This is another interesting week in the transition of life for baby-boomers.
Jerry Mathers (The Beaver) turns 70 June 3, 2018
Already, we’ve shared that today, June 3, is the 70th birthday of Jerry Mathers, an icon of the TV Generation. In our TV minds, The Beav is still between 8 and 14 years old, depending on the rerun we watch. I commented to a friend today, I wonder if Beaver at 70 would be able to get out of that big bowl of soup on a billboard in the legendary “In the Soup” episode.
Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of a dark day in the spring of ’68 and American history. Within the span of five days in April 1968, Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek a second full term as president. That was on a Sunday night. The following Thursday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis. June 5, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy won the California Primary. Moments after leaving the ballroom where he delivered his victory speech, he was shot and later died at the hands of Sirhan Sirhan.
Robert and Ethel Kennedy moments before his California Primary acceptance speech June 5, 1968
My colleague Stu Shostak shared with us footage from YouTube of ABC News’ live coverage of the California Primary returns, the victory speech and then the awful news of the shooting (Kennedy died approximately 28 hours later).
This was a different era in politics. Most states in the late 1960s still did not hold primaries to select delegates for the national conventions. In 1968, Sen. Eugene McCarthy stunned the country by finishing within two percentage points of President Johnson in the opener, the New Hampshire Primary. That opened Kennedy’s eyes to a vulnerability in the incumbent. Shortly thereafter, he announced his candidacy and entered the remaining primaries.
Two things led to Johnson’s withdrawal in a Sunday night address to the nation that ostensibly was to announce a new strategy in Vietnam. One was the strong performance of McCarthy and Kennedy’s entry into the race. Second was Walter Cronkite’s series of reports from the battlefront on the CBS Evening News. On the final evening, the Friday before Johnson’s address, Cronkite delivered a rare personal commentary. By that point, Cronkite had overtaken Chet Huntley and David Brinkley as the top-rated anchor in network news. In his perspective, Cronkite suggested that the best the United States could hope for in Vietnam was a negotiated truce. A number of books and other published accounts quoted Johnson as saying to his wife Lady Bird and his close associates, “If I’ve lost Walter Cronkite, I’ve lost the country.”
Two nights later, in a dramatic addendum that was not included in advance copies of the speech to the media, Johnson uttered his famous lines, “I shall not seek, nor will not accept another term as your President.” CBS News correspondent Harry Reasoner, anchor of the late-night CBS Sunday News, reflected first on the stunning news of Johnson’s departure from the campaign instead of the Vietnam strategy.
Kennedy, largely on name value, overtook McCarthy in the primaries where both were entered. McCarthy won in Oregon where Kennedy had not campaigned. The X factor was Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
In 1960, Humphrey badly wanted the Presidency but ran out of money after several primary losses to John F. Kennedy. Humphrey accepted the number two slot with Johnson in 1964. With Johnson out of the way, Humphrey opted to enter the race in 1968; however, Johnson’s late decision was past the deadline for Humphrey to enter any remaining primaries.
ABC News covers RFK’s victory speech for the California Primary June 5, 1968. Note that ABC was still in black-and-white for remote live coverage.
Humphrey was forced to go the traditional route of negotiating with Democratic Party bosses such as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. CBS News estimated that even with Kennedy’s victory in the California Primary, Humphrey would enter the Democratic National Convention with approximately 1,200 of the needed 1,340 delegates for the nomination. Kennedy would have slightly more than 1,000. The battle between the two to cross the finish line may have been one of the most epic in American political history. We could have seen a brokered convention or perhaps a delegate vote that went beyond the first ballot (something I have not seen in my lifetime).
Howard K. Smith of ABC News reports on the shooting of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy
This historical ABC News coverage takes you back to that fateful night in 1968. I was about to enter my sophomore year of high school. This was the first week of summer vacation from school. As a young political junkie, I sat up after midnight to hear Kennedy’s victory speech for the California Primary, then went to bed. I awoke the next morning to around-the-clock news coverage of the shooting and perpetual analysis of whether Kennedy would survive.
We will never know to the degree this changed political history. Even if you are not a fan of politics, I encourage you to watch this as a snapshot of history.
Memorial Day is like most holiday observances. In a TV newsroom, assignment editors scramble to develop a working menu of stories. While retail stores are usually thriving with people, government offices are closed, schools are out and public servants are taking the final day of the weekend off with their families.
Mike McCormick was an 11-year veteran at the Upstate South Carolina station. He started his career at WYFF as a reporter in the station’s Spartanburg bureau. In recent years, he became a weekend anchor. I never met Mike but I occasionally exchanged conversation with him on Twitter when interesting weekend stories developed.
Aaron Smeltzer was a talented videographer who joined the WYFF staff earlier this year. As happens when anyone signs on at a new television station, a few weeks are needed to become part of the culture. From all reports, Aaron had done just that.
I had no doubt the voices and the emotions would be heavy from WYFF veteran anchors Michael Cogdill and Carol Goldsmith Monday night. I have known Michael for 33 years. He was a rookie reporter with WECT in Wilmington, NC, when I was news director at the opposition at WWAY. I badly wanted to hire him away. At that time, managements in Wilmington did not smile on “stealing” on-air journalists. Michael’s wife-to-be Jill Kremer interned with us at WWAY.
No worries surfaced in having to rearrange what appeared to be a routine holiday lineup. Carol and 5:30 anchor Tim Waller, who was subbing for Michael on the holiday, were cool and reassuring to viewers in the midst of what could have been two tragedies.
That healing will not come tomorrow, this week, or probably next. For those of you who live in the Greenville area and regularly watch WYFF, remember that a lot of people you see on Channel 4 in the days ahead are hurting inside. They may not know you personally. However, you know them. Offer a prayer for them. Be a family to them at a time when they need it most.
In the last week, I have witnessed three first-class efforts in the midst of the two most frightening words of the current day: active shooter.
Reporter Tiffany Craig, using the equivalent of an electronic chalkboard, set up three columns: one for verified information, one for false reports and a middle section for possible but unsubstantiated data.
While Marchand and Peck were at the anchor desk, reporter Megan Myers—who has only been with WMBB a few months—was in the midst of interviewing a neighbor in the area where 49-year-old Kevin Holroyd erupted. As police were attempting to bring an end to the violence, shots rang out behind Myers and her interviewee.
When I received an alert of the Panama City eruption, I would have been surprised if Jerry had been anything but what he was—-the calming voice to a city which eight years earlier watched as an unstable man fired shots at Bay County school board members. The shooter missed all of his targets but was shot by a security officer multiple times before finishing the job himself.
Glen served in the Signal Corps during World War II. After the war, he entered college on the G.I. Bill, earning a degree in radio journalism from Ohio State in the late 1940s.
David Lea, was added in 1962, Broughman was the straightforward news presenter.
Periodically, I return to Columbus to visit relatives. When possible, I stop in to see my old friend—WRBL’s lead male anchor Phil Scoggins, who has now been in that chair for 20 years—-amazingly more than twice as long as Broughman’s tenure in a profession often known for its revolving door. Phil and I broke in at 
Serial killers were supposed to do their evil in Boston, Los Angeles or Chicago. Columbus, Ga., was Colonel Chick, Katie the Cow, Miss Patsy, Wednesday night wrestling, Rozell Fabiani, Wells Dairies, Weracoba Park and the Water Wiz.
Addressing my co-anchor and news director Kathy Pepino, Avery asked: “Are you going to commission people to be on call in case something else happens?” Kathy assured him she had things under control. Avery was oblivious to the fact that he was still talking to us on live television, back turned to the camera, when the break ended.
Religion reporting is one of the most glaring deficits in local television newsrooms across the nation. In 1978, the first of my 13 Associated Press awards for reporting was for that series on the church as a solace in a time of community crisis.
Another debate ensued in the community and within newsrooms after the third murder over use of the label “The Stocking Strangler.” Many callers were upset at the reference. One scoured me about it on the phone.
We were all accused of attempting to use the story of the Stocking Strangler to further our personal careers. One man let me know in no uncertain terms at a school Halloween carnival where I was judging costumes.
The word “closure” is almost becoming a reporting cliche. I may add it to Twitter’s @TiredTVTerms. I counted at least twelve times on Columbus stations Thursday night that reporters used sentences to the effect, “The execution of Carlton Gary will finally bring closure for the families and close friends of the victims.” At one point, I said, “Will it?” The popular perception today is that a conviction or an execution brings an end to the story. Contemporary media perpetuates that idea. With something as despicable as Carlton Gary’s mindless acts, the story may end for those writing the book. Emotionally, closure never comes for people who lived through the fear and torment.
I saw the first story break about 13-year-old Keaton Jones online December 11. National mainstream media outlets and local stations scrambled faster than the rush for the latest President Trump tweet to paint the picture of a middle school student as a symbol of bullying.
On my Roku set, I skimmed newscasts from 11 different local stations during the three-day period after Keaton’s video went viral. Every single one prominently featured a story on his being bullied in either the first or second block of an early or late evening newscast. Only in two I viewed was a remote effort made to localize the story and probe further the extent of bullying in that station’s market and whether anti-bullying policies are genuinely being enforced.
I remember my own experience as horrendously as if it were yesterday. In an afternoon junior high physical education class, we were doing the 600-yard run-walk, one of six elements of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness challenge. I did not come from an athletic family. I never struggled in the classroom but I was a hopeless mess on a playing field. I usually finished in the final four or five in any running test in the class of 36 guys. On a particular afternoon, I reached the 400-yard mark—huffing as usual—when I was cornered by two in the class who had already finished. One was a noted bully. The other stunned me because I always had a reasonable relationship with him. He was a full head taller than I was. The bully-by-reputation was a half-head taller. The bigger guy grabbed me behind the back. The other one had his fist clenched. The one I thought was a friend said, “Look up.” Certainly that must have been one of the courageous acts of his life to hold someone six inches smaller for another boy to cold cock in the chin. Call it an act of God or whatever you wish but I did not obey his command to look up. As I braced myself to be smacked in the teeth, two things happened. Coach Joe Mercer, who was near the 600-yard finish line, miraculously spotted what was about to happen. He sped toward my attackers and said something to the effect, “What’s going on here?” At the same time, a white dog who was in a yard across the street from the junior high athletic field, came running to investigate (and I was privately hoping he would take a bite out of the bully).
I go into that kind of detail about my own experience because 50 years ago, this was not an issue journalism ever explored. Episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” or “Leave It to Beaver” touched on bullying more than television news. Even then, bullying was depicted as a routine rite of passage of a young male’s life.
tructional lesson in the fallacies of rushing to publish social media events. Keaton Jones was made a poster boy for anti-bullying in one day. Four days later, he was dropped faster than Brad Keselowski drives around Daytona International Speedway. Media all over the nation and the world share in the responsibility, as badly as we hate to admit mistakes.
seven more years of “retirement” from Jackson. After a series of negotiations, he agreed to an easier schedule of Pac-10 games with Dan Fouts that required less of a commute from his Pacific Northwest home.
The assorted recaps of Jackson’s career have inserted the headline “whoa, Nellie” as his trademark line in a football telecast. That may be the most exaggerated urban legend on his roster. He did use the phrase in a commercial during the tail end of his career. However, he once asserted that he never said “whoa, Nellie” while calling a game; the connection came largely from impersonations of Jackson by comedian/sports interviewer Roy Firestone. Jackson was none too impressed by Firestone’s mimicry. One of his routines went something like this: “And it’s another eight-yard gain by Leroy Mullis from WAY-cross, Georgia….he motored around right tackle like a four-wheel drive….whoa, Nellie!” Jackson may have used the term at some point but I challenge you to filter through the ABC Sports tape library and find an outing where he did. In the frequent legendary games on ESPN Classic, “whoa, Nellie” is never there.
The ABC college football season opener in 1983 was Georgia vs. UCLA in Athens. For years, Jackson was paired with former Arkansas coach Frank Broyles in the booth. This was the game in which Rick Neuheisel was in his senior season and started at quarterback for the Bruins. At least three times during the telecast, Broyles told Jackson how impressed he was with “this Rickheisel.” Jackson, who enjoyed Broyles, was amused every time. However, late in the game, with UCLA driving for what would have been a winning touchdown, Neuheisel called a time out deep in Bulldog territory. Then, before running a play, Neuheisel called another time out. “He cain’t DO that, Keith! He cain’t call two time outs in a row!” shouted Broyles. Jackson said: “I don’t know if he can or not but if Frank Broyles is that adamant about it, I would suggest he’s about to be penalized.” UCLA was penalized. Georgia won. The Bulldogs eventually backed out of the return game in the Rose Bowl the next year.
I was a senior in high school when Monday Night Football began in 1970. Bedtime prevented me from seeing the finish of most of the games except on the eve of one teacher in-service day. While many viewers were either entertained or agitated at the jousting between Meredith and Cosell, the latter of whom actually had been a commentator in the 1950s when ABC had a package of Saturday night NFL games, one line stayed with me well after the season. After every extra point kick, before pitching to a commercial break, Jackson would say: “NFL Monnnnnn-day Night Football…..a great way to spend an autumn evening.” The next year, when I commuted home to do public address announcing at my alma mater’s games, I admittedly stole the line. After every Bulldog extra point, I said, “Waycross High Friiiiiiii-day Night Football…..a great way to spend a summer/autumn evening.” The home fans were amused. The visitors usually were not.
When he finally did make that final call, it was one for the ages. Vince Young dramatically drove Texas down the field for a final touchdown with only seconds left in a spine-tingling Rose Bowl to beat Southern Cal. Jackson, in the same mode as the great Ray Scott on NFL games for many years, backed away from the mike and let the pictures tell the story. He was a master at it. When he finally returned to speak, he told everything with a simple sentence: “It’s been a game of drama, of emotions, and great plays—-and the Longhorns are gonna win it.”
Without question, he was my idol in basketball broadcasting. Though he was spectacular at the wide variety of sports he called, he made basketball come alive for me as if it were on an Imax screen. I never even remotely came close to his talent and recognition, though I enjoyed 25 years as an NAIA and NCAA Division II basketball commentator. Yet, Enberg was my role model and the main influence for me to go behind the television mike.
A 33-year-old sportscaster with Midwest roots was chosen to call the game. He was building a name on the West Coast as the voice of UCLA basketball, as well as the radio voice of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Angels. Dick Enberg would not only make history by broadcasting in the largest venue ever to house a basketball game, as well as the largest crowd, but his work nearly a half century ago pushed the sport to a major transition.
The decision to assign Enberg, who called UCLA games on a tape delay but was not a national broadcast name, as play-by-play commentator served as an introduction to a wordsmith with the ability to lift a game into an event. Enberg was limited exposure in about 40 TV markets with “The Perfect Match,” a “Dating Game” knockoff. In dozens of cities, he was an unknown.
The second half was much more defensive. Hayes was held to 10 points but hit two key free throws with 1:54 remaining to put Houston up 71-69. Long before the shot clock era, UCLA worked extensively for a tying shot and possible foul. All-America guard Mike Warren made one of his rare mistakes and threw away a pass with forward Lynn Shackelford wide open.
As another great commentator who is a friend, Tim Brando, frequently says when we lose legends: “We’re not replacing them with people who have half the talent.” This morning, Brando tweeted: “(Enberg) was just being himself, a warm human being that brought out only the best in those around him. No one was better!”
December 18, 2017
n a paragraph in the story which read: “We contacted The Jackson Police Department but were told no arrest had been made.” I asked to step into the once-a-week afternoon practicum of the newspaper staff. My question was simple: do you have any proof, written or verbal, that the athlete was suspended from school because of drugs? After a few stammers, the admission was that no confirmation existed. My response: then why did you raise the issue that you contacted the Jackson Police Department and received no information of an arrest?
Ask me to rank my top 10 favorite characters in TV history. Gomer Pyle will be in the Final Four playoff, along with Andy Taylor, Barney Fife and Beaver Cleaver.
day. Bit characters came and went in Mayberry, most never again to be seen. Somehow, Gomer grabbed our attention. I remember my father laughing uproariously at the few lines Gomer delivered. We thought little more about it the next day—but Andy Griffith and his producers did.
Andy watches and says, “That’s real good, Gomer.” Quickly, Gomer tells his friend, “Andy….I’m in.” “In” was his enlistment papers in the United States Marine Corps.
in case the early ratings were a fluke, CBS sent Nabors on a promotional swing as he appeared on Art Linkletter’s House Party and the prime time version of To Tell the Truth. Regular panelist Orson Bean was given the week off from Truth in order to bring Nabors to the popular game show’s panel October 26, 1964. For a week in a blitz of heavy daytime promos, voiceover announcers touted the star of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. as joining the panel of stars (Tom Poston, Peggy Cass and Kitty Carlisle). Jim was a bit nervous. He never before had played on a game show. Onstage with heavyweight veterans Poston, Cass and Carlisle, the Alabama native struggled to ask pertinent questions of the contestants. Only two games were played rather than the usual three because the episode was cut to 25 minutes to accommodate a five-minute political talk for the upcoming Presidential election.
As a testament to CBS’ promotional machine and Nabors’ increasing popularity resulted in the highest rating of the 11 years of nighttime To Tell the Truth. The episode scored a 26.4 rating and 42 percent share of audience, crushing the NBC and ABC competition.
When the fall 1969 CBS lineup was released in April, Gomer Pyle was not on the schedule. The Jim Nabors Hour was. The original plan was to go Fridays from 8 to 9 on the same night that Gomer had been such a huge success. The popular Hogan’s Heroes would return for a fifth season by moving to 7:30. However, CBS opted late in the scheduling game to go pick up the declining Get Smart from NBC for a sixth season and give a reluctant pickup to The Good Guys, a Bob Denver-Herb Edelman comedy that limped in the Nielsens in its first season. Those comedies were penciled in at 7:30 and 8. Hogan remained at 8:30.
special, Jim Nabors’ Christmas in Hawaii, which included him singing Silent Night at Pearl Harbor. His most frequent annual appearances, which started in 1969, were at the Indianapolis 500 where he offered the emotional state song “Back Home in Indiana” for 36 years until a farewell in 2014.
The Old TV News Coach 