Dan Lovett: From partying with Dave Ward to building KTRK's sports department & beyond

Anybody Seen Dan Lovett?: Memoirs of a Media Nomad


I'm way behind on this one, but if you are reading this blog, then chances you will want to read Anybody Seen Dan Lovett?: Memoirs of a Media Nomad.

Dan Lovett, the guy Bob Allen replaced behind the KTRK abc13 sports desk in the 70s, has some great stories about radio, TV and of course sports (and largely Houston sports stories to boot). He was there for the opening of the Harris County Domed Stadium aka The Astrodome.

Dan Lovett, Dave Ward, Troy Dungan

Much like another book I wrote about recently, Houston's Morning Show: The True Story of Hudson & Harrigan by Randy Hames, there are even a few 610 KILT stories since Lovett worked there prior to channel 13. Lovett even covered Vietnam for KILT.

After radio, Lovett and a young anchor you might have heard of, Dave Ward, worked together at 13 and raised hell afterwards till the wee hours of the morning. Often times they raced each other back to their houses as the sun was peeking over the horizon. Were they doing research on upcoming stories together at Kay's library? Well...you can probably guess. Find out what was really happening by reading the book. I'll give you this much, it led to an intervention as you will see. Lovett also writes about Dave Ward's movie appearance in My Sweet Charlie.

Let's not forget Lovett's impressions of the White Knight in Blue Shades, Marvin Zindler and what he did to channel 13 upon his arrival.

Naturally I enjoyed the Houston stuff, but really liked being a fly on the wall when Lovett left Houston for WABC New York and his time working with Roger Grimsby and Geraldo Rivera (not sure Lovett is such a fan of the latter, LOL). And reading about his time at W 66th, you might say the more things change the more they stay the same.

Lovett does a great job weaving the narrative about his career and big sports, news and cultural events going on throughout. How does he do it? He was there covering it in the first place.

I also appreciate his list of his own broadcasting bloopers. Not many of these broadcaster bios are that honest. These tomes are usually filled with I did this great thing, then this great thing, I met this famous person and they liked me and I did all of this all by myself. Lovett does not take this approach, he even as a chapter on TV producers. Want another holds barred TV read - go read this too.

So if you like TV, radio, Houston, sports or history in general..I recommend Anybody Seen Dan Lovett?: Memoirs of a Media Nomad.

RELATED
- Original KTRK news team reunites: Ward, Lovett & Dungan
- Houston radio DJs of the 1960s talk about era



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