Radio Brave Launches North American Search for the Next Podcast Sensation with $5,000 Cash Prize - Podcast Development and Marketing Firm Hunts for Promising New Talent
HOUSTON, TX—September 19, 2016—Radio Brave, the digital broadcast platform launched in May 2016 by broadcast marketing innovator Doug Harris, is on the lookout for rising stars in the podcast world to support the public’s explosive interest in the platform.
“Radio Brave’s purpose is to bring new content, from new people, to new audiences,” explains Harris. “We began with weekly, one hour shows but since our studios and crew are perfectly suited to produce and distribute shorter formats, we’re making podcasts, podcasting, and podcasters our focus. We are all about ‘the P word’”.
Radio Brave’s Master ‘Caster Talent Search will begin accepting entries on October 3, 2016 at Slam@RadioBrave.com. Submissions must be in English, no longer than four minutes and presented as audio files. Official rules are posted at the bottom of the home page at RadioBrave.com or http://www.radiobrave.com/master-caster/. One grand prize winner will receive $5,000 and a one year development, distribution and promotion contract with Radio Brave. The winning podcast must conform to iTunes and Google Play Music’s terms of service before its worldwide launch by the Radio Brave team.
“The man or woman we select will get the best that Radio Brave has to offer,” says Harris.” If their talent is raw, they’ll get coaching as needed. If their production is amateurish and that’s not part of its appeal, we’ll clean it up. And if they don’t have a name, or an audience, or a sponsor, we’ll make that happen, too. We have the best team and the best studios available to podcasters and our doors are open to established content generators as well as the podcast-curious.”
Doug Harris
Radio Brave’s portfolio of podcasting-related services will be overseen by respected programmer and talent developer Bobby “Slam” Duncan, and will include not only the recording and production of audio episodes, but also the marketing and promotion of the podcast and the pursuit of revenue for its creator.
“America’s podcast superstars are putting out great product, attracting large audiences, and generating advertiser revenue,” Duncan observes. “But most people don’t start out at that level. Unless they already have a national presence or an established brand, they’re going to have to earn their way to popularity and profitability. And we’re here to help them.”
Radio Brave’s current long form broadcasts will continue but each show is also offered as an individual podcast, available for download on iTunes and Google Play Music. In addition, hosts of new podcasts will have their installments placed in rotation on RadioBrave.com’s 24 hour platform, available online and via TuneIn.
“People can tune in to Radio Brave like they would any talk station,” suggests Harris. “If they hear something they like, and want more of it, they can search iTunes and Google Play Music by program name. Podcasters get a one-two punch of exposure.”
Radio Brave’s programming content has been retrofitted to include podcasts, along with the existing longer form broadcasts. “Healthy Kids, Happy Kids” with concierge pediatrician Dr. Barbara Taylor-Cox, “Joy Ride” with the Metaphysical Moms, “Sip, Smoke and Savor” (spirits and cigars show), “Energy Recon with Alan Lammey”, and “The Critics Circle” from the Houston Film Critics Society are all currently offered as podcasts and on Radio Brave’s 24 hour digital platform.
For additional information on podcasting services from Radio Brave contact Bobby Duncan at Slam@RadioBrave.com or (901) 825-0731.
(This post was taken from a press release sent to me by Radio Brave)
You heard it here first (well pretty much everything Houston media related is seen here before anyone else has it), but this time, I'll be the first to tell you about a new project from former Rock 101 KLOL visionaries.
Former KLOL promotions director/marketing genius Doug Harris and KLOL creator Pat Fant have teamed up again to launch Radio Brave this week. You can read more about it in the release below.
KLOL fans take note, Harris and Fant are looking back on the legendary station plus playing old clips on The Runaway Radio Hour: The Story and Glory of KLOL which will be exclusive to RadioBrave.com.
Since I'm working on a documentary about KLOL, I will host the first edition of the show where I will be interviewing the names you know and love from the former Texas Rock N' Roll Authority. Watch out for that soon.
By the way, this past weekend I showed an early Rock 101 KLOL documentary trailer cut to a bunch of the station's former staff and they seemed to like it!
Music and Talk Platform Offers Accessibility, Affordability to Specialty Broadcasters
HOUSTON, TX—May 2, 2016-- Broadcast industry veteran Doug Harris will introduce Radio Brave to digital audiences on May 4, 2016, with an invitation to responsible parties with something interesting to say—and a checkbook-- to jump on board. Calling on the expertise of his former KLOL and KTBZ colleagues Pat Fant and Cruze through their Houston-based RFC Media, Harris will offer an appealing mix of music and lifestyle-related talk accessible worldwide on RadioBrave.com and TuneIn.
“Across the country, the weekend lineup of countless AMs, and an appreciable number of FMs, is filled with content from experts and entrepreneurs who are paying for that time,” observes Harris. “Radio Brave will offer business category exclusivity, multiple fixed-position listening episodes throughout the week, and an hour of music between shows. That means no back-to- back messages on the same station from people who are unquestionably competitors.”
A further delineation for Radio Brave will be the absence of infomercials, extended non-English language programming, and overtly political content.
“It’s likely that people will tune-in for a specific show,” Harris explains, “then stick around to discover additional favorites. Our ‘Mind+Music’ descriptor says it all.”
The list of specialty broadcasters who will be on board for Radio Brave’s first day include:
*The Houston Film Critics Society’s production of The Critics Circle
*Joyride, with the Metaphysical Moms Tiffanie Williams and Kerry Walker
*Energy Recon, with energy analyst Alan Lammey
*Culinary Adventure, hosted by food and wine expert John Demers
In the coming weeks, Radio Brave will welcome Big Ideas for Small Business, It’s All Greek to Me, and The Flower Power Hour.
Also in the works is a special treat for fans of Houston’s legendary AOR KLOL-FM, where Fant and Harris first collaborated. Its working title is The Runaway Radio Hour: The Story and Glory of KLOL.
“We’re taking hours and hours of archived audio from KLOL’s heyday, mixing it with current interviews with the folks who made it happen, and turning it into a one hour weekly show,” explains Fant. “This is catnip to Houstonians who haven’t heard Stevens
and Pruett on the radio for over a decade. There are so many stories to be told and fortunately the statute of limitations on most of these offenses has run out.”
Rock programing specialist Bobby “Slam” Duncan will serve as Radio Brave’s Operations Director, working with RFC’s Cruze to curate a music mix that is lively and adventurous but still welcoming and palatable to an audience that will be largely adult and gender balanced.
Duncan offers an intriguing description of Radio Brave’s playlist. “We’ve identified a deep list of songs that are as ‘foreground’ as the non-music content they will bookend. How do we keep people on board until the next show? Give them music they love and some they would love if only they’d heard it. Decidedly familiar, but with a little taste of something new every once in a while. This is as big a challenge as I have ever faced as a programmer.”
With regard to the non-music programming, Harris promises an open door for content providers who respect the demands of the medium and its power to entertain, inform, and influence people.
“This is not a place for angry fist-shakers, those who fleece hard-working Americans, deluded zealots, or hatemongers,” explains Harris. “We’re going to provide intelligent, satisfying content, have some fun, and make some money. Just like the old days.”
For additional information on Radio Brave, contact Bobby “Slam” Duncan at Slam@RadioBrave.com or (901) 825-0731.
It’s Wall to Waldo on Radio Brave! Pop Up Podcast Features MORE Classic Stevens and Pruett Bits
Here's a real Rock 101 KLOL Halloween treat.
Beginning this Monday, October 31st, Radio Brave will begin airing back to back recordings of “Uncle Waldo”, the classic recurring comedy feature employed with resounding success by Houston radio legends Stevens and Pruett on heritage rocker KLOL-FM.
The recordings, dubbed “Wall to Waldo", whose audio quality varies as a result of the variety of sources from which they were retrieved, will air starting at 3:00pm Monday and continue for five consecutive days. Following their rebirth on Radio Brave’s digital platform, the show will be available via iTunes and Google Play Music as a free download for 101 hours, beginning at 7:00am on Saturday, October 29th through Noon on Wednesday, November 2nd.
Radio Brave Operations Director Bobby “Slam” Duncan, whose stint at KLOL had concurrent years with Stevens and Pruett, has peppered these long form vignettes with additional audio content from KLOL’s glory days. These archival treasures include station imaging featuring the voices and production skills of Bart Taylor and the late Bill Moffett, as well as elements of the station’s “Admit it” promotional campaign with messages from Pat Boone, Lyle Lovett, KISS and Elwood Blues and others.
“Since Jim Pruett’s passing a month ago,” says Duncan, "we’ve stepped up our efforts to source these classic bits and any other audio content from that period. We’ve been getting tapes, CD,s and more from fans all over the country. It’s been a labor of love putting this together, but the whole process is just surreal. You start the tape, put on the cans, and suddenly you’re back in the 80’s and 90’s and getting pinged with 30 year old memories from every direction.”
Listeners can hear the "Pop up Podcast/Broadcast" via the web on radiobrave.com and the TuneIn App, or podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music by searching then subscribing to "The Runaway Radio Hour."
Groove Dogs and other fans of the Stevens and Pruett Show who have recordings are asked to contact Bobby Duncan at Slam@RadioBrave.com, or to message RadioBrave on Facebook at facebook.com/RadioBrave/ or on Twitter at @RadioBraveOnAir.
“The Runaway Radio Hour: The Story and Glory of KLOL" is a treasure trove of Stevens and Pruett audio on Radio Brave and podcast form
Here is my answer to everyone who has emailed me about old Stevens and Pruett clips (especially Uncle Waldo). Radio Brave will be replaying these Houston radio treasures and podcasting them!
More from the release:
Radio Brave, the Houston-based company that combines podcasting with digital broadcasting, will begin airing three hours of vintage, archived audio of the Stevens and Pruett Show, weekdays between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM, starting this Monday, September 12, 2016.
The programming, titled “The Runaway Radio Hour: The Story and Glory of KLOL," will continue until further notice.
This audio episodes, curated and produced by former members of the KLOL programming and marketing teams, will also include short form interviews with former station staff members including GM Patrick Fant and cast members Brian “Eddie the Boner” Shannon, Lanny Griffith, Locke Seibenhausen, Laurie Kendrick and others.
The broadcasts also feature vintage promos and commercials pulled from hours of tape as well as Stevens and Pruett interviews with celebrities as diverse as William Shatner, Ike Turner, and former Houston Astro Jose Lima.
And then, there’s Uncle Waldo. Lots and lots of Uncle Waldo.
The shows may be heard via RadioBrave.com or through a free app available from TuneIn. This audio content will also be available via
iTunes podcasts (search “Runaway Radio”, downloadable at no charge).
Former KLOL listeners and fans of the show who have access to any shows or comedy bits from Stevens and Pruett’s days at KLOL, are encouraged to contact Bobby Duncan Slam@RadioBrave.com.
And don't forget to also send any audio, photos, video from your Rock 101 KLOL days to me for my upcoming documentary. I'm looking for your photos of the DJs at events down to you in a KLOL shirt. Email me here.
It's that time of year again! The Houston Press Club has announced the 2018 Lone Star Awards winners.
If you were a big winner, click here to learn how to get your award.
RADIO
Radio Use of Sound
First Place 2018
Jack Morgan
Texas Public Radio
“Beethoven Maennerchor Sings The Praise of Being German Americans”
Second Place
Jack Morgan
Texas Public Radio
“San Antonio Remembers, Sings Praises For Alameda Theater”
Third Place 2018
David Martin Davies
Texas Public Radio
“Rebuilding After Harvey: A Rockport Fulton Christmas Carol”
Radio Talk Show
First Place 2018
Jill Ament, David Brown, Rhonda Fanning, Leah Scarpelli, Casey Cheek
Texas Standard
“Sexual Harassment At Texas Capitol”
Second Place 2018
David Martin Davies, Kim Johnson, Jan Ross Piedad
Texas Public Radio
“After Sutherland Springs, How Do We Cope With The Trauma Of Another Mass Shooting?”
Radio Hard News Feature
First Place 2018
Carson Frame
Texas Public Radio
“Closed Doors & Toxic Fumes”
Second Place 2018
Alan Stephens
Texas Standard
“Blowback”
Third Place 2018
Paul Flahive
Texas Public Radio
“Remote Workers Vulnerable In Disputes With Company, Says Employees”
Radio Politics/Government
First Place 2018
Ryan Poppe
Texas Public Radio
“Texas’ First Medical Cannabis Dispensary Set To Open In December”
Second Place 2018
David Martin Davies
Texas Public Radio
“Questions Rise About Manuel Medina’s Many Roles In Bexar County Democratic Party”
Radio Series
First Place 2018
Joey Palacios
Texas Public Radio
“Rebuilding After Harvey”
Second Place 2018
Joy Diaz
Texas Standard
“Help Wanted – Get Out”
Third Place 2018
David Martin Davies
Texas Public Radio
“Lead Poisoning In San Antonio Zip Codes”
Radio Soft News Feature
First Place 2018
Michael Marks
Texas Standard
“Operation Longhorn”
Second Place 2018
Carson Frame
Texas Public Radio
“A Swan Song For Some Military Bands: Budget Cuts Stop The Music”
Third Place 2018
Paul Flahive
Texas Public Radio
“San Antonio’s Last Traveling Typewriter Repairman”
Radio Journalist Of The Year
Joey Palacios
Texas Public Radio
INTERNET
Internet News Feature Story
First Place 2018
Ernie Manouse, Matthew Brawley, Shannon Harrison
Houston Public Media
“Bufkins Christmas Wonderland”
Second Place 2018
Stacey Welsh
KENS5.com
“Keep Going: Texas Veteran Marks 75th Anniversary Of Bataan Death March”
Third Place 2018
Ron Kabele, Curtis Craven, Eliot Stone, Susan Shore, April Garner
Texas Historical Commission Texas Time Travel Website
“Marcelino Serna, A World War 1 Hero”
Internet Collaborative News Reporting
First Place 2018
KENS Staff
KENS5.com
“Team Coverage: The Sutherland Springs Church Massacre”
Second Place 2018
KENS Staff
KENS5.com
“Ingram Square Fire: A hero dies, a suspected arsonist speaks”
Internet Opinion
First Place 2018
Elizabeth Fordham
Energy Marketing Conferences
“Ghostwriting: The Very Apparent Fork In The Road”
Second Place 2018
Elizabeth Fordham
buffythebitchyblogger.com
“More Than 13 Reasons Why”
Third Place 2018
Nathan Cone
Texas Public Radio
“No One Is Innocent: Revisiting “Fire Walk With Me””
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations Annual Report
First Place 2018
Roy Prichard, Dwight Andrews, Darla Brown
McGovern Medical School, UTHealth
“McGovern Medical School Year In Review”
Second Place 2018
Doris Huang, Rebecca Hall
Houston Methodist Institute For Academic Medicine
“Houston Methodist Institute For Academic Medicine Annual Report”
Third Place 2018
Roy Prichard, Dwight Andrews, Darla Brown
McGovern Medical School, UTHealth
“Institute of Molecular Medicine IMMPact Report”
Public Relations Corporate Video
First Place 2018
Daniel Villarreal
Harris Co. Department of Education
“HCDE Tax Rate”
Second Place 2018
Gordon Williams, Jonathan Tippett, Tyler Hargraves, Edward Long, Johnny Lively
LUTV Productions
“Lamar University Department of Theater & Dance”
Third Place 2018
Daniel Villarreal
Harris County Department of Education
“Mayor GoPublic Message”
Public Relations Feature Article
First Place 2018
Ronda Wendler
MD Anderson Cancer Center
“To Treat Or Not To Treat”
Second Place 2018
Ronda Wendler
MD Anderson Cancer Center
“A Recurring Nightmare”
Third Place 2018
Carol Vaughn
Harris County Department of Education
“Overcoming Grief and Anger with Harris Co. Dept. of Education’s Help”
Public Relations News Release
First Place 2018
Mike Emery
University Of Houston-Downtown
“UHD Professor Teaching Criminology Using Comics”
Second Place 2018
Rob Cahill
UTHealth Website
“UTHealth/Harris Health physician performs emergency brain surgery during Hurricane Harvey”
Third Place 2018
Elizabeth Fordham
Newswire
“Three steps for developing a system-wide access strategy”
Public Relations Publication
First Place 2018
Michael Clark, Ronda Wendler, Andy Olin
MD Anderson Cancer Center
“Conquest Magazine”
Second Place 2018
Mike Emery, Sheryl Taylor, Thomas Shea, Elisa Crossland
University of Houston-Downtown
“UHD Magazine Winter 2017”
Public Relations Communicator Of the Year
Rob Cahill
UT Health Website
NEWSPAPER/PRINT
Newspaper – News or Feature Story
First Place 2018
Mike Hixenbaugh, David Hunn, Mark Collette
Houston Chronicle
“Fifty-one Inches”
Second Place 2018
Maria Recio
Austin-American Statesman
“An Austin company is among bidders for Trump’s border wall”
Newspaper – General Commentary/Criticism
First Place 2018
Lisa Falkenberg
Houston Chronicle
“We shouldn’t accept ‘new normal’ of mass shootings in America”
Second Place 2018
Arnold Wayne Jones
Dallas Voice
“Appreciation: Rene Moreno”
Print Photography
First Place 2018
Cody Duty
TMC Pulse
“Scar Stories: Portraits Of Survival”
Second Place 2018
Lindsey Sanders
Harris County Department of Education
“Focus”
Third Place 2018
Arnold Wayne Jones
Dallas Voice
“North To Vancouver”
Print Journalist Of The Year
Mike Hixenbaugh
Houston Chronicle
TELEVISION
TV Hard News Feature
First Place 2018
Kyle Porter, Grace White
KHOU
“Battle For The Border”
Second Place 2018
Greg Groogan, John Heads, David Lanier, Ray Williams, Matt Matejka
KRIV
“11 Voices of Suffering On The San Jacinto”
Third Place 2018
Mario Diaz, John Barone, Jon Hill, Bill Carruthers, Allen Reid Aaron Wische
KPRC
“Harvey Emissions”
TV Investigative Series
First Place 2018
Greg Groogan, John Heads, Aprille Meek, Ray Williams, Matt Matejka
KRIV
“Toxic Trouble”
Second Place 2018
Rose-Ann Aragon
KPRC
“Series: Generation Under Fire”
TV Soft News Feature
First Place 2018
Laura Lucas, Matthew Brawley, Shannon Harrison
Houston Public Media
“Eco-Artist Grant Manier”
Second Place 2018
Oscar Margain, Jose Sanchez
KENS
“Mowing Man”
Third Place 2018 Daniel Gotera, Mike Orta, Justin DeYoung
KHOU
“A Storyteller’s Story”
TV Documentary or Public Affairs
First Place 2018
Rachel McNeill, Allen Reid, Dawn Campbell, Robert Grant
KPRC
“Saving Madagascar”
Second Place 2018
Karen Loke, Ron Kabele
Texas Parks & Wildlife Television
“In Memory of Jacob”
Third Place 2018
TV Documentary or Public Affairs
Daniel Gotera, Mike Orta, Justin DeYoung
KHOU
“The Program: Pearland Oilers”
TV Editing
First Place 2018
Matthew Brawley
Houston Public Media
“Bufkins Christmas Wonderland”
Second Place 2018
Michael Humphries
KENS
“A Glimpse Into Heaven”
Third Place 2018
Tammy Griffin
KRIV
“EaDo Street Art”
TV Feature Photography
First Place 2018
Michael Humphries
KENS
“A Glimpse Into Heaven”
Second Place 2018
Matthew Brawley
Houston Public Media
“Unbelievably Cool Easter Eggs”
Third Place 2018
Matthew Brawley
Houston Public Media
“Eco-Artist Grant Manier”
TV Sports Feature
First Place 2018
Daniel Gotera, Mike Orta
KHOU
“Maggie’s Second Chance”
Second Place 2018
Daniel Gotera, Mike Orta
KHOU
“Fishing With An Angel”
Third Place 2018
Vinnie Vinzetta, Marcus Floyd, Jason Eggleston
KENS
“Loveable Losers: The Saga of the San Antonio Gunslingers”
TV Journalist Of The Year
Dillon Collier
KSAT
TV Photojournalist Of The Year
Kyle Porter
KHOU
MAGAZINES
Magazine Column
First Place 2018
Britni Riley
TMC Pulse Magazine
“Curated: The Intersection of Arts And Medicine”
Second Place 2018
Kristopher Sharp, John Wright
OutSmart Magazine
“The Deadly Consequences of Texas’ House Bill 3859”
Third Place 2018
Shanley Chien Pierce
TMC Pulse Magazine
“On the Side: How TMC Employees Spend Their Spare Time”
Magazine Layout
First Place 2018
Maggie Galehouse, Alyssum Klopp
TMC Pulse Magazine
“TMC Pulse March 2017”
Second Place 2018
John Wright, Blase DiStefano, Alex Rosa, Ashkan Roayaee, Staff
OutSmart Magazine
“Harvey’s Heroes: OutSmart October 2017”
Third Place 2018
Staff
Houstonia Magazine
“February 2017 Issue”
Magazine Article
First Place 2018
Shanley Chien Pierce
TMC Pulse Magazine
“Twin Skin: 3 TMC Doctors, 2 Identical Sisters and 1 Extraordinary Transplant”
Judges Comment: Adeptly balances the personal story of two sisters in sync with the larger, life and death drama surrounding them.
Second Place 2018
John Wright, Alex Rosa
OutSmart Magazine
“Harris County DA Kim Ogg Is America’s Top Gay Cop”
Third Place 2018
Roxanna Asgarian
Houstonia Magazine
“Family In Transition”
STUDENT CATEGORIES
Student Print Sports Story
First Place 2018
Nathan Keil
The Baylor Lariat
“Baylor football shows signs of life”
Second Place 2018
Karisa Norfleet
Lamar University Press
“Worst to first”
Third Place 2018
Nathan Keil
The Baylor Lariat
“West Virginia stuns Baylor on overtime free kick”
Student Print Photography
First Place 2018
Shane Proctor
Lamar University Press
“State Fair Carousel”
Second Place 2018
Liesje Powers
The Baylor Lariat
“Bonfire marshals”
Third Place 2018
Matt Beadle
Lamar University Press
“Cards demolish Falcons”
Student Print News or Feature Story
First Place 2018
Dani Yan
The Review
“Deliverance: How a father-son duo decided to brave Harvey’s waters … ”
Second Place 2018
Sophie Caldwell
The Review
“Culture of Silence: How a lack of consent education harms high school students”
Third Place 2018
Dani Yan, Emily Chen, Sophie Gillard
The Review
“Locked Down: Campus security changes prove vital”
Student TV & Radio News or Feature Story
First Place 2018
Jessica Babb
The Baylor Lariat
“Board to vote on task force recommendations”
Second Place 2018
Brooke Kirchhofer
LUTV News
“Dream Still Alive?”
Third Place 2018
Jessica Babb
The Baylor Lariat
“Trump inauguration”
Student TV & Radio Sports Story
First Place 2018 Elisabeth Tharp
The Baylor Lariat
“NCAA volleyball first round”
Second Place 2018
Brooke Kirchhofer
LUTV News
“Raising Steers”
Third Place 2018
Jennifer Yacuta
LUTV News
“Knocking Out Addictions”
Kabooyow! KPRC interview makes Brookshire resident internet sensation
When KPRC-TV, Local 2’s Morning Cam photojournalist Damon Sales was interviewing residents in Brookshire, Texas, who woke up to the sound of hail hitting the windows of an apartment complex, Michelle Clark had one word for what she said sounded like a shotgun blast: "Kabooyow!"
Chronicle Takes Two Big Hits As Loren Steffy, Terri Langford Leave
The empty desks at 800 Texas just got a little emptier, as two of the paper's mainstays -- business columnist Loren Steffy and investigative reporter Terri Langford -- are leaving for other, presumably greener, pastures.
Smooth transition to 1230AM
The community appears to be embracing the new home of KCOH radio.
It was back on March 1 when the African American station made the big switch from 1430 to 1230 AM on the radio dial.
News staffers return to WOAI offices
WOAI’s news personalities are set to return to their own downtown studios after two days of sharing space with sister station KABB.
Houston radio legend Rick Roberts dies days after attack
Roberts, a native Houstonian, was well known at the city's radio stations dating back to the 1960's at KYOK-AM. He later worked for Texas Southern University's radio station KTSU-FM before retiring.
The former president of new media for Phonoscope Cable is jumping back into the video world with 512 New Media.
It's a TV/Video production company with a diverse groups of clients ranging from energy companies to energy drinks.
Malone wrote me the history of how the new venture came to be:
"I actually got started making web videos/commercials for clients in '06. A car dealer in Houston had an under performing dealership in another state. We were brainstorming about campaigns. I suggested a funny web video. He said. "OK...can you shoot it?". I said, "Of course". I had to run out and BUY a video camera. Boarded the jet. Shot the video. It was hilarious. Then I was hired to create the web video for a product line by Wolfgang Puck. Flew out to LA for 4 days with a cameraman. And then it just snowballed. I left radio a few years ago and became President of New Media for Phonoscope Cable. Created TV commercials and web videos all day. Then I decided to raise money from investors and open my own company. 512 New Media is barely 6 months old! We actually stream out the video portion of the radio show from the studio in City Center. Then at 10am, the studio switches to commercial projects. The desk and set are on wheels!"
We all agree that the future of radio is combining it with video and all it's platforms & delivery systems. Unfortunately, so many radio companies are teetering on financial ruin that they don't have the capital to make that necessary investment. We must get our radio/video content to smart phones and tablets to remain relevant and profitable. That's why I opened my own media production company/broadcast facility. And I'd be happy to share my knowledge about this with any radio brethren brave enough to make the move :)
At 512, Malone is also joined by Lance Roberts. Roberts is known for his radio hosting, Fox 26 KRIV's 'Wake Up Money,' and numerous appearances on CNBC/Fox Business.
HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 1, 2022) — In celebration of Black History Month and in continuing tribute to KTSU’s ‘Journey to 50’ celebration, 90.9 The Choice will air a series of audio vignettes spotlighting the people who first brought music, news, and commentary to Black audiences in Texas.
These episodes, researched by and co-branded with the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, will be produced under the supervision of KTSU program director Donna Franklin.
The 60-second features will air on KTSU-FM beginning February 6, 2022 and will be voiced by The VIBE Houston content director The Madd Hatta, a 2013 Texas Radio Hall of Fame inductee.
“Each year, Black History Month gives us the opportunity to remember significant contributors to the growth of our community and the strength of Black culture, “said KTSU general manager Ernest Walker. “With the advent of Black-owned and operated radio stations in the mid-20th century, the voices and music that inspired and entertained Black citizens were woven into the fabric of everyday life. That’s the role that KTSU-FM continues to play to this day.”
KTSU’s Donna Franklin shares Walker’s enthusiasm for the project and looks forward to personally overseeing the creation of this on-air salute.
“These broadcast pioneers, whose vision, resources, and talent made radio tailored to Black audiences and Black businesses a reality, are most deserving of this recognition. The people ‘behind the mic’ as well as those who ‘wrote the checks’ were both brave and resolute. These are the stories we’re going to share.”
The Texas Radio Hall of Fame celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2022 and enjoys a strategic alliance with the Texas Museum of Broadcasting and Communications in Kilgore, Texas.
In addition to The Madd Hatta, Ralph Cooper and Muriel Funches, executive director of advancement with the Jesse H. Jones School of Business at Texas Southern University, are Texas Radio Hall of Fame inductees.
Support for the initiatives of KTSU and the Texas Radio Hall of Fame is provided by Amber Mostyn, co-founder of Mostyn Law.
Houstonians will get a glimpse of awards season glamour on the evening of Saturday, January 6th , when the Houston Film Critics Society presents its 11 th annual awards ceremony. The event-- the only one of its kind staged by a regional film critics’ organization in the US-- will be hosted by CW 39/NewsFix personality Grego at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston (MATCH) performance complex, located at 3400 Main St. in downtown Houston.
The festivities, which are open to the public, will commence at 7:00 pm and will feature awards for excellence in motion pictures for 2017. Leading the list of HFCS nominated films are The Shape of Water, with nods in seven categories and Lady Bird with five.
“Each year, the Houston Film Critics Society follows a thorough screening process to identify the best of the year’s films,” says Joshua Starnes, president of the organization. “Our annual awards ceremony lets us honor the best as we invite the community to celebrate the magic of film.”
The evening’s agenda, which includes an Oscar-style presentation of movie clips and winners in multiple categories, will feature a salute to the career of the late Harry Dean Stanton in a tribute delivered by HFCS member and Variety magazine contributor Joe
Leydon.
The Houston Film Critics’ Society will also present their annual Humanitarian Award to Jim McIngvale, whose tireless efforts for the victims of Hurricane Harvey captured the attention, admiration and appreciation of the world. In selecting “Mattress Mack” for this honor, the HFCS noted with fondness his production of the 1992 action film “Sidekicks”. The movie, filmed in Houston, starred Jonathan Brandis and Chuck Norris and featured cameos by legendary Houston radio personalities Mark Stevens and Jim Pruett.
A silent auction, featuring unique movie collectibles, will be staged in the lobby of the theatre. The list of items includes a now beautifully framed Sidekicks movie poster originally uncovered by members of the HFCS during their inventory of over 8,000 posters found in storage on the second floor of the historic Evelyn Theatre in Dumas, Texas.
The 11th Annual Houston Film Critics Society’s Movie Awards are underwritten by Leonard Courtright of Allied Siding and Windows, with promotional assistance from Gow Media’s ESPN 97.5 FM and SportsMap 94.1 FM, in cooperation with CW 39 and NewsFix.
ABOUT THE HFCS
The 34 members of the HFCS are working film journalists on television, radio, online and in traditional print. Together, they reach millions of people each week across the United States with their critiques and commentaries on film. The organization, which also actively promotes the advancement of film in the Houston community, hosts a weekly, one hour radio show and podcast series on Radio Brave, an international digital broadcast platform. Visit www.houstonfilmcritics.org for details about the awards or the Society.
11 th ANNUAL HFCS MOVIE AWARDS Silent Auction Items
A silent auction will be staged in the lobby of MATCH 4 with proceeds benefiting the HFCS’ cinematic programs. Bidding will begin when the doors open and will conclude 20 minutes after the end of the show. Payment by check, cash or credit card is accepted. Winning bidders who are not present when the auction ends may arrange delivery of their items during the week of January 8th.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy Bobbleheads, in original boxes Set of five (5) bobbleheads featuring each of the movies original, main characters: Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), and Champ Kind (David Koechner).
The set, which was a promotional gift from the movie studio in 2004 to film critics, has been in the original owner’s possession since that time.
Manchester by the Sea, Limited Edition poster, matted and framed
Signed by the film’s director and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan (who also wrote the screenplays for Gangs of New York, Analyze This, Howard’s End, and others).
Manchester by the Sea was nominated for 6 Academy Awards in 2016, and was the Oscar winner for
Best Actor (Casey Affleck) and Best Screenplay (Lonergan).
This print was a studio gift in 2016 to film critics and was framed after delivery. Lonergan’s message to critics is included on the back of the frame.
La La Land Framed limited edition print (from a series of 600)
La La Land was the most heralded commercial film of the 2016 awards season. It won in every category for which it was nominated at the 74 th Golden Globe Awards (with a record-breaking seven wins) and received 11 nominations at the 70th Annual British Academy Film Awards (winning 5). It received 14 nominations at the 89 th Academy Awards, tying the record for most nominations with All About Eve and Titanic. Although La La Land won six Oscars, it most famously did NOT win Best Picture. It was mistakenly announced as such by the show’s hosts in what will surely be remembered as one of the most controversial moments in Oscar history.
This print was a gift from Lionsgate Entertainment to critics in 2016. Documentation of the print’s
provenance is included on the back of the frame.
Sidekicks Movie Poster Lobby-sized, framed.
This 1992 action film was directed by Aaron Norris and starred Jonathan Brandis and Chuck Norris The cast also included Beau Bridges, Joe Piscopo, Richard Moll, and Mako. It was shot in Houston and featured cameos by legendary Houston radio personalities Mark Stevens and Jim Pruett of KLOL. Sidekicks was produced by Gallery Films, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale’s first foray into the movie business. The poster was uncovered (unframed) by members of the HFCS during their inventory of over 8,000 posters found in the attic of the historic Evelyn Theatre in Dumas, Texas.
Dinner with Jonathan Sandys, Great-Grandson of Sir Winston Churchill
Enjoy a lively discussion of the three Churchill era films released in 2017, over a three course meal with wine at a Houston restaurant. Package includes eating for four guests in addition to Mr. Sandys.
“Stack o’ Screenplays”
An assortment of screenplays from 2017 films, in paperback form, offered as a single lot.
Titles include:
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Post
The Shape of Water
War for the Planet of the Apes
Darkest Hour
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Hostiles
Movie-themed Coffee Table Books
Assorted hard bound books, presented as promotional gifts to critics during the 2017 pre-awards season.
Offered as a single lot.
Titles include:
Mother
Dunkirk
Okja
Bladerunner 2049
Now You’re in the Sunken Place
Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film
The Shape of Water
Neal Hamil and Libby Cagle get the scoop from new PaperCity society and lifestyle editor Shelby Hodge
Model mogul Neal Hamil and beauty entrepreneur Libby Cagle host a Radio Brave podcast called "Neal and Libby."
The Houston duo just sat down with PaperCity society and lifestyle editor Shelby Hodge who recently joined the publication after working seven years at CultureMap and 18 years at the Houston Chronicle.
She talks about the Houston society crowd, parties and gossip. And as you might expect, the legendary Maxine Mesinger's name comes up! Also, the new Overheard at Brasserie 19 instagram account and Dave Ward's favorite restaurant.
Radio Insight reports the new brand will be "The Next Generation of Country" with a faster paced presentation to grab the kids. The first songs included Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Zac Brown Band, Jake Owen, Carrie Underwood and Kid Rock.
The new lineup includes Foley and Thunder in mornings mornings as before, Erin Austin mid-days, Keola afternoons and Zakk United at night.
Now I am not really a country music kind of guy even though I am a native Houstonian, so I'm pulling out the big guns. Former Houston radio guy Dave Crockett (formerly of 93Q KKBQ, 95.7 KIKK, Mix 96.5 KHMX, 107.5 KLDE among others), who just so happened to launch a new TV audio biz, wrote up something just for mikemcguff.com:
"KILT-FM has taken the bold step of blowing up a Houston radio tradition and rolling out "THE BULL!" A brave move and a great move! I emailed Mark Adams, The VP of Programing at CBS-Houston, and told him how fresh I thought the station sounded. They timed it perfectly for Rodeo Houston which I'm sure was their intent. Plus "THE BULL" really fits Houston. The name is very powerful. Finally somebody shook up the dial without making headlines about who they fired.
Of course KKBQ now has the challenge of using "THE BULL" in their barrage of commercial-counting promos or using the official call letters of their rival up the dial. I'm sure the minds at KKBQ are thinking of ways to incorporate phrase like, "Who's slinging the Bull about how many commercials they play every hour…" Or "Bull is only half a word at KILT. Especially when they claim they play more music…"
Either way, the two share a rich broadcasting tradition. The two stations have been battling each other since 1992 when Nancy Alexander and myself were The New 93Q's first morning team."
- Dave Crockett
Next, I turned to my social media accounts last night and asked what people thought. Here is what people said about the station:
"It's a shame that a station as iconic as KILT changed its name, format, etc. Don't like & don't listen."
"The 'less twang, more bang' tag is laughable. No bueno."
"They play the same few songs over and over and over and over. I switched over to KSTAR."
"In Dallas, we 99.5 The Wolf (KPLX), but in the Bayou city; KILT gets the Bull?"
"Too much music in the morning during Foley & Thunder. I want to hear what the cast (Foley, Thunder, Cowboy Dave) has to say, I can listen to music the rest of the day."
Another thing I found out, KIKK is still alive as a country station on 100.3 HD-2. It's billed as "The home for music that Sounds Like Texas!" Just like everything else these days, the new KIKK has a Facebook page.
Speaking of Facebook, after I bring you free Houston and Texas media news everyday, help me get more likes on my page. No seriously, it's pretty sad.
In the 2022 METRO Traffic Reporter Bus Rodeo, these brave Houston-area traffic reporters got behind the wheel to see if they have what it takes to wrangle a 40-foot METRO bus through one of the toughest safety courses in Texas!
And the winner is...KPRC 2′s Anavid Reyes!
Want to get behind the wheel of your own METRO bus? METRO is looking for new Bus Operators.
Houston radio was not left out. 104.1 KRBE's The Roula and Ryan Show on-air talent gave it a try too.
HOUSTON, TEXAS (January 10, 2023) — The Banshees of Inisherin – director Martin McDonagh’s study of friends and family on an Irish island – and Everything Everywhere All at Once – an irreverent look at the possibilities of the multiverse – lead nominees for the 15th annual awards from the Houston Film Critics Society. Both films are nominated for nine honors including Best Picture of 2022.
Other films competing for the top award are Elvis, a fresh take on a performer’s life; The Fabelmans, a personal look at a filmmaker’s beginnings; Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, a unique recreation of a classic tale; RRR, an epic exploration of revolutionaries; Tár, an intense study of a conductor’s drive; Till, a moving commentary on a mother’s grief; Top Gun: Maverick, a return to escapist entertainment from a different time; and Women Talking, a brave consideration of how people confront fear.
“As the industry continues to debate how we should experience the magic of film, moviemakers continue to imagine creative stories about compelling people,” says Douglas Harris, HFCS President. “This year, the films we honor showcase a community daring to rethink, refresh and reinvent.”
Nominated as the year’s Best Actors are Austin Butler for bringing Elvis to life, Tom Cruise for taking us back to the 1980s in Top Gun: Maverick, Colin Farrell for examining the impact of isolation in The Banshees of Inisherin, Brendan Fraser for addressing personal challenge in The Whale, and Jeremy Pope for daring to make his voice heard in The Inspection.
Competing for Best Actress are Cate Blanchett as a conductor who thrives on tension in Tár, Viola Davis as a leader determined to protect her people in The Woman King, Danielle Deadwyler as a mother dedicated to sharing the lessons of tragedy in Till, Emma Thompson as a free thinker releasing her inhibitions in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and Michelle Yeoh as a laundromat owner learning to express anger in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
“The range of performances this year illustrate what actor and creator can deliver when they free themselves to imagine,” says Travis Leamons, HFCS Secretary. “It’s difficult to remember a year where each performance could capture the final awards. The nominees are especially strong in 2022.”
An annual highlight of the ceremony will be the presentation of the Texas Independent Film Award, honoring the best of film made in the Lone Star State. This year’s nominees explore the choices of youth in Acid Test, a fascination with outer space in Apollo 10-1/2: A Space Age Childhood, the hopes of would-be parents in Conception, the natural beauty of the Lone Star State in Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story, and the extraordinary life of a legendary athlete in Facing Nolan.
All winners will be announced at the Society’s annual awards celebration, Saturday, February 18, 2023, at the Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH). For details, and ticket information, visit www.HoustonFilmCritics.com.
About the Houston Film Critics Society The 39 members of the Houston Film Critics Society are working film journalists on television, radio, online and in traditional print. Together, they reach millions of people each week across the United States with their critiques and commentaries on film. The organization’s mission is to promote the advancement and appreciation of film in the Houston community and beyond.
2022 Houston Film Critics Society Nominees
Best Picture
The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio RRR Tár Till Top Gun: Maverick Women Talking
Best Director The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh Elvis, Baz Luhrmann Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg Tár, Todd Field Women Talking, Sarah Polley
Best Actor – Leading Role Austin Butler, Elvis Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser, The Whale Jeremy Pope, The Inspection
Best Actress – Leading Role Cate Blanchett, Tár Viola Davis, The Woman King Danielle Deadwyler, Till Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Actor – Supporting Role Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once Mark Rylance, Bones and All Ben Whishaw, Women Talking
Best Actress – Supporting Role Jesse Buckley, Women Talking Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Best Screenplay The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner Tár, Todd Field Women Talking, Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews
Best Animated Feature Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Turning Red
Best Cinematography Avatar: The Way of Water, Russell Carpenter Babylon, Linus Sandgren Nope, Hoyte Van Hoytema The Fabelmans, Janusz Kamiński Top Gun: Maverick, Claudio Miranda
Best Documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Bad Axe Fire of Love Good Night Oppy Navalny
Best Foreign Language Feature All Quiet on the Western Front Argentina, 1985 Close Decision to Leave RRR
Best Original Score Babylon, Justin Hurwitz The Banshees of Inisherin, Carter Burwell Empire of Light, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross The Fabelmans, John Williams Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Alexandre Desplat Women Talking, Hildur Guðnadóttir
Best Original Song Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Lift Me Up, Ludwig Göransson, Tems, Rihanna Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Ciao Papa, Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro, and Roeban Katz RRR, Naatu Naatu, Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj Till, Stand Up, Jazmine Sullivan and Dermset “D’Mile” Emile II Top Gun: Maverick, Hold My Hand, Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Ryan Coogler, and Benjamin Rice
Best Visual Effects Avatar: The Way of Water The Batman Black Panther: Wakanda Forever RRR Top Gun: Maverick
Best Stunt Coordination Team The Batman Everything Everywhere All at Once RRR Top Gun: Maverick The Woman King
Best Ensemble Cast The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Women Talking
Texas Independent Film Award Acid Test Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood Conception Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story Facing Nolan
Former KTRK 13 anchor Mark Garay guest blogs this post on the mikemcguff.com blog:
AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE
Let's not pretend that the modern electronic media are all that different philosophically from the earliest days of print. During the perilous years of secession, twisted accounts of Abraham Lincoln's character were brazenly assailed by personal interests, both north and south, bent on derailing his drive to keep a divided country undivided, and his faith in humanity to correct crimes against humanity.
When the nation's financial system collapsed during the 1930's, newspaper editorials questioned every aspect of FDR's ideas, often dismissing the New Deal as flawed by its very nature, and calling the man himself a closet socialist.
And let's not forget the family which built Los Angeles, the Chandlers. From it's inception in the late 19th century, clear through to the 1960's, the Los Angeles Times was little more than an agent fashioned to draw midwesterners to the left coast through idealized imagery and manipulative accounts of this "angelic paradise". All the while of course, the Chandler family hand picked who they wanted in office by disguising its agenda as news, and amassing a brave western fortune by purchasing land it knew the state of California needed to ensure steady growth.
When people today say the media has never been more biased, they are wrong. The difference is that yesterday's press made no apologies. Nor did it try to hide exactly what it was trying to achieve. Today, we see promo after promo of what news outlets would like you to believe as complete transparency. They tout "honest reporting" and "accuracy" and "balance".
Well, let's get real. Today's interviews are often one sided. The slants are obvious. And sadly, the people calling their operations legitimate news are often catering to an understated self interest, both out of philosophies they'd rather not discuss, and agendas they'd rather you not understand.
Recently, bloggers have been quite literally making the news. On this very blog, Michael McGuff has presented articles suggesting a large number of bloggers who consider themselves news professionals or journalists. I guess that claim is hard to dispute, since no one has authoritatively defined what a news professional is. But clearly, we know what a news professional is not: He or She doesn't include opinion in reporting, isn't above using standardized procedures and conduct to make sure every aspect of every news story is represented, and doesn't ignore a designed faith in checking and rechecking facts so that viewers understand the full breadth of a news story, not just arbitrary chunks of manipulated truth that can easily leave the public confused and misled.
HEREIN MAY LIE THE SALVATION OF TELEVISION NEWS.
Networks executives on down must reestablish their medium as trustworthy and unbiased. They need to separate their product from the myriad of like minded posers, who would just as well call themselves journalists as they would nuclear physicists. There is an OPPORTUNITY here for news operations to regain their base, by remembering their purpose. Begin not only circulating a message of credibility, but also show the public why the posers can't compete. News managers MUST rely on their resources, NOW, while they still have them to show the public that there IS a difference between what you see on network affiliates, and what you read on rogue websites.
The exchange of information is going through a revolution. And every revolution risks splinter groups whom distance themselves from the original task at hand. In this case, television stations need to take up arms by taking down stereotypes. They need to clearly define themselves as conveyers of truth, not innuendo. They need to prove up balanced reporting at every turn. They need to show everyone that there IS a place to go if you're interested in facts.
Some places are still trying to practice legitimate journalism. PBS and its Frontline series comes to mind. A handful of news networks have used a reporter to fact check live on the air as politicians made stunning claims about recent health care legislation, and bank CEOs responded to Congressional inquiries during high profile political hearings.
Television news MUST let the truth set it free. Otherwise, it's nothing more than the conspiracy theorists, agenda driven homebound bloggers and low budget news operations which refuse to practice the tenants of honest news gathering and would do better selling their "unbiased" reporting on "Let's Make a Deal".
There is one obvious downside. Can legitimate news operations REALLY legitimize themselves? Are they willing to clean up their shoddy reporting? Are they capable of giving journalists more time to ensure accuracy and fairness? Is it even in their nature to stop the "if it bleeds, it leads" practices by making professional news gathering a necessity and not a notion? Because if broadcast news professionals can't clean up their act, they're nothing but bloggers with bull horns, quick to proclaim an honesty and depth they not only lack but feel obligated to completely ignore.
Make no mistake, television news is in big trouble. I envision a day when daily editorial decisions may come from some centralized office in another state. Radio is already operating in similar fashion to save money. The Jocks you hear in Houston could be cradling microphones in Hoboken, for all we know. Could you imagine? Editorial decisions on how to cover Houston's city council decided by some guy eating a ham sandwich in Denver?
At this point, PR is one of the few tactics television news has left to help it survive. It has a distribution system already in place. It may seem ironic that employing the illusion of credibility which the medium has honed for years, may actually be the key to its very survival.
If television news wants to live, it must tell the world that it is honest. The hard part will be backing up that claim. And just like presenting an honest, unbiased and balanced news story, no one said it would be easy.
Mike Capps is the play by play voice for the Round Rock Express, but you should hear about his reporter life before baseball working for KPRC 2, WFAA 8, ABC News and CNN
We are celebrating 15 year of the mikemcguff.com blog this week if you can believe that.
So to honor this anniversary, we talk to legendary journalist Mike Capps who worked his way up from KPRC 2 in the 70s, to WFAA 8 in Dallas - Fort Worth, ABC News and CNN.
All the Round Rock Express fans who now listen to Capps's play by play work, might not realize his deep history in broadcast journalism.
Mike McGuff: Take us back to the early days of your time at KPRC (please include dates when you were there). From your memory, how did the three stations rate back then?
Mike Capps: Hi Mike, thanks for the invitation and for spending time with me. I feel honored you thought of me. Ray Miller hired me out of the CBS affiliate in Beaumont, Texas to become the night police reporter in August of 1974. I spent the next six years at Channel 2, mostly under the tutelage of Miller, then Larry Weidman before a fellow named Mike Casserly took over and purged the place. I was asked to leave by Casserly almost 6 years to the day from when Miller hired me.
As much as I hated to leave, it turned out to be for the best career-wise, but the beautiful thing about all that is...we still have those friendships and camaraderie from those days at Channel 2. As a result, Lyn Salerno a former staffer, heads up Channel 2 Reunions in January of each year and we really, I am afraid to say, behave a lot like we did when we were kids. Joyous reunions they are. And so many great stories, most of which are true, always fly back and forth amongst us.
Look, Mike, in those days when you're 23 years old, and a young reporter in Texas, everyone like me already knew what a kick-ass legend Ray Miller was in that great town, at that great station...AND ANYBODY WITH ANY SPARK OR SALT WANTED TO WORK FOR HIM. When he hired me, the hiring ranks in the top three biggest thrills I had in my 22 year news career. I mean died and gone to heaven thrilled!
Legendary begins the tale of Miller. Consummate, demanding, relentless, tireless, hot tempered, fearless, but as competitive as they come, and always looking for ways to improve himself and all of us. In those days, we found ourselves in a nose to nose battle with KTRK, Channel 13 and Marvin Zindler. Back and forth and back and forth in the ratings, and talk about pressure. Wow! Every single time we beat them on a story meant bragging rights for us and vice versa. Big time rivals, BIG time! But so much fun.
Remember these years featured the Joe Campos Torres death at the hands of the police, riots at Moody Park where our Jack Cato and Phil Archer were stabbed covering violence during Cinco de Mayo, police officers and some police brass in trouble for various and sundry things. Police chases, mass murders, I ran at least two dozen drug raids with Houston Police and Harris County Sheriff's officers, discussions, sometimes heated with one of the best human beings I ever met, former Houston Police Chief Harry Caldwell, Skylab's return to earth, and a thousand other stories I was so fortunate to cover.
Great people to work around, besides Ray and Larry Weidman, like Archer, like Cato, Napoleon Johnson, Alan Parcell, Ted Shaw, Doug Johnson, Fred Edison, Paul Flannagan, the late Bob Brandon, Charley Scott, John Treadgold, Ron Stone, Larry Rasco, Bill Worrell...what a great group of top flight professionals for a young kid like me to work around. Hard to hang with the likes of those folks at first, but being with them made so much of a difference in the way my career played out, and the competition with KTRK was a huge part of the fun of being there in those days.
What was it like working for the Hobby family?
I had the good fortune to work for two of THE greatest families in the history of Texas television; the Hobby family at Channel 2, and the Dealey family that for years ran WFAA in Dallas. I thought Olveta Culp Hobby was such a dear, wonderful and supremely accomplished woman, who supremely valued journalism as witnessed by the Hobby ownership of both the Houston Post and KPRC.
There's a great story about one of my ALL TIME greatest screw ups and unfortunately...or fortunately it involves Mrs. Hobby. Early, early one summer morning a fire broke out in downtown Houston at a chemical warehouse, where Toyota Center now stands. Fire went to four alarms quickly, then got completely out of control. I was using a film camera in the days right before Channel 2 went all video cameras, and when help arrived, I raced down the Southwest Freeway to drop off film for processing for the morning newscasts. I pulled into the breezeway housing the huge trucks used for football games at the dome, parked my news car and ran inside. Was not in the station for more than ten minutes and as I came back out, someone in a big black Lincoln Continental (I believe) had hemmed me into the garage and I couldn't escape. I was probably 25 years old, with a spring loaded case of the red ass and a temper to match and at that point of the morning was adrenaline charged because of the fire, and needed to get back down to the action. I threw open the door of the station screaming something like, "Who is the______hell was so stupid they parked their_____, _____vehicle behind ME???" Mrs. Hobby stuck her head out from behind the door to the newsroom and said, "My, my Michael, are we a little upset this morning? "Well, excuse me, but it was me," she said, "and I will have the car removed so you can get on with your business." No sarcasm, not upset, not riled at me and my fit, and the next time we saw each other she laughed as she talked about it. But boy, I tell ya. When I left the place that morning and headed back to the fire, I just knew she'd get me fired..but no sir, she didn't. WHEW! No one like Mrs. Hobby. Ever.
When you worked at WFAA, it was one of the top stations in the country. Based on your website resume, it looked like you travelled to wherever the stories were (even if not in DFW that day). You also appeared to supervise a large staff. Talk about the legacy, resources and news ratings that station had.
Mike, WFAA went through years of news doldrums in the 60s and 70s because the CBS affiliate in Dallas at that time, KRLD-TV had a terrific staff led by a fellow named Eddie Barker who was a dear friend of my dad's, and along with Bill Mercer who was a reporter there, and later the original voice of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys...those two guys were great newsmen and great people and even greater friends with my dad. Their news shop was first rate, and they hired the first female anchor in Texas, I believe it was in 1967, a lady named Judy Jordan who is no longer with us, but a great reporter and news reader and a ratings hit.
BUT...WFAA's fate changed in 1973 when they hired a fellow from CBS in New York, a news manager and University of Missouri grad named Marty Haag. Haag went to work recruiting the best news people he could find, gave them beat reporting assignments just like newspapers in those days. He also, insisted to management that not only would his people cover Dallas - Ft. Worth news like a blanket, but because of WFAA's cable penetration all over Texas, into Oklahoma, Arkansas, parts of New Mexico and Louisiana, they'd compete all over the southwest and chase stories that involved people from the southwest all over the world. And that's what happened.
Haag first brought in a group of people from the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City who had investigative reporting experience, and he hired anchors both male and female that were really first rate, and they all went to work building what turned out to be a juggernaut. George Foster Peabody and duPont-Columbia awards out the wazoo...and by the time I got there (my first day was the day Reagan was shot in DC), in early 1981, they were rolling. We'd send crews to stories all over the U.S. in Learjets, just like the networks and often beat the networks on stories we were covering alongside them.
As intense as Ray Miller was, Haag was just as intense if not more so. Reporters were required to generate their own stories from their beats. Haag created competitive tension in that shop and while some folks didn't like it, I thought it was a huge motivating tool and apparently it worked. Some pretty well known names from that shop, 22 of us in all, went to networks from WFAA. And gosh, the reputation just built from that.
After you were the first affiliate reporter to lead ABC World News Tonight on both coasts for your WFAA Hurricane Alicia coverage, how much did this play into your hiring at ABC as the Deputy Bureau Chief/Assignments Manager of its Midwest Bureau in the mid 80s?
After that Hurricane Alicia coverage, I received a phone call from Peter Jennings who was extremely laudatory about those pieces from Houston I did. And then two days after I got back, a dear fellow and then ABC VP for News, George Watson, flew to Dallas and took me to dinner. And we came close to a correspondent's deal, but for one reason or another, it never worked out.
That said, I think the real key to me going to CNN had to do with Marty Haag's relationship with a fellow named Ed Turner (no relation to Ted) who ran CNN's day to day operation at that time. Ed, had seen my work, the ABC piece on World News Tonight, and because WFAA was also carrying an affiliation with CNN then, saw me on some of the stuff I did at WFAA.
When I went to Atlanta to sign my deal with CNN, Ed mentioned the Hurricane Alicia story and wanted to tell me some details about it...but I have to be completely honest here: Had I not worked at KPRC, Channel 2 for those years as a cop beat reporter, and had I not known the streets of Houston and Galveston like the back of my hand, that report that played on ABC might never have happened. The ABC charge producer happened to see my piece being fed up to Dallas from Houston, took me aside, had me record a "Mike Capps, for ABC News, Houston," tag line and that was that. I don't think it was great reporting that sent that piece to air on ABC as much as it was the luck of having worked at Channel 2 and knowing my way around. Lucky more than good. Wow. That's the REAL story.
As far as the ratings went...television news in those days was so different from what we have now. Essentially in markets like Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul...you had three network affiliate news departments competing for ratings superiority. More importantly, our viewership wasn't watered down by 200 cable or internet channels running dozens and dozens of different types of programming 24 hours a day. Local news in those days carried a huge amount of import in cities across the country than it does now. People watched and talked about it...called in to complain. If people had a gripe about something, we heard about it, and sometimes while having dinner at local restaurants. I just have the feeling that local anchors especially were bigger celebrities in our day than now. Both local newspapers in Dallas-Ft. Worth had TV and radio critics and they covered all of us like a blanket and fired salvos at us whenever they disagreed with anything they saw on the air.
Here's the other thing...the ratings battle in Dallas- Fort Worth in those days was essentially WFAA leading, but early in my years there (I was in Dallas-Ft. Worth, at WFAA, off and on for 10 years), the race involved us and KDFW, formerly KRLD-TV, the CBS affiliate then (now it's FOX). They had Chip Moody as their main anchor, and folks remember him fondly from his days first at KXAS, the NBC affiliate at DFW...then with us and then to Houston. We had Tracy Rowlett, Iola Johnson and John Criswell as the main anchors...and the ratings were always close...the audience percentages were high....sometimes we'd have a 40 share and win it by two points....sometimes they'd win...and sorta like in the Houston days with channel 2 and 13...always extremely competitive. But the audience percentages were huge then given what they are now...toward the end of my run...right before I left for CNN...KXAS really became more competitive and that fact really tightened the race.
CNN was growing fast when you worked there. What was that explosive growth like as a reporter working there?
Mike, it was exciting. When CNN first got started a lot of folks in the industry used pejoratives, calling it "Chicken Noodle News," etc...but I will tell you this, I knew it was special when Ed Turner told me their mission statement on the day he hired me, and once we hit the road (first story was a tanker explosion off Galveston...another great, 'Capps lucks out deal,' because I knew all the folks in Galveston who could lead us to the right spots, to the right people, and the story became better because of it).
And then, that same year, going to Wichita, Kansas and Baton Rouge for the abortion-anti abortion battles on the capital steps in both cities...was a huge eye opener when dozens of people would come up to me the next day making comments (some printable, some not) about "CNN's coverage."
But one more exciting factor that told me CNN was there with the big boys, came on my first junket overseas covering the runup to the Gulf War. At the airport in London...CNN on all the terminal television sets. In Saudi Arabia--CNN.. Amsterdam, Paris...people coming up to me asking if I was going into or out of the war zone.
Hey, I never got in the news business for the self aggrandizement, but these people knew who I was...which told me two things. 1). They knew who I was because they were watching CNN ALL the time, and 2) That meant CNN was on people's minds all over the world.
CNN really became a big news player during the first Gulf War, talk about your experiences covering this.
Mike, I went to Saudi Arabia in November of 90 during the runup to the war called Desert Shield. We travelled all over Saudi doing stories on U.S., Saudi, and Egyptian military preparations for the war, spent nights in the desert with shave-talk Marines, some 19 years old, scared to death.
We had a run-in with the Saudi social police who tried to harass the female producer and the female photographer who was working with me. We somehow avoided an international incident after I had grabbed a social policeman, when he tried to push one of the females to the ground. He went to the ground. Flat....but I guess the Ministers of Information who accompanied us, decided we were not going to put up with such, and I never saw another one of those guys again. We covered stories about Saudi families preparing for war, small, quaint little towns getting ready, kids in schools.
Then I was mustered out in January, missed the 44 hours of the war itself, but was sent back less than two weeks after I came back to the states, to the mountains of northern Iraq, covering the plight of the Kurdish refugees who had been forced out of their homes by the Republican Guard, and onto those mountains. It was cold up there...a lot of older people and babies died...and we did stories on all of that with Medicines San Frontiers.
And then there were numerous pieces on the Kurdish Militia, the Peshmerga. These young Kurdish men, trained by the British Royal Marines, took on Republican Guard in firefights...wild and wooly. In conversations with these kids the Pesh, they'd tell us how much they valued helping freedom come back to their mountains, how they loved Americans and wanted to become Americans...some of them died, unfortunately, but all extremely brave. Then on the last day in theatre, several of us from different news organizations showed up at a northern Iraq town that supposedly had been liberated, but when we arrived on the outskirts of the town, we were stopped and turned around by Republican Guard.
Probably twenty of us...me and two others from CNN, NPR, BBC, Sky News, CBS, CBC and others...we all met up on the main road, and within minutes, two truck loads of Republican Guard, with bayoneted AKs, surrounded us, and I thought for all the world we'd be killed or taken captive. Over one of the hills came two WartHog, tank fighter jets, scared those guys away...we got in the car and hauled ass to Ankara and headed home. End of the story of the Gulf War for me....and lucky to still be alive.
Please talk about your broadcasting career for The Round Rock Express. What was it like moving from hard news to sports calling?
Mike, I suffered some extremely serious stress issues as a result of seeing people blown apart for years and it finally caught up to me.
I woke up in the middle of the night, with the bed post in my hand, and had busted my head wide open. I had suffered from stress, anger issues, etc., and needed help. If you think there's not a God in Heaven--the therapist who helped dig me out of the mental morass was a 4 tour-Vietnam side gunner on a helicopter, and licensed Presbyterian Lay Minister. We had to break it down to basics, mentally, and start all over.
In another life, I played baseball in junior college and the game never really left me. I worked as a part time scout for Red Murff, the man who discovered and signed Nolan. I helped him with tryout camps, and took assignments looking at players, when he needed me and I had time off from news. I repeatedly told him that one day I was going to shut it down in the news business and write a book with him.
After I got into therapy, I left CNN, wrote the book, The Scout: Searching for the Best in Baseball, with Red, and away we went. Promoting the book in Spring Training '96 in Arizona, we had Red on the air with Bob Starr, the late Angels broadcaster and Bob did a magnificent job working Red's interview in and out of the play by play and I swear I kept hearing a voice in my head..."you can do this, you can do this." In between innings I asked Mr. Starr, I said, "I love your work, I'm 45 years old, and I too old to get started?" His response, "you are a puppy at 45, no you are not too old."
Two phone calls later I got a job broadcasting Independent ball in Tyler, the next year I was in AAA in Nashville, the next year, 1998, I started doing fill in MLB work on ESPN and I worked in Sioux Falls, SD, '99 Independent ball again in Atlantic City, and started in Round Rock in 2000 and have been there since.
The work fits me perfectly. I dearly love the game, the players, coaches, managers and fans...and have developed tons of friends throughout the years...Have done fill in work for both the Rangers and Astros and still at my advanced age (70 on December 19, 2020) dream of that full time MLB chance.
But you know what...I still have the greatest baseball life ever. My wife Karen, 3 daughters, 1 step son, 7 grandchildren between the ages of 17-4 all love the game, love Cappy's role in the game, and along with spending time with them, taking care of two dogs, Archie and Molly and two cats, Penny and Lylah...and supporting Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Austin Sheltie Rescue, Austin Pets Alive, Austin Humane Society and RBI Austin, is what we do.
