Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A Little Late

I should have commented on a couple of events earlier, but the best laid plans...

Sunday was the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.  For me, it was one of those "where were you when..." events.  For me, I was in the old channel 22 newsroom on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton.

It was the computer age.  Old teletypes had bells that went off for bulletins or urgents.  The old 22 computer system had a chirp.  I heard it go off, looked at the screen, and read about a massive explosion at the Oklahoma City federal building.  The Oklahoma City CBS affiliate was really on the ball, and had a live picture up quickly.  The image was stunning.  Half of a rather large building was gone.  The network turned it around fast, and put it on the closed circuit feed, before the network broke in with the bulletin.

Of course, we all gathered around the monitors and wondered what caused it.  Terrorism in Oklahoma City?  Really?  I was skeptical.  My first thought was a natural gas explosion.  That was ruled out rather quickly when witnesses mentioned an exploding truck.

Like the rest of America, foreign terrorists were suspected.  It turned out to be far from the truth.  An American did it.  We shared in the horror, the outrage, and the shame.

Spinning 180 degrees, pardon the pun, Saturday was National Record Store day.  I thought of it yesterday, while wandering through a book store.  The book store was disappointing.  Computers and e-readers killed the book stores.  Most of those that remain are underwhelming.

I haven't been in a record store in years.  First, there aren't many left.  Second, my internet radio fills my music needs.  Information, too.

I'm glad there are still some record stores left, and we celebrate their existence.

The last original episode of WKRP in Cincinnati aired 33 years ago yesterday.  Four seasons.  88 episodes.  I found the series to be rather uneven, but when it was on its game, nothing was funnier.  More hits than misses.  Antenna TV recently stopped airing it, but it will be back somewhere.  Some episodes are on the internet.  The DVD set has been improved.  Playing the original rock was out because securing the rights was too expensive.  I've read where most of the original rock hits have been restored.  The most expensive tracks are still out.  I'm really considering a purchase.  As some may remember, I spent about 11 years in radio.  WKRP characters, especially Herb the sales manager, were dead-on accurate.