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Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
I just saw a promo that WJBK Detroit is celebrating 75 years on the air. They will be airing a retrospective to-morrow, (Tuesday) at 7 p.m.
- zed
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
WXYZ channel 7 turned 75 earlier this month and ran an hour long special as well. It aired near the end of September and was very well done. Here's a link if you're interested...
- RadioActive
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
zed wrote:
WXYZ channel 7 turned 75 earlier this month and ran an hour long special as well. It aired near the end of September and was very well done. Here's a link if you're interested...
Thanks for the link. I love TV history and WXYZ was a part of it. Can't wait to watch it.
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
There's a great separate 6-minute piece on the site that also happens to be radio related. It's from the day in 1990 when the Detroit Tigers fired longtime play-by-play man Ernie Harwell and involves not only interviews with that legendary broadcaster, but a blistering on-air editorial from Bill Bonds, sort of the Irv Weinstein of Motown TV news longevity. And believe me, he doesn't mince words!
"I have never seen a worst decision handled so badly, so ineptly, so insensitively. I've never seen such and heard such white-hot anger from so many people," he complains. And that's just the first sentence!
He goes after both the team and WJR, with Harwell admitting his pension from the Tigers was exceedingly small and he got no severance at all from the radio station. Despite all those years of fame, he didn't have much of a fortune. (And by the way, you gotta love the live debrief from the newsroom, with the sound of all those typewriters clacking in the background, a noise you don't hear in the business anymore. I'd forgotten just how loud they could be!)
You can watch it here.
- RadioActive
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
If WXYZ is a bit too far away for your taste, you might find this special from 1998 more familiar. It's the 50th anniversary of WBEN-TV (now WIVB) in Buffalo. It was the first television station in this area (signing on in 1948) and until the CBC arrived in 1952, the only one anyone around here could watch with an antenna.
Here's the special they ran on it, filled with a host of familiar faces from "Captain Mike" to "Meet the Millers."
- mace
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
There's a great separate 6-minute piece on the site that also happens to be radio related. It's from the day in 1990 when the Detroit Tigers fired longtime play-by-play man Ernie Harwell and involves not only interviews with that legendary broadcaster, but a blistering on-air editorial from Bill Bonds, sort of the Irv Weinstein of Motown TV news longevity. And believe me, he doesn't mince words!
"I have never seen a worst decision handled so badly, so ineptly, so insensitively. I've never seen such and heard such white-hot anger from so many people," he complains. And that's just the first sentence!
He goes after both the team and WJR, with Harwell admitting his pension from the Tigers was exceedingly small and he got no severance at all from the radio station. Despite all those years of fame, he didn't have much of a fortune. (And by the way, you gotta love the live debrief from the newsroom, with the sound of all those typewriters clacking in the background, a noise you don't hear in the business anymore. I'd forgotten just how loud they could be!)
You can watch it here.
This story did have a happy ending. When Little Ceasar's Pizza chain owner Mike Illitch purchased the Tigers in 1993, his first task was to bring Ernie Harwell back as the teams radio broadcaster. Harwell stayed with the Tigers until he made the decision to retire at the end of the 2002 season.
- mace
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
If WXYZ is a bit too far away for your taste, you might find this special from 1998 more familiar. It's the 50th anniversary of WBEN-TV (now WIVB) in Buffalo. It was the first television station in this area (signing on in 1948) and until the CBC arrived in 1952, the only one anyone around here could watch with an antenna.
Here's the special they ran on it, filled with a host of familiar faces from "Captain Mike" to "Meet the Millers."
During summer vacation, I always watched Rocketship 7 and Popeye's Playhouse with Captain Mike with Buttons. Then mom would shut the tv off and tell me to "Go outside and play"
- paterson1
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
I watched about half of the special last night. Kind of boring and too focused on their news department. But for viewers in Detroit/Windsor, I am sure it brought back lots of memories. Hope they enjoyed it. Locally Fox Detroit is a good station and their newscasts when I have seen them are straight forward with little or no editorializing. Also interesting last week they carried Biden's address but the main Fox network did not.
- zed
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Re: Fox 2 Detroit turns 75
Like paterson1, I wastched about half of it then went elsewhere.
FOX 2 Detroit produces a LOT of local programming with a live morning show that starts at 4am and runs until 1pm... then more local news from 5-7pm and again from 10-11:30pm. 11 and a half hours and as paterson1 says, very straightforward with little or no editorializing.
In other words, nothing like the Fox 'News' network.