R.I.P. Ray Miller

[ChannelTwoNews]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6027156.html

Ray Miller, legendary lover of Texas and a founding father of television news, died Saturday morning. The creator of the popular television show The Eyes of Texas was 89.

[dbigtex56]

Sorry to hear that. His history of Houston is informative and an enjoyable read. He'll be missed.

[Disastro]

Sorry to hear that. His history of Houston is informative and an enjoyable read. He'll be missed.

Very sorry to hear about Mr. Miller's passing. I practically grew up watching The Eyes of Texas. It was an excellent series!

[toadfroggy]

I loved Ray Miller. It was probably in part because he reminded me of my grandfather, but I loved the stories he told and the way he told them. He was all substance and little style, but there isn't anyone working local news in Houston these days that could touch him.

[brucesw]

The Edward R. Murrow of Houston TV News. Born in Fort Worth and moved to Houston in 1939. He was not the city's first anchor, that was his boss at KPRC-AM, Pat Flaherty, but the KHOU video includes a brief kinescope clip of him anchoring an early newscast on 2.

He is perhaps best remembered for building the shop at KPRC that was one of the best local TV news shops anywhere and for creating and narrating The Eyes of Texas beginning in 1967.

It would be interesting to compile a list of the broadcast journalists who came through that shop and went on to other things - Steve Smith, later long-time anchor of KHOU, Conservative commentator Cal Thomas, Thom Jarriel of ABC and many others. But I think also it should be noted the number of local TV journalists who migrated to KPRC - it was the place to be if you wanted to work for the best - among them Larry Rascoe, Ron Stone and Bob Nicholas, all of whom came over from 11. Ironic that Miller wound up working with 11 after he left 2.

I have been looking through a couple of his Eyes of Texas travel guides that I have and his Ray Miller's Houston - there's lots of good stuff in there I had forgotten about including great old photos and facts.

I have not been able to get the KPRC video to load so I haven't seen it.

KHOU Ray Miller video

KPRC story with video

[FilioScotia]

He is perhaps best remembered for building the shop at KPRC that was one of the best local TV news shops anywhere and for creating and narrating The Eyes of Texas beginning in 1967.

I had the privilege of being hired by Ray Miller in 1969 when he was still running KPRC TV AND radio news. Until 1971, TV and radio news were one big department, with him in charge.

Miller had the silly notion that TV reporters should be genuine journalists. That's why for many years he hired people straight out of the prestigious schools of journalism, like the University of Missouri and Columbia. They were educated as "print" journalists, but Miller always said he could teach them all they needed to know about TV in 20 minutes.

He had a very low opinion of most of the schools of "broadcast journalism." He wanted people with a broadbased liberal arts education who could "cover" a story, write it intelligently, and deliver it in front of a camera. It didn't matter if they didn't look or sound "smooth" or "polished" or have that "blow dried" TV announcer look.

Miller required ALL his reporters to be equally skilled in TV and radio news. TV reporters out on a story were also required to file reports for the radio side. Radio reporters and announcers were often called upon to grab a camera and cover a story if no TV reporter was available. The radio reporter also edited the film and wrote the script for the anchor. It was also common for the morning radio newscasters to fill in as the local newscaster during the Today Show from time to time. I did that on a few occasions.

KPRC was a demanding but exhilarating atmosphere. As a radio reporter, I never knew what I would be doing from one day to the next. One day I had to grab a 16mm camera, drive to the old Andrau Air Park on Westheimer to catch a plane that flew me a hundred miles out into the Gulf of Mexico to get film of two ships that had collided in the fog. When I got back I edited the film and wrote the story for the 6pm news.

Another day early in 1974, on very short notice, I jumped into a plane with an NBC crew to fly to Huntsville to cover that infamous prison break and hostage situation in which several convicts and hostages were killed. I stayed up there for several days filing reports for radio and writing scripts for the TV side.

That was an incredible setup for broadcast reporters, and it explains why so many former KPRC staffers from those days can still be found running TV and radio news departments and working in network jobs all over the country. Radio or TV. They could do it all. He had a great way of hiring film photographers. He wanted the best of the best, so he hired those who got awards for film photography at TV stations in smaller markets around the state. Miller's photographers were regular winners of national awards and recognition for their work.

In 1971 Miller got tired of running both sides of the newsroom and hired a News Director for the radio side. That was the late and much lamented John Davenport. Remember J.D.'s Journal on KTRK?

I will always take great pride in being one of the last people Ray Miller hired for radio news. I learned so much from him, and I hear his voice in my ear every day as I sit writing my story. He's reminding me to write uncluttered straight forward declarative sentences in conversational English and pay attention to my grammar and syntax. He always said there is never an excuse for sloppy writing.

I've never forgotten the last sentence in Ray's newsroom guide and stylebook. It summed up his credo: "You were hired because of your demonstrated superior abilities. Superior performance is expected of you."

[Retama]

I watched Ray Miller for many years and heard him lecture on Texas history a time or two as well.

Rest In Peace.

[brucesw]

There will be a tribute to Miller on this Saturday's broadcast of The Eyes of Texas.

[FilioScotia]

There will be a tribute to Miller on this Saturday's broadcast of The Eyes of Texas.

Some tribute. They gave it only about five minutes, and it covered much of the same ground that Phil Archer covered in the story he did for the 6pm and 10pm news the day Ray died.

I know Archer has tremendous respect for Miller and his memory, but I don't believe anybody else there gives a damn about Miller or what he did to make KPRC's news department one of the most respected in the entire country.

Bill Balleza has been around long enough to have known Miller, but if he cares, he does a good job of hiding it behind that phony plastic smile he wears when the camera tally light comes on. Give it up Bill. Nobody believes it.

And the less said about Dominique Sachse the better.

[brucesw]

I got engrossed in the LBJ documentary on KUHT-2 and forgot all about it but I'm not surprised at your assessment. I wonder if there was bad blood when Miller started working with 11 after leaving 2?

I'll try to catch the re-run next week anyway.

[FilioScotia]

I got engrossed in the LBJ documentary on KUHT-2 and forgot all about it but I'm not surprised at your assessment. I wonder if there was bad blood when Miller started working with 11 after leaving 2?

I have no way of knowing what Ray might have said going out the door when he retired, but I do know he never had anything good to say about what happened to his news department under its current management.

It must have really been disheartening and sickening for Ray, to see the news department he created and built from the ground up into one of the mostly highly regarded local news operations in the country, turn into pure simple-minded crap under the management of Post-Newsweek.

I believe it was Steve Smith who approached Ray about doing occasional features for KHOU, but I don't think anybody at KPRC cared what Ray did in retirement.