August 2011 Archives

YEAH, WHATEVER, MEH

At about the :25 mark, Cliff Lee communicates my feeling on almost everything at the moment:

FOUNTAINS, AND RIVERS, OF WAYNE

I grew up in this town:

It always flooded. I lived on the other side of town, but that end was always under water. My sister lives near the flooded part now, but she's not in the bad area, which is a good thing. But this video reminds me of how bad it can get. This looks worse than anything I can remember from there. Hope the water recedes soon.

THE WONDERS OF 1962 PHILADELPHIA

No time tonight again. So watch a film about the "Wonders of Philadelphia," featuring several minutes of boring historical and museum stuff, a preview of Penn Center (then unbuilt) and Independence Mall (ditto), a few seconds about the Phillies, the Penn Relays, the Zoo, and some shots of "American Bandstand" being shot, which is appropriate considering that the narrator is Dick Clark. Plus, the Automat!:

Apparently, this artifact is from 1962. A lot changed in the next decade.

IF THE FLINTSTONES HAD CASSETTES

Got nothing tonight. Here, learn about the wonder of RCA "Living Stereo" and 4-track tape, circa 1958:

It looks comically huge now, but the 4-track cartridge was the forerunner of the cassette. (And the 8-track cart, but that's another story)

MACK AND MYER FOR FILLER

What did TV stations use for filler in the 1960s? Stuff like this:

"Mack and Myer For Hire." Even in the 60s, it was a throwback to the days of "Selected Short Subjects," cheaply-made shorts with slapstick comedy aimed at kids. It was in first-run syndication from 1963 to 1964, and then repeated for several years on local stations. You'd see them on local kiddie shows, used like cartoons as part of a larger show. For the life of me, I can't remember which of the local shows used them when I was a kid -- I think WPIX in New York used them, but I'm not at all sure. But they filled time... as it is here.

MORE REDIRECTION

I'm too lazy to write more than I already have today. Here, read this Nerdist piece about the hurricane and this one at All Access, also, sort of, about the hurricane.

That should do it for tonight.

WATCH, WAIT, WORRY

It's surreal to watch what's happening on the East Coast from the other side of the country, just as I imagine it's weird for people back there to watch when there are wildfires and earthquakes here. I grew up there, and our families and friends are back east. My sister lives adjacent to (but not directly in) a couple of neighborhoods that get flooded all the time, and this one's likely to be pretty bad, so although I'm sure she'll be fine, I reserve the right to worry, because that's what you do in cases like this.

It's hard to say what's going to happen, because the reports don't seem to be all that specific, other than that everything from Sunday on is being canceled or moved to Saturday, and places by the immediate coast or on bays or rivers vulnerable to flooding are being evacuated. All I can do from here is watch, wait, and worry. And as someone who rode out a hurricane while directly in its path and right on the beach at landfall (Katrina in Florida, exactly six years ago tonight (check the entries for August 25th-27th and 31st)), I'd advise anyone who can get away from the coast to do so. Like, now.

Maybe this will be a big fizzle. Maybe the storm will veer out to sea. Maybe. But right now, it looks worse than that. I hope they're wrong.

A NIGHT IN LAST PLACE

Oh, yeah, I was at the Padres-Marlins game Saturday evening. I know, two last place teams, but, hey, I'm a baseball fan. I'll go see any game. Here are a few pictures:

We entered in the outfield, and behind the batter's eye in the Park at the Park area, they were having kids demonstrate martial arts:

They had a lot of stuff going on at the park to draw a crowd, considering that the game itself wasn't a draw. And, indeed, they drew a decent crowd, announced at over 37,000 (probably about 32,000 or so). They were there to see this guy:

Country singer Dierks Bentley was in the house and singing after the game. I skipped that part; I couldn't name you a Dierks Bentley song, and I don't care about that. I was there for baseball, and to check out Petco Park. This was the view towards left field from our seat, and, yes, that's Fran in front of the dude with the fedora and his date:

Not bad seats, 9 rows back and just behind third base. We weren't too far from Greg Dobbs warming up with a vigorous prance:

What? The game? This will be an indication:

It was a mighty effort to stick around for the whole game, but we did. I like how the Gaslamp District is a short walk away for a post-game bite. I don't like how getting out of the Padres Parkade parking garage is impossible. It took us a good half-hour to get out of the lot. A cop at the exit would have helped.

One radio related thing:

That's the Petco Park studio of XEPRS, XX Sports Radio, flagship of the Padres, Nobody was in there. They have a showcase studio right there and it's empty for a Saturday game with a decent crowd? Not good marketing. Even if they're in syndicated programming, someone from the station should be assigned to be there and greet fans. But they weren't.

Verdict: Nice evening. Next year, I'll try to get down there when the Phillies are in town. And I'll park someplace else.

OMINOUS, VAGUE

I timed the day poorly, leaving me with extra work at the end and no time for this... which leads me to some thoughts about what's up here and what the future might hold.

We'll talk. Believe me, we'll talk.

Nobody cares about this stuff but weirdos like me, but I'm glad someone else did in this case. Back in the '60s, Channel 29 in Philadelphia was one of three new independent stations that signed on practically all at once. It eventually became the strongest of the three, and is now the Fox-owned station in town, but back then, it was locally-owned and called WIBF-TV. But when it was that, the owners spent nothing on marketing, and didn't buy print ads, while the competition, channels 17 and 48, did. That's why there are ads -- you've seen some that I've posted here -- and YouTube videos, some of which date back pretty far. But there's not even a hint of WIBF-TV's logo. And because I first started watching in the WTAF-TV days, I don't remember anything about it (I remember the stop-sign 17 logo, and the Kaiser 48, but not 29 from before the crude 3-D Taft logo).

But here, someone's found the station's jingle and recreated from memory the logo:

Love that jingle. "Philadelphia!" Wish there was actual video of it, but it's a sae bet that whatevrr existed was long ago erased. At least there's this.

I WONDER WHAT DAGWOOD'S UP TO TODAY

Apparently, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News has a different definition of "NEW" from the rest of society:

"Family Circus," "Hagar the Horrible," "Hi and Lois", "Spider-Man"... that's "new"? There ARE new strips available through this (the site just connects to King Features' Comics Kingdom; the selection is unrelated to strips actually in the physical paper, but they do link to most of the ones that are in the papers), but you wouldn't know it from the ones they highlighted.

And that's a problem with the way papers look at not just comics, but all features. Comics are beneath them, but a necessary evil, so they run whatever will draw the fewest complaints. That means appealing to the only constituency that complains about comic strips: the elderly. And that's why four strips of not-recent vintage are what the Philadelphia papers are touting as enticement for you to go to the new Comics Kingdom link. For most people, though, those strips are surely reminders of why newspapers are irrelevant to their lives. There's nothing "NEW" going on there.

THINGS TO DO, PLACES TO BE

Probably not going to have a post today. Busy.

Or maybe there will be. But probably not.

I'm sure you're spellbound by that.

YOUR NEW CAT OVERLORD

I'm not feeling all that motivated to write more than I've written thus far today. Maybe I should just link to something else I wrote. Here, click this. You'll see what this picture of Ella the World's Most Famous Cat has to do with science and our future:

Now, that's a scowl.

PURE MAGIC

You want to see an Austrian entertainer singing on German television while on a flying carpet floating over videotape of Disney World in 1976? Sure:

Peter Alexander is joined by Mickey Mouse and Mireille Mathieu for this musical comedy extravaganza. I have a hard time imagining that this was ever considered entertainment, let alone in my lifetime. Alexander passed away in February at 84; he was massively popular in Germany for decades. Mireille Mathieu still performs across Europe. Mickey Mouse works in Orlando and Anaheim.

TOO LATE AGAIN

Do I have to? No? You mean, I don't get paid for this?

Well, then, good night. See you tomorrow.

Because it is:

Love that show.

TIGER BY THE TAIL

Busy start to the week. So here's an old, short Canadian Esso commercial in French:

My dad favored Esso and Texaco gas. Here's a later, American, English-language Esso commercial:

Yes. kids, gas stations used to do promotions. You could get a set of glasses, picture prints (sometimes tied in with the local sports teams), a "tiger tail"... gas stations actually competed. That was a long time ago, although you sometimes see promotions like the inexplicable sale of San Francisco Giants World Championship decals at our local Chevron, where the locals are, decidedly, not Giants fans.

Esso was Enco in the west and Imperial Esso in Canada. It's still Esso in Canada and elsewhere, but I've been unable so far to find any commercials for the name change to Exxon. I remember seeing them, but I haven't found any so far on the Net. I'm sure they're someplace.

HOOPS IN AUGUST

I love old basketball footage. This is a chunk of game 4 of the 1964 NBA finals, Boston at San Francisco:

Chamberlain vs. Russell, Wilt misses free throws, everyone's wearing short shorts, the Cow Palace is raucous... very cool.

And then there's the meaningless game here from MSG's "The Vault," a 1966 telecast of a Knicks-Bullets game from Baltimore Civic Center, the oldest known tape of a Knicks game ever, with fights and Dave Stallworth and Howard Komives and Walt Bellamy and Bob Wolff and more. Al Trautwig does some intrusive commentary, but it's still fascinating.

And this, Bill Bradley's first game as a Knick, December 9, 1967 at the Garden:

A very young Marv Albert on WHN. Willis Reed, Cazzie Russell, Dick Barnett... and Dave DeBusschere on the Pistons. Love this stuff.

GOOD TIMES

Wow, this is from September 24, 1975:

It was the last game of the 1975 season on WPHL-TV Philadelphia, with Harry Kalas all leisure-suited out. A few things: Girard Bank! Schmidt's beer! By Saam was still on the crew! The season ended on September 24th! Man, have times changed.

Girard Bank was huge back then. Girard was one of the big Philadelphia banks when I arrived in town; PNB, PSFS, Germantown Savings Bank, and Western Savings Bank were among the others. All merged into others and gone now, I guess. Girard had one of the two original ATM networks in the area back when ATMs were largely regional/local things; theirs was George, and the other, shared among several banks, was MAC. Western Savings had the signage at the Vet, but Girard sponsored the Phils on TV. Their logo, a red G, was even reminiscent of the Phillies' '70s-'80s "P" logo.

Schmidt's was the local beer. It wasn't very good, but Roache and O'Brien's bar up the street from me had it for 25 cents a small glass. A burger and a couple of quarter Schmidt's was a gourmet dinner for me. The old brewery is now a really quite cool residential/retail/restaurant complex called The Piazza at Schmidt's.

And the Phillies were about to become pretty good. 101 wins and the Eastern title in '76 (but swept by the Reds in the NLCS), first place again in '77 and '78 (losses to the Dodgers; I was there in '78), then winning it all in '80. Ah, memories.

WORKING FOR... ER, ON THE WEEKEND

Doing work around the house. Copiously sweating. Miles to go and it's late.

This wasn't the best week. Could have been worse, but it wasn't great. Excuse me -- I'd like it to come to a quiet close. Might need to take a shower first, though.

FLY

No time tonight. Column due. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Oh, wait, the NFL preseason started tonight, so here's a little music (video from last season):

E-A-G-L-E-S-Eagles!

DO THE SHUFFLE

If you're old enough to remember the late '60s or early '70s, you'll know this:

Some tunes just embed themselves in your consciousness. The "Teaberry Shuffle" is one of them. The gum tasted weird -- kind of bitter -- but the commercial was impossible to forget. And, no, I couldn't do the Shuffle.

They still make it, by the way.

BOWLING + DOLLARS = MAGIC

Look, from 1977, the New York edition of "Bowling for Dollars"!:

There was no more boring show than "Bowling for Dollars" (or "Candlepins for Cash," if you were in Boston). It was... bowling. For dollars. That's it. You knocked pins down, they paid you. For decades, that was a staple of local TV. Kids, you don't know what you missed.

Larry Kenney was the host at WOR-TV. He was a jock at WHN radio. Later, he spent decades doing characters on Don Imus' show and a million cartoon and video game characters, which is what he does now. And his daughter Kerri is the same Kerri Kenney from "The State" and "Reno 911" and "Viva Variety." But in '77, he was the host of "Bowling for Dollars." Now, that belongs right at the top of the ol' resume.

I'm late, gotta go to sleep. Here's a promo for the 76ers on the late, lamented WKBS-TV, channel 48 Philadelphia, from 1981:

The San Diego Clippers, that is. Led by Swen Nater. NBA basketball at its finest.

THAT ONE'S ALWAYS ON

Another incisive, detailed listing on the Verizon FiOS guide today, in honor of Lucille Ball's would-have-been 100th birthday this weekend:

Oh, yeah, I remember that episode. Especially the wacky neighbors.

TEAM PLAYS TEAM IN CITY

Here's a listing from the Verizon FiOS guide today:

Well, then, I'm sold.

UHF, 1979

I've pointed out how cheesy Philadelphia UHF TV was back in the day. Detroit was no different. Here's a news report and some commercial breaks plus the closing of "Bill Kennedy at the Movies" from WKBD-TV/Detroit back in 1979:

How about that hair?

Bill Kennedy was a mainstay in Detroit local television, hosting movies on CKLW-TV and WKBD-TV until he trtired in 1983. But he was also an actor in the 1940s and the announcer who narrated the beginning "Faster than a speeding bullet" part of "The Adventures of Superman" on TV. He died in 1997.

Amyre Makupson retired not that long ago, but her daughter, also named Amyre Makupson, is an anchor at WLIO-TV/Lima, OH.

Salem Square looked like a sad little supermarket. It's now a Rite-Aid.

And note that the Dow was up that day. The index: 851.61. It was a long time ago.

NOTHING DOING

It's already 9 pm, I don't have the column done, and I'm having a hard time caring... about anything. So everything will have to wait until tomorrow. Everything. The column, the caring, and... this.

Nope, not even a video. Just too tired.

I think Howard mentioned this commercial from the WNBC days in his book. The look of wanting to be anyplace but there is pretty authentic:

Those were the days....

TV, BACK ON THE BAYOU

Just because, here's someone's old reel of IDs, bloopers, and commercials from the '60s and '70s from KLFY-TV in Lafayette, LA:

Cheesy graphics, bad video, and plenty of pratfalls and breaking up. That was local TV back in the day. They don't make it like that anymore.

NEW YORK RADIO, '80S STYLE

This is pretty good nostalgia, 1980s New York radio style:

WPLJ, WABC, WNBC (Imus!). All from the '80s. And then there's...

The Apple! WAPP made a critical mistake that they must have thought was genius when they did it: They launched commercial-free for an extended period, and they did well that way. And then the commercials started and the audience deserted them. They then tried Top 40 and failed.

The next station ultimately ended up on 103.5, but as a country station:

Country? Yeah, this:

And this station, WKTU, was the one that toppled WABC with disco, then struggled as a Top 40 and ended up going Classic Rock and hiring Howard Stern as WXRK (92.3 K-Rock):

There's a Disco 92 commercial at the 2:06 mark of this compilation of 1978 commercials:

I love that this stuff is so available online. I'd hate to think I dreamed it all.

March 2012

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Who?

    Perry Michael Simon. Talk radio guy. Editor of the News-Talk-Sports section at AllAccess.com. Editor and writer at Chris Hardwick's Nerdist.com. Former Program Director, Operations Manager, host, and general nuisance at KLSX/Los Angeles, Y-107/Los Angeles, New Jersey 101.5. Freelance writer on media, sports, pop culture, based somewhere in the Los Angeles area. Contact him here. Copyright 2003-2012 Perry Michael Simon. Yeah.

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