TheShadow Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 Here's a couple Youtube links to some old-school Houston TV news.First up is from January 13, 1982. A rare snowfall hit Houston, and all 3 5 pm newscasts led off with it. The footage was taped off a TV and changes between 2, 11 and 13 several times. So don't expect consistency, but it's interesting. Here are some highlights:-The intro to Channel 2's newscast ("The 5 O'clock Report"). I couldn't decide which was goofier: the turquoise 2 from the ID card, footage of a boat about to crash, Ron Stone looking like a preacher or a picture of Ron that was probably done on an Apple II. We don't see the 2News set, though; the show starts in the weather center with Doug Johnson standing behind a rip-and-read teletype. To me, nothing says old-school TV news like a ticking teletype. -Newscenter 11 has Steve Smith (Amanda Arnold was off) and a few reporters. Does anyone recognize the female reporter at the traffic center? She looks and sounds familiar, but is not named in the extant footage. Oh, and we see Steve's name written in a script lettering that is the most ridiculous font I've ever seen in a newscast. -On Live at Five (speaking of ridiculous lettering-see the logo), Van Hackett and Shara Fryer anchor (it looks like the 3-tiered desk was gone by then) with Doug Brown standing on the Southwest Freeway (I think). Man, I miss the tilted 13.Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws7ffEevkxsHere's a bonus for you Amanda Arnold fans: a snippet of a 1981 interview with Steve, Amanda and an unidentified reporter talking to Lily Tomlin. Anchors need to wave more often. Or maybe not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi-Cjpw8dO0 Speaking of Amanda, I'm amused by the fact that 3 of Channel 11's 4 previous anchorwomen left the station and TV news entirely. Amanda became a country music singer, Marlene McClinton was mad as hell and didn't want to take it anymore and Lisa Foronda was sick of TV news. Anybody know why Felicia Jeter left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan the man Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Here's a couple Youtube links to some old-school Houston TV news.First up is from January 13, 1982. A rare snowfall hit Houston, and all 3 5 pm newscasts led off with it. The footage was taped off a TV and changes between 2, 11 and 13 several times. So don't expect consistency, but it's interesting. Here are some highlights:The good news, I saw it on YouTube well before this was posted. The bad news, I wasn't even around then.Of course, most of the big towers weren't even there, and what appears to be the Chase Tower was in the late stages of construction, as you could still see part of the skeleton on top. There had to be at least one or two more skeletons because many of the noticeable towers were built in the early-to-mid 80s.-The intro to Channel 2's newscast ("The 5 O'clock Report"). I couldn't decide which was goofier: the turquoise 2 from the ID card, footage of a boat about to crash, Ron Stone looking like a preacher or a picture of Ron that was probably done on an Apple II. We don't see the 2News set, though; the show starts in the weather center with Doug Johnson standing behind a rip-and-read teletype. To me, nothing says old-school TV news like a ticking teletype.The "Apple II" had to be the Astrodome scoreboard, since Stone was boxed into a six-sided box based on the scoreboard's hexagonal shape. Of course the traffic scene and the cowboys do go well with the open since that is part of Houston's heritage in the latter and Houston's notoriety in the former.-Newscenter 11 has Steve Smith (Amanda Arnold was off) and a few reporters. Does anyone recognize the female reporter at the traffic center? She looks and sounds familiar, but is not named in the extant footage. Oh, and we see Steve's name written in a script lettering that is the most ridiculous font I've ever seen in a newscast.Yeah, the script lettering is cheap. 11 was on the cheap graphics-wise even as late as 1988. It was not until 1989 that finally caught up.-On Live at Five (speaking of ridiculous lettering-see the logo), Van Hackett and Shara Fryer anchor (it looks like the 3-tiered desk was gone by then) with Doug Brown standing on the Southwest Freeway (I think). Man, I miss the tilted 13.The lettering for the Live at Five logo didn't last too long, either. On a 1984 clip I saw on YouTube, Fryer and Bob Boudreaux anchored and the logo became something like italic Avant Garde.Of course, what freeway was that in the very beginning of the video (where KTRK showed its "Instant Eye" chyron).Speaking of Amanda, I'm amused by the fact that 3 of Channel 11's 4 previous anchorwomen left the station and TV news entirely. Amanda became a country music singer, Marlene McClinton was mad as hell and didn't want to take it anymore and Lisa Foronda was sick of TV news. Anybody know why Felicia Jeter left?I do not know why, but I heard through the grapevine of the Chron archives 11 did not do so well with Jeter and (Chip) Moody; legend has it 11 even trailed sitcoms on 20 and 26 when the two anchors were there. It wasn't until Dr. Neil Frank came in (along with Sylvan Rodriguez) and Post-Newsweek Stations started making KPRC more tabloid that KHOU caught up.And all in all, KTRK has held on to this day with KHOU inching in and even taking some of its audience at times, even though I just saw a recent KTRK ad where they dominate in news all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuwong Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I want to see the clip of Marlene MClinton's last day on-air resignation from KHOU 11. Anyone have that somewhere? I heard she stunned alot of people!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan the man Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Unfortunately, the video of the snow report in Houston from January 13, 1982 was deleted by the stuffed suits at the site it came from. So much for freedom of speech in this country.But it would be more than greatly appreciated if someone who managed to download a copy of the video before it got taken down could post it somewhere. It is always a crying shame when TV nostalgia from a great American city gets wiped out in the name of blatant censorship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Dogs Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Ch. 13's old logo with the long 3 hanging out of the Circle 13 logo in the Helvetica font was BETTER. Here is one video with the 1983 downtown skyline news set:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=986rYU3Nwt8 July 21, 1985 weekend newscast with Van Hackett & Melanie Lawson. Does anyone else have other videos of KTRK weekend newscasts from 1984 to 1987 with Hackett & Lawson co-anchoring the weekends ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Can't find a video of McClinton's exit from KHOU, but here's the story from The Houston Press circa 2006 that gives a blow by blow of the events of that debacle. http://www.houstonpress.com/1999-09-16/news/insider/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Dogs Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 PurpleDevil, remember when Alan Hemberger joined the weekend newscasts for Ch. 13 around either the spring or summer of 1989, after Jim Rosenfield left for WLS-TV Chicago ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChannelTwoNews Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Unfortunately, the video of the snow report in Houston from January 13, 1982 was deleted by the stuffed suits at the site it came from. So much for freedom of speech in this country.But it would be more than greatly appreciated if someone who managed to download a copy of the video before it got taken down could post it somewhere. It is always a crying shame when TV nostalgia from a great American city gets wiped out in the name of blatant censorship. I know that someone did snag a copy (or maybe it was the original person who uploaded?) and posted the same montage on facebook within the past year or two. I can't remember for the life of me who it was or if it was in a certain Houston history group. I miss the user 'manxton' on YouTube. They were only active for a brief period, around the time I started my page back in 2006, but they had a bunch of Houston tv clips from the same period mentioned in this thread. Someone cited copyright issues and the user nor the clips never surfaced after. Would kill to see some of those gems again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Dogs Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 ChannelTwoNews, Ch. 13's titled logo was cool back in 1980-81. On the Live at Five newscasts, Van Hackett later moved to the weekends around 1982ish and stayed there until the summer of 1987 during May sweeps, when he left the station once Jim Rosenfield and Debbi Johnson moved to weekends and Melanie Lawson moved to Live at Five.On the Houston snow news reports, I've tried finding it on places like DailyMotion, etc., but haven't gotten anywhere though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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