KFTY Santa Rosa (TV 50) SOLD TO OKLAHOMA GROUP

[djj]

From Thursday's business section in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090109/BUSINESS/901090329

Yup, the article says, "High Plains Broadcasting will pay $1 million for KFTY's broadcast license"...

Actually, KFTY TV 50 was "reborn" in 1981, after one or two "false starts" in the 1970s.
And if you'd like a good laugh, check out this 1972 KFTY snippet! You may recognize a
couple of people, one who just retired from Sacramento TV News a few years back and
another who's still active in the Major League Baseball sports scene!  :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNvw2GzDF_w

--jay

[Lkeller]

Yes - that clip is pretty funny, Jay - and it would be tempting to say it's because Sonoma County was a tiny market in the early 70s,  and the TV studio was probably out in some cow pasture. But I remember some truly amateurish local television - just as funny as this - on some of the Los Angeles independent stations when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s.  Two of the indys (KTLA and KTTV) had actual professional news departments, but KCOP-13 (the same "Channel 13" that Johnny Carson used to make jokes about in his monologue) would stick their staff announcer in front of the camera to read the news with no teleprompter and no graphics.

The worst was KHJ-TV 9 in the mid 60s.  Capatalizing on their ratings success on radio with "Boss" 93/KHJ,  they used to do these laughable newsbriefs they called 30/60 News (like 20/20 News, I guess) featuring young "anchors" in mod haircuts and the kind of suits the Beatles wore before they went hippie.  The theme song for 30/60 News was the intro to "Tequila" - the instrumental Top 40 hit by The Champs. Truly tacky.

Acutally, Stan Atkinson looked very professional in the KFTY clip - you could watch that clip and see why he moved onto bigger and better things.

[Michael Rivers Kramer]

Yes - that clip is pretty funny, Jay - and it would be tempting to say it's because Sonoma County was a tiny market in the early 70s,  and the TV studio was probably out in some cow pasture. But I remember some truly amateurish local television - just as funny as this - on some of the Los Angeles independent stations when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s.  Two of the indys (KTLA and KTTV) had actual professional news departments, but KCOP-13 (the same "Channel 13" that Johnny Carson used to make jokes about in his monologue) would stick their staff announcer in front of the camera to read the news with no teleprompter and no graphics.

The worst was KHJ-TV 9 in the mid 60s.  Capatalizing on their ratings success on radio with "Boss" 93/KHJ,  they used to do these laughable newsbriefs they called 30/60 News (like 20/20 News, I guess) featuring young "anchors" in mod haircuts and the kind of suits the Beatles wore before they went hippie.  The theme song for 30/60 News was the intro to "Tequila" - the instrumental Top 40 hit by The Champs. Truly tacky.

Acutally, Stan Atkinson looked very professional in the KFTY clip - you could watch that clip and see why he moved onto bigger and better things.

I think Stan was part owner of KFTY back then.  He worked at KCRA off and on from about 1960 until the early 90's.  He also worked at KTVU for a while in the 70's.

[djj]

The worst was KHJ-TV 9 in the mid 60s.  Capatalizing on their ratings success on radio with "Boss" 93/KHJ,  they used to do these laughable newsbriefs they called 30/60 News (like 20/20 News, I guess) featuring young "anchors" in mod haircuts and the kind of suits the Beatles wore before they went hippie.  The theme song for 30/60 News was the intro to "Tequila" - the instrumental Top 40 hit by The Champs. Truly tacky.

ROFL! I never heard that about KHJ-TV, and I could just picture the images from that and KCOP
("A Chris-Craft Station," which I saw for the first time in 1971) that you described...

Acutally, Stan Atkinson looked very professional in the KFTY clip - you could watch that clip and see why he moved onto bigger and better things.

Yes, Stan DID handle that duty very well...but I cannot locate info on weatherman Denny Ryan's whereabouts...
 

I think Stan was part owner of KFTY back then.  He worked at KCRA off and on from about 1960 until the early 90's.  He also worked at KTVU for a while in the 70's.

You are correct...seems that Stan was quoted recently, saying he was co-owner of the early KFTY...
I read of late that he's retired in Newport, Oregon...though I see him doing commercials of late...
--jay

[KeithE4]

...but I cannot locate info on weatherman Denny Ryan's whereabouts...
 

I think he grew a 'fro and changed his name to Gene Shalit.

[azumanga]

...KCOP-13 (the same "Channel 13" that Johnny Carson used to make jokes about in his monologue) would stick their staff announcer in front of the camera to read the news with no teleprompter and no graphics.

Someone mentioned that Charlie O'Donnell, the announcer for American Bandstand and Wheel of Fortune, did a stint as "anchor" for KCOP in the 1970s.

[Lkeller]

...KCOP-13 (the same "Channel 13" that Johnny Carson used to make jokes about in his monologue) would stick their staff announcer in front of the camera to read the news with no teleprompter and no graphics.

Someone mentioned that Charlie O'Donnell, the announcer for American Bandstand and Wheel of Fortune, did a stint as "anchor" for KCOP in the 1970s.

While working for Dick Clark in the 60s as an announcer on American Bandstand, Charlie was also a Top 40 DJ on KRLA.  On the radio, he billed himself as "The Jolly Lean Giant" and called his program "The Charlie O Show."

Actually, by the time he anchored for KCOP in the late 70s and early 80s, Chris Craft was willing to spend a few more dollars for an acutal news broadcast. Here's a clip from 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVOaUMsIzg0