WABC 1980 - Bruce King Gets Pinned

[Imawsome611]

Go mets

[Zickcermacity]

And Rose Ann with the long last name - scamerdella or scamradella or something along that line!

[sherri419]

@Zickcermacity Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna on SNL was based on her (or at least her last name was).

[Zickcermacity]

@sherri419 Heard of that SNL character, did not know who she was based on. Good 2 know!

[pnull]

Yikes.....Rose Ann looks like a frumpy house wife

[sherri419]

@pnull  I think she was pregnant (or between pregnancies,

she was pregnant several times during her run on the news, seemed like she was always pregnant).

[wmbrown6]

And as for Spencer Christian, prior to going to sports he also did the weather, mostly on the 11 P.M. edition.

[johnnysama]

This is from September 1, 1980.

[tkaye2]

Even better is Rose Ann's whispered comments at 0:56 about the three-shot leading up to the weathercast: "What kind of crap shot is that?!"

[nynewsguy7]

Whoa, the audio guy forgot to turn off Rose Ann's or Ernie's mic. Good ear!

[abwvu1]

HOLY CRAP! Ernie is ROCKIN that fro!

[nynewsguy7]

WABC stopped that practice with the anchors wearing the "Circle 7" pins in 1986.

Don't forget Eli Zaret replaced Spencer Christian first, then McPherrin.

[Dook6]

Its interesting that KABC is the only station to still use the ABC7 Pins. KGO had an on and off relationship with the ABC7 Pins

[recto89]

I noticed that KABC is tthe only ABC O&O that still uses the ABC7 pins

[mbhfromla]

Actually Bruce is a legend..maybe not in New York with his short WABC stint...but for many years before and after his WABC gig, he was the sports anchor at KOMO in Seattle alongside Dan Lewis, Kathi Goertzen and Steve Pool..among the longest tenured news teams in the country. He retired in 1999.

[HulkieD]

Ahhh. Okay. I did an info search on him and didn't know how long he lasted, or why he left. I completely forgot to do the whole "search for him in other markets" thing.

Another key guy WABC was using at the time was Mike Barry, and I know he had a long run over at KGO...

[recto89]

@HulkieD Holy Crap Roger Grimsby, Spencer Christian, Don Lovett anf Mike Barry I noticed that these guys are legends on KGO and WABC. I noticed that KGO tends to import and people from and to other ABC O&O's like Wayne Freedman, Anna Chavez, Nanette Miranda and Jessica Aguirre from KABC. Leslie Brinkley from KTRK. Linda Yu was exported to WLS after her run at KGO. and Dan Ashley from WTVD.

[lianlaspinas]

@recto89 The theme music for City2 Balita (1980-1984) was "Cool Hand Luke"

[markofly76]

Oh yeah! Bruce is a legend around here. He did those Poulsbo RV commercials after his sportsdesk days!

[markofly76]

Bruce also did play by play for the U-Dub before he went to WABC. WABC supposedly didn't like his style and enthusiasm so he only lasted less than a year. In 1981, he returned to KOMO in Seattle until he retired in 1999. Bruce, along with Tony Ventrella and the late Wayne Cody were the best sportcasters in the Seattle area.

[jerseyfla]

In your info section, you are right about WABC going through many sports anchors before finally having nice longevity from Scott Clark. I think Corey McPherrin had a nice run, I believe was with WABC for at least 6 years.

[HulkieD]

Yeah, MCPHERRIN!!!(as he will be forever known to me from that infamous BBM open) had a good run here as well but he seems more like a "Chicago" guy.

Actually, there are a few reporters around this time - 1985/86 - that eventually resurfaced in Chicago: McPherrin, Mike Parker, and Larry Mendte all turned up at WBBM... I think because that's where Applegate wound up...?