, in 1978, was this TV movie (a.k.a. failed pilot) version of "Doctor Strange." Check out a young Jessica Walter! This looks hysterically bad.
Here's the first part of the movie here; follow the links on YouTube if you want to watch it all.
It's the 20th anniversary of the April Fool's Day that Maura Johnston and I spent several hours on WNUR-FM in Chicago, pretending to flip to the all-Pearl Jam format "Q89.3." It was a parody of Chicago's alternative radio station Q101, and we jabbed at its playlist, its over-reliance on Pearl Jam and its cheesy DJ presentations. I first wrote about this in 2004:
Ahh, nothing says April Fool's like a cheesy radio stunt. Back when I ran WNUR in college (yeah, I know, another college radio story -- Mike, it's been almost ten years! Move on!), we freaked our listeners out on April Fool's by yanking our regular programming (you know, the usual college fare-- indie rock bands that you've never heard of) and pretended to flip the station's format to mainstream alternative.
We called ourselves "Q89.3" -- a dig at Chicago's big time commercial alternative station, Q101 -- and played nothing but Pearl Jam for an hour (another dig at Q101, which was so obsessed with the band it actually had adopted as its slogan "This Is Not For You," the name of a Pearl Jam song).
A friend and fellow DJ, Maura, pretended to be the hyperactive British DJ "Sammy Jo" -- a staple of alternative stations back then (and a parody of Q101's Samantha James) -- while I played the clueless DJ "Fisher Stevens" (a play on Q101's Steve Fisher), who thought everything was ooh, soooo alternative while rattling off obvious trivia ("Did you know that Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of Nirvana?!").
Some listeners called in and freaked out, wondering what happpened. Others were wise to the parody and played along: "Hey, you know that Red Hot Chili Peppers song you just played? Could you play it again in about 40 minutes?"
It was a proud moment. Illinois Entertainer magazine called our prank the best of the year.
I finally uploaded an edited version of our "Q89.3" moment -- listen below!
For TV Guide Magazine I recently spoke with James Corden, the new host of CBS' "The Late Late Show." We had a fun chat in his Television City office, and of course, his charm offensive worked beautifully. Self-effacing, quick-witted and a seemingly nice bloke, you can't help but root for the guy. Read my Q&A with him at TV Insider here.
Meanwhile, from the pages of TV Guide Magazine, here's how we covered the January 9, 1995 launch of the original "The Late Late Show," hosted by Tom Snyder:
Pizza.. then wine... then Mr. Horton wants to take some pics of Arnold and Dudley. From 1983 (season 5), the "Bicycle Man" two-parter. (Read the A.V. Club's retrospective here.) Oh, it's the creepiest episode of "Diff'rent Strokes," and probably one of the most memorable (besides the time Kimberly's hair turned green or Mr. Drummond got amnesia). Above, the TV Guide Magazine close up from the episode, and below, highlights from the storyline.
Tired of all the "Saturday Night Live" nostalgia? Sorry, but I've got another interesting piece for you: The first-ever TV Guide magazine profile of the show, published in the May 29, 1976 issue. (By the way, what a weird photo -- Lorne Michaels' eyes are closed, and his face is partially cut off!) Of course, Chase would be gone by season two, but here's a snapshot of how SNL was already a force by the end of its first season.
It's now been 20 years since the summer I spent as an intern at Newsweek, as good a time as ever to reflect back on that experience. I recently dug up a copy I had saved of "N/w," the in-house Newsweek newsletter, which included a feature on the Newsweek Internship Class of 1994. I gotta say, whoever chose the Newsweek interns had a good eye. This group went on to some pretty amazing things: A neuroscientist-turned-movie producer, a successful TV writer, a BBC host, an investment firm president and a national political reporter/author, among others.
I was one of the younger interns, returning to Northwestern after that summer, so Newsweek ultimately didn't play much of a role in my career path covering the TV and entertainment industry. But I remained a Newsweek subscriber for years, keeping an eye on bylines and the masthead as a number of my fellow interns stuck around (such as Trent Gegax, Matt Bai, Yahlin Chang and Michelle Chan). In a few cases, there have been some coincidental intersections: Both Bai and I appeared on separate episodes of SundanceTV's "The Writers Room" TV series, and I interviewed Bai on the set. Also, although I've never run into Chang in Hollywood, I've known plenty of her colleagues and even her agent. And I just recently discovered that a producer I've known for years, Michael Davies, happens to be married to one of my fellow Newsweek interns, Claude. Small world.
Bai spent five years at Newsweek (after briefly covering cops and courts at the Boston Globe). "I had the chance to go everywhere in America and cover just about everything in the society, from marijuana legalization and the gun industry to governors and mayors and a presidential campaign," he emailed me. "I interviewed President Clinton in the Oval Office. And that experience informs everything I write, and has ever since I left Newsweek. You can't write with authority about politics if you don't understand, in a firsthand way, the debates that underlie it and the regional differences that complicate it. So Newsweek was in many ways my education as an observer of the American scene." After Newsweek, Bai went on to cover politics and several presidential campaigns at the New York Times Magazine, while also writing books. His latest, All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, was published this fall.
Chan also remembers that summer fondly: "Was New York City bathed in a pale pink hue that summer -- or was it my rose-tinted specs? I still remember vividly going around the table on our first day sharing with each other our hopes/dreams for the summer, and beyond! I can recall my buzzing excitement walking into the Newsweek building every morning; my wide-eyed starry-eyed awe of colleagues (including the other interns!); the late-Friday night deadlines (OJ Simpson dominated our summer, didn't he?); the fizz of a first byline, and the realisation that I had found what I wanted to do in life." She also spent several years at Newsweek, moving to the magazine's office in Beijing, then to Taipei, and later in London. Now she's focused on travel journalism, appeared in segments for the BBC and writing for the Telegraph newspaper.
The summer of 1994 was truly the waning days of The Way Things Used To Be. We were perhaps too young to realize it at the time, but it's obvious (in hindsight, of course) that the signs were all there. At the time, Newsweek had just moved into new offices but still boasted the perks of being the behemoth it once was: A bustling cafeteria; a swanky "Top of the Week" dining and events space; car service for employees working past a certain hour; and an allowance for Friday night meals (necessary since editors – dubbed "Wallendas" – wouldn't look at copy until late on Friday). The book might even be torn up late that night, causing a mad scramble on Saturday. It was newsmagazine as you'd imagine it.
But the Internet revolution was right around the corner. In the summer of 1994, there was an internal e-mail system at Newsweek, but you couldn't communicate with the outside world (not that much of the outside world was wired for it anyway). And no web access at your desk. (All of that would become industry standard within the next three years.)
Says Chan: "Say it out loud: 'weekly news magazines.' It's a contradiction given how we consume the news today. Changes were made too late. We lost the readers. The vision was muddled. Advertisers became more creative in finding new ways of getting their message out. The sums didn't add up. It's all about the numbers, not the words (a subsidy/philanthropist can postpone the inevitable for only a snatch of time)."
Meanwhile, the modern tabloidization of news took another giant leap during the summer of 1994, thanks to O.J. Simpson. I still remember standing in my boss' office (I worked in the Business section) as several of us watched the White Bronco chase on her small office TV. It was like nothing we'd ever seen. Over the next month, if my memory is correct, O.J. would wind up on the cover virtually every week. At Newsweek, we got to be a bit smug as crosstown rivals Time drew fire for a cover of Simpson's mugshot that was darkened to make him look more sinister. (Newsweek's similar cover wasn't tampered, making the contrast great.) Newsweek still trafficked in serious news – I was there on a Saturday when North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung died, and Newsweek actually tore up the entire magazine to put it on the cover! But O.J. accelerated the celebrity-focused news cycle we're now all accustomed to, one that barely took a break in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Summer 1994 was also the end of gritty, pre-Giuliani New York as we knew it. I remember walking around the boarded-up 42nd street theaters in Times Square, taking in the haiku on marquees and wondering whether the streets there would ever be revitalized. Ha.
Thanks to some Internet sleuthing and emailing, here's a roundup (in order of how everyone is seated in the 1994 photo above) of where everyone is today:
Matt Bai is the National Political Columnist for Yahoo News (before that, he wasat the New York Times Magazine). His latest book, All the Truth Is Out, is out now.
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Ari Handel, per Wikipedia, "is an American neuroscientist, film producer, and writer. He is known for co-writing the films Noah and The Fountain with his HarvardDunster HousesuitemateDarren Aronofsky and for helping to produce these films along with two other Darren Aronofsky films, The Wrestler and Black Swan. He started co-writing the film Noah around 2003. He was born in Zürich, Switzerland, while his father was studying
abroad, but he only lived there for about a year. Handel also did an
internship for Nova at WGBH, the Boston PBS station. He has a PhD in neurobiology from New York University. Torn between science writing and science education, he eventually
became a film writer in an attempt to become a better communicator of
science, although he soon learned that film-making is largely an
illusion."
+++++++++++++++
Yahlin Chang spent several years in the Arts and Entertainment section of Newsweek, before moving to a successful TV writing career (Betrayal, Pan Am, Dirty Sexy Money, ER, Ed, Deadline, Strong Medicine)
ADD: Yahlin emailed me today to note that she was so inspired by her tenure at Newsweek that she has even written about it. "Newsweek was amazing," she emails. "A gathering of some of the most dynamic,
knowledgeable, intelligent people I've ever met and all in one building
-- It was a great privilege to be a part of it. Being a Newsweeker was
certainly the formative experience of my career,
and also gave me a great amount of legitimacy as I waded into
Hollywood." She's now working on "Shades of Blue," a new show for NBC from executive producer Jennifer Lopez.
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Annette Zablotsky is a Certified Yoga Teacher and Pilates Instructor in Washington, D.C., as well as a
Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist through
the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
+++++++++++++++
Melissa Kay Cohenis "a Board Certified and Licensed Art Therapist working at a city hospital
and in private practice in New York City. Prior I was a full-time
freelance photojournalist. I currently specialize in working with people
who suffer from various traumas, depression, anxiety, addictions,
recovery, need a life transition, assist in increasing self-esteem, body
image issues, family and personal relationships, professional
transitions and assist with personal growth through life coaching with
the use of photography and the creative arts."
Laura Ballman Patten"is an accomplished
international affairs expert. She leverages a unique background in
foreign policy, global security, communications, and the arts. Ms.
Patten holds academic degrees from Columbia University and the
University of Minnesota. She speaks native English, proficient French,
and basic Italian." Before that, she worked both as staff and freelance reporter, in the US, France, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Ukraine, working for the AP, CNN, The Economist, CBS Radio, UPI and Newsweek.
+++++++++++++++
Shana Harris is now studying at The Lorge School in New York. Before that, she spent ten years as a director at Prep for Prep and was a research editor at Boston Magazine.
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Michelle Jana Chanis "the BBC’s ‘Global Guide’, presenting a regular
5-minute travel segment airing on BBC2, BBC 24 and BBC World News. I
also produce/present packages from the field for ‘The Travel Show’ (on
the same channels). My most recent feature was a half-hour special on
the Peking to Paris vintage car rally. I was also competing and placed
third.
"For The Telegraph newspaper, I write a regular adventure-focused ‘Action
Packed’ feature reviewing gear and kit. I am also the Travel section’s
China expert although my beat is broad. Recent stories have included
Sudan’s archeology, astronomy in the Atacama desert, and Art Basel in
Hong Kong. I also contribute to Conde Nast Traveller, Tatler and Ultra travel magazines. I am a speaker and panellist on adventure, women travellers and video journalism."
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Claude Kaplan Daviesis a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson for Fox Residential Group in New York. From her bio:
Before joining Fox, Claude worked as a producer
and development executive of documentary film and television. First at
various networks like A&E and Oxygen, then working alongside Academy
Award winning filmmaker, Barbara Kopple, and finally heading up a
documentary film division at her husband Michael Davies' company,
Embassy Row, Claude helped develop and produce TV specials, series, and
theatrically released documentary features like "Shut up & Sing"
about the Dixie Chicks and "The Tillman Story" about the life and death
of Pat Tillman.
+++++++++++++++
Trent Gegax is president of The Gramercy Fund. But he also spent several years at Newsweek after his internship. From his bio:
"Trent has held operational roles inside Gramercy portfolio companies and
served on numerous boards. His due-diligence skills were honed as a
correspondent for Newsweek where assignments included George W.
Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and
Hurricane Katrina. Trent assisted Al Gore with hisNew York Times best seller, "The Assault on Reason" (Penguin, 2007), and he contributes to InfoWorld. Trent lives in New York City."
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I wasn't able to find Tedra Williams online, although I believe this is probably her. Ditto Andrew Cohen, although I can assure you he did not go on to become Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" host. (Although that would be a weird coincidence, since Claude Kaplan Davies' husband produces that show. But different guy.)
Oh yeah, and then there's me, Michael Schneider. I'm now the executive editor of TV Guide Magazine; you can read my stories here. Here's how I was blurbed in the Newsweek internal newsletter in 1994:
