John Treadgold in 1979 and present (Present photo credit Scott Myers)
After 44 years, KPRC 2 photojournalist John Treadgold has retired. Oh the stories he must have! I caught up with Treadgold to get a glimpse of his expansive career.
Mike McGuff: What year did you start at KPRC and what was your first position?
John Treadgold: Started in 1976, as film courier and then as weekend overnight police beat working out of the old Police Station. We drove Mach 1 mustang cars and that is still the coolest car ever.
MM: What was it like working for the Hobby family back then?
JT: The Hobby family owned KPRC radio/TV and The Houston Post newspaper. They were very interested in political coverage; and we had city hall, Austin and Washington bureau and also covered lots of “beat systems”. Courts, crime, space, education all had dedicated reporters.
MM: Give me your thoughts on how the job of the photographer has changed throughout your career?
JT: When I started there was a 1 hour 6pm newscast and Ron StoneScene at 5 which was more feature segments. A live broadcast took a long time and lots of people to set up. We had the first Instant News live truck which made it easier; but we can now go live with a little back pack. Today we have continuous coverage and often have multiple live camera coverage across the region.
MM: What are some of the big stories you covered that stand out to you?
MM: As someone who has covered many big events, how do you compare those to coronavirus?
JT: Covering Harvey was more physically demanding and keeping gear operating was harder, but you could see the threat and try to avoid danger. The Virus is invisible and has killed over 1,500 in the US alone so far.
MM: Anything else you want to add?
JT: From shooting silent 16mm film to instant live video I am thankful for these years of covering the small and large events of our city.
KPLX/99.5 The Wolf launches The All-New Wake Up With the Wolf Show featuring co-hosts Brian Moote and Tara.
- Lisa Taylor Exits Mornings At 99.5 The Wolf Dallas
Michelle Boros joins KDMX 102.9 NOW as the new Morning Drive Host.
Kidd Kraddick Morning Show co-host, J-Si Chavez, and contributor, Jenna Owens, launch new podcast, Fitish.
Former KIII morning anchor Kristin Diaz joins KRLD NewsRadio 1080 as afternoon anchor.
A North Texas radio station that the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles determined had call letters that were too "vulgar" to put on a personalized license plate finally has those formerly vulgar letters proudly affixed to its one station vehicle.
Bradley Blackburn, who left WFAA recently has landed as a freelance correspondent for CBS News.
KDFW (Dallas) Meteorologist Alberto Romero was involved in a car crash and suffered from two broken ankles.
News4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Emily Baucum celebrates eight years with the station.
AUSTIN
KXAN-TV announced March 31 that broadcast journalist Tom Miller has been named anchor of the station’s weekday morning newscasts. Mr. Miller will co-anchor KXAN News Today alongside journalist Sally Hernandez, traffic reporter Amanda Dugan and meteorologist David Yeomans Monday through Friday from 4:30-7 a.m.
KPRC 2 reporter Phil Archer recalls his experience to social media producer Amanda Cochran of photographing the Houston Moody Park Riots in May 1978.
Archer, and fellow channel 2 staffer Jack Cato, were both attacked and stabbed while covering the story. A pair of brothers dragged an unconscious Archer to the police line so he could get to the hospital where he remained for the next week.
The legendary Houston reporter has covered it all, including being stabbed and knocked unconscious during the Moody Park Riots coverage (which is now the subject of a Vox Media podcast called the Chicano Squad.) More on this in a minute.
"Phil’s the guy you send when your own reputation is on the line," former NBC News Bureau Chief and KPRC reporter Larry Weidman told mikemcguff.com. "He always delivers and he has for nearly half a century. Plus, he’s also from Wichita Falls."
Phil Archer's early life
The Wichita Falls, TX native graduated from S.H. Rider High School in 1969 and headed to Houston to attend the University of Houston.
"I’ve been fortunate enough to make my career in Houston, which is one of the best news towns in the country," Archer said in his bio. "I’ve worked with some of the most talented journalists in the business; folks who pursued the craft with honesty, accuracy, and passion. It is more than a job – it’s a calling."
Archer got started in the Houston news business with the Houston News Service which was owned by Jack Cato and George Nelson.
That led to a job at Big 2 KPRC in 1976. Archer replaced Mike Capps on the Channel 2 night police beat.
"From the time he walked in, he became a sponge, using his biting wit, his raucous sense of humor, and good ole boy Wichita Falls, Texas charm, learning the rudiments of our craft as quickly as he could and as a result won over all of us in the newsroom," Capps, who later worked for WFAA, ABC and CNN, told mikemcguff.com.
Moody Park Riots and Phil Archer
In 1978, Archer and Cato, who was also working for KPRC, were covering the Moody Park Riots, sparked by the death of Joe Campos Torres by the actions of Houston police officers.
"There was a car on fire and ambulance supervisor's car on fire," Archer told KPRC in 2019. "And so we went past the police line to get video of that. When we we're doing that, we got jumped. And so that's that's how it ended for me. We were...Jack was stabbed. I was knocked unconscious and stabbed. We watched the rest of the rioting lasted another two days, three days from our hospital rooms."
"Their camera gear was cut up and news car destroyed along with several police and fire vehicles," retired KPRC 2 photographer John Treadgold told mikemcguff.com. "Both Phil and Jack went right back to covering the same stories afterwards, sometimes going in before police or firefighters. They were the best in the city in this regard."
In the KPRC history book, "The Fault Does Not Lie With Your Set - The First Forty Years of Houston Television," Archer described his face looking "like hamburger" with cuts, bruises and a particularly nasty gash on the top of his head. He recalled police officers believing he had been stabbed in the crotch. So they laid him on the hood of a patrol car. An officer, who has previously been a nurse, ripped open his pants to examine if he had been castrated.
KTRK photographer Dave Davis, who later became WABC New York's General Manager, caught the moment on camera.
Archer was stabbed in his rear end and bleeding profusely - turning his blue pants red.
Fortunately, some kids nearby dragged Archer out of harm's way.
"And and if those kids had not gotten me out when they did, I might very well bled to death because I lost...I was close at the time...I lost a lot of blood," Archer recalled in his 2019 interview with the station. "So a lot of things luckily happened in the right order for it...to prevent it...from being a really bad day for my mom."
"He obviously laid it on the line in Moody Park, and I think that reportage from Phil and Jack Cato that night pretty much summarizes who Phil Archer is as a news reporter," Capps added. "He offered an intrepid attitude, a no nonsense demeanor and thoroughness beyond reproach as his reportorial tools. Professionalism personified, an unbridled passion for his craft and the stories he reported, and a respect for those who watched his work, simply sets him apart from most and he did it for more than 40 years."
When Archer woke up in the hospital, he was concerned about the whereabouts of his expensive TV news camera, especially when his news director Ray Miller came to visit. He was also concerned about not wearing a tie while covering the riot, a must for Miller who had a rule all news photographers had to look professional.
For his coverage of the riot, Archer received the Perringer Award from the Texas Association of Broadcasters.
That would not be his only award on the shelf. According to his bio, Archer has received more than 50 awards from the likes of the Associated Press, Texas Association of Broadcasters, Houston Press Club and other organizations.
In 1983, Archer was selected as a William Benton Fellow at the University of Chicago which was a program designed to "advance the work of midcareer radio and television professionals, enabling them to bring greater depth and understanding to their work."
The Moody Park Riot story will always come up in Phil Archer retirement goodbye pieces. But Archer's journalistic career is so much more than that one moment.
What fellow journalists say about Archer
He has been that steady voice on KPRC for four decades, who can cover any story with grace and ease, no matter the difficult subject matter. Sources trust him, the Houston television news community respects him and as you will read below, his co-workers liked and looked up to him.
"The only thing I could add is that Phil was one of my ethical policemen in the newsroom," former KPRC news manager Rich McFarland told mikemcguff.com. "You always need watchdogs asking journalists in the room, 'Why are we doing this story?' As a manager it can be a pain in the ass but you appreciate the question. He was also a great coworker, mentor, and friend."
"Phil Archer was a veteran reporter when I was born, so this news is depressing," former abc13 KTRK investigative reporter Wayne Dolcefino told mikemcguff.com. " His knowledge of Houston is irreplaceable. The consummate tv reporter. He has done this town proud."
For this blog post, I reached out to those reporters and anchors who worked with Archer throughout his career. They enthusiastically shared their respect and stories from their time with him.
“You could do an entire blog on 'Phil moments' at KPRC, but among my favorites are Phil riding the trail to Houston with the Rodeo cowboys," former KPRC anchor Linda Lorelle told mikemcguff.com. "On horseback. Every year and loving every moment. Whether covering the Rodeo or Hurricane Katrina, Phil is a consummate storyteller whose passion and perspective give Houston viewers a bird’s eye view unlike any other. It’s a privilege to have worked with him during my years on the anchor desk at KPRC. Happy Trails, my friend, as you enjoy your well deserved retirement!"
"Always loved talking about Texas history and folklore with Phil," former KPRC reporter Ron Stone, Jr. told me. "We’d talk about our love for J. Frank Dobie’s books or he would quote an obscure Western Swing song lyric and it was just a great way to stay sane in the midst of the chaos of a TV newsroom."
“It’s the end of an era," former KPRC reporter Mary Benton told mikemcguff.com. "Phil Archer is a consummate professional and a wonderful person. Full disclosure - it took time for me to warm up to him when we first met, because I assumed we would not have anything in common. Over my 20 year tenure at KPRC, we sat near each other in the newsroom, and I got to see Phil for who he is - decent, sensitive, hilarious and a great storyteller. He has earned his retirement and I wish him all the best!”
"Phil is a reporter's reporter. An absolute legend in Houston news," former KPRC morning anchor/reporter Rachel McNeill told mikemcguff.com. "I learned so much from watching him work. His tenacity, his dedication and his wicked sense of humor are unmatched. You could always count on his support from your very first day in the newsroom and he always kept us laughing with his classic Texas quips!"
Former KPRC reporter Suzanne Boase Honeycutt shared these great moments which I am including in full:
"Phil will hate me for saying this, but I watched him on TV as a kid when my family moved to Houston from Australia. He looked like a cowboy, seemed larger than life, and told amazing stories. He was just so good at what he did - a great writer and reporter. I desperately wanted to make it to the Houston market someday like Phil.
When I first started working at KPRC in the mid 90’s, I was excited and a little intimidated to get to work alongside him. Phil was the senior reporter – he’s always been the senior reporter! - and has a wicked wit. I quickly learned though that under the zingers is a very sweet man.
I shared a desk with him. I’ll never forget his kindness to me, offering suggestions and sharing potential sources for stories. His knowledge of Houston and its history is second to none. But he zinged me, too: I remember Phil noticing a zit on my face one day - that was carefully concealed, so I thought - and asking me about my third eye! Whenever I wanted to get him back, I reminded him that I was watching him on TV when I was in elementary school.
Phil is simply the best at what he does. He has covered every important story in SE Texas for the past 40 years. What strikes me is he has never lost his zeal to chase a story and tell it better than anyone else. Phil makes complex stories – like the collapse of Enron and the Arthur Andersen trial – understandable. But what I remember most is how Phil lights up every year at rodeo time. He is a real cowboy and loves every minute covering the rodeo and enjoying the festivities after.
Phil is the consummate journalist. I cannot even begin to imagine how many stories he has told! His very well-deserved retirement is a true loss for KPRC and for Houston."
Former KPRC 2 reporter Brendan Keefe shares his thoughts with me concerning Archer:
"Phil Archer is the dean of Houston TV news. Phil IS Texas. You know those people you see at rodeo who clearly just bought a brand new Stetson, as if it's about dress up? They're the opposite of Phil Archer. When we say Phil is hanging up his spurs, it's not a figurative description of his retirement. Phil literally hangs up his spurs because he has one of the best antique spur collections in all of Texas.
When I was a cub reporter at KPRC, I absolutely relied on Phil for both pronunciations of Houston streets and Texas towns, but also for his encyclopedic knowledge of history. Phil's institutional knowledge was absolutely indispensable.
Some reporters and anchors would get on a horse for a brief on-camera appearance during a trail ride -- Phil actually quietly and humbly participated in the trail ride every year. Real cowboys don't have to show off or brag. Phil is a real cowboy, though I can't believe he gave in and shaved the mustache.
Phil Archer is the real deal. He is also kind and generous. No one since the great Ron Stone, Sr. is worthy of the title The Eyes of Texas. Phil has earned that moniker one story at a time over decades."
Now Archer will spend more time with his wife Joy and look back at a fantastic career.
"I never wanted to do anything else," Archer wrote in his bio. "Working as a journeyman reporter has given me a front row seat to the major events and personalities of our time, and the chance to provide a vital public service."
Former longtime Houston TV photojournalists Tony Chapa of KTRK 13 and Steve Long of KPRC 2 have died in the past week.
Chapa was nearly a 30-year employee of ABC13 KTRK who previously worked for KIII 3 Corpus Christi.
"He was a quiet and sometimes intimidating presence on scenes and at news conferences," wrote Channel 13 reporter Jessica Willey. "He was a hard worker, incredibly capable and could rig anything but, more importantly he was my friend. Actually, Tony was like a big brother to me. He and I travelled extensively together to cover the biggest news at the time—Hurricane Katrina, the Pope’s death, a World Series, the War in Iraq, a presidential Inauguration, the DNC, to name a few."
"Tony was someone I looked up to since we both worked in the Corpus TV market when I was just a kid starting in the business," former KTRK photojournalist Jaime Zamora told mikemcguff.com. "When he moved to Houston TV he encouraged me to try to get in with KTRK and was influential in me getting hired at Channel 13. A giant man with a bigger heart. A great photographer who covered any story with ease. A lover of great music and baseball, we had so many fun times together. I loved him and my family loved him. He will be dearly missed."
And I just heard that former KPRC 2 photojournalist Steve Long also died. Long joined KPRC in 1975 after serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He worked with the famous police beat reporter Jack Cato.
"He was a great singer and keyboardist—played in a band—and just had the best, funniest personality," former KPRC 2 reporter Ron Stone Jr. told mikemcguff.com "And he was a terrific newsman—-just had a nose for news and I was so fortunate to work alongside him and learn from him. Loved the guy! We all did!"
"Everyone remembers him for his calmness in a tough job," added former KPRC 2 photojournalist John Treadgold. "Also a great teacher of newbies in the business in the 70s/80s like myself."
Houston-based ABC News producer Gina Sunseri has been named the recipient of the prestigious 2025 National Space Club & Foundation Press Award.
This annual honor recognizes journalists who have made significant contributions to public understanding of astronautics and space exploration. Sunseri was selected by a panel of experts led by Mary Engola for her outstanding coverage of the aerospace industry over the past two decades.
The Committee’s citation highlights Sunseri’s ability to translate complex space missions into compelling narratives for a broad audience. Her extensive body of work includes hundreds of articles and broadcast news segments covering NASA, international partners, and commercial space missions. With a career marked by excellence in space reporting, she has earned three Emmy Awards, as well as Murrow and Peabody honors, cementing her reputation as a leading voice in the field.
Sunseri will receive the award at the Club’s annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner, which will be held on March 21, 2025, at the Washington Hilton.
Sunseri’s journey into space journalism began in 1996, with one of her earliest assignments covering astronaut Shannon Lucid’s historic stay aboard Russia’s Mir space station. Since then, she has been at the forefront of reporting on space shuttle missions, spacewalks, commercial space ventures, and deep space exploration. Her coverage has spanned major events, including five Mars missions and the upcoming Artemis II mission scheduled for launch in 2026.
Following the tragic 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Sunseri played a key role in ABC News' reporting on the investigation and safety reforms leading up to NASA’s 2005 return to flight. Her work on "Columbia Final Mission," which aired on "Primetime Thursday," was instrumental in ABC News earning an Emmy Award for investigative journalism.
When she isn’t covering the latest developments in space exploration, Sunseri enjoys traveling, listening to music, and gardening. She is married to retired KPRC photographer John Treadgold and is a proud mother of two.
Gina Sunseri, a Houston-based ABC News Producer, received the prestigious 2024 Space Communicator Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation on April 26, 2024, at the Houston Hyatt Regency.
"Being in the same company as previous honorees is truly humbling," Sunseri said in a statement. "I have always tried to make the space program engaging for our viewers—and to share the curiosity, hard work, creativity, and passion of the people who fulfill our desire to explore. I am fascinated by the small stories-- the cat videos from space. The lost tomato. The astronaut who had spicy shrimp cocktail for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of his mission. And of course, Suni Williams’ cutting her ponytail in space for charity."
A trusted fixture on the ABC News space beat for more than two decades, Sunseri started covering the space program in 1996 when one of her earliest assignments was to cover astronaut Shannon Lucid - the only American woman to live aboard the Mir space station. Since then, Gina has produced or contributed to hundreds of articles and broadcast news segments covering Space Shuttle launches, spacewalks, commercial space flight, the International Space Station, five Mars missions, and the much-anticipated Artemis II mission scheduled to launch in 2025.
"For over two decades, Gina Sunseri has set a high bar for outstanding coverage of our nation’s space programs, educating millions of Americans through her thoughtful and expert productions for ABC News," Mark Carreau, Aviation Week & Space Technology Houston Correspondent, and 2006 Space Communicator Award recipient who nominated Sunseri said.
"Her deep understanding of the space program is evident in stories that often provide angles that other media miss," Veronica McGregor, Digital News and Media Manager for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and 2013 Space Communicator Award recipient, said. "Her dedication to covering the space beat has benefitted the industry as well as ABC and millions of viewers."
After the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, Sunseri extensively covered the seven astronauts lost aboard STS-107, NASA’s investigation of the disaster, and the safety measures implemented before the 2005 Return to Flight. She played a crucial role in the ABC News team that earned an Emmy Award for their investigative report titled "Columbia Final Mission," which aired on "Primetime Thursday."
When she's not pursuing stories or conducting interviews, Sunseri enjoys travel, weather, music, and gardening. She is happily married to retired KPRC photographer John Treadgold and is a mother of two.
The RNASA Space Communicator Award, established in 1997 in honor of KTRK, Houston Channel 13 space reporter and long-time RNASA Advisor Stephen Gauvain, who tragically died in a car accident in 1996, recognizes individuals or teams for outstanding contributions to public understanding and appreciation of space exploration.
Previous recipients of the award include William Harwood of CBS; Miles O'Brien, formerly of CNN; Elliot Pulham of the Space Foundation; the NASA-Contractor Communications team that responded to the Columbia accident; Mark Carreau, formerly of the Houston Chronicle; Neil deGrasse Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History; Veronica McGregor, Manager of News and Social Media at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Chris A. Hadfield, former Canadian Space Agency astronaut; Bill Nye (the science guy), CEO of the Planetary Society; Rob Navias, Public Affairs Officer (PAO) Mission commentator; William Shatner, actor, author, producer, and director; and Bill Ingalls, senior NASA photographer.
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.
