Please find more Detroit stuff if possible from the 70's and 80's. There's many treasures to be discovered as we at the time had probably one of the best variety of on air personalities anywhere in the country through this time. Brings back a lot of memories.
Hearing that news intro from when I was 9 years old, transported me back for a quick Instant. My mom would take a break from cooking and switch from channel 50 to channel 7 ( & adjust that antenna 😅 ) just to catch the news everyday.
Thank tou for sharing. Seeing and hearing Detroits best news team was wonderful. Jusr hearing Jac. John. Marilyn. Al. Bill. Such memories. And hearing the announcer say ' Watch Spencers Mountain ' tomorrow on Rita Bells Prize movie was the clincher. ❤️
@@christopherthorkon3997 They still do that in California. If news breaks in Oakland, they send the African American Reporter. If something happens in Chinatown, they send the Asian Reporter (even if he's Korean)
Bonds was a super nice man who I had the pleasure of meeting in late 1980s... My grandmother was his biggest fan and admirer. She turned in at 6 and 11 everyday and you better not think of talking or changing the channel ... I met him at he Tigers Annual dinner When I was writing for the Free Press. All I did was tell him my grandma wanted to say hello to her favorite tv personality of all time. That was going to be it, but Mr. Bonds told me to have a seat next to him and tell me more about my grandmother. We chatted about 15 minutes just before dinner being served... We talked about my grandma and her fondness of him. I told him the #1 reason why she loved his reporting was when he offered his two cents with his tell it like it is attitude.... He wrote her a half page letter, which included his acknowledgement of her loyalty and admiration. Needless to say, My grandma was so proud to get the letter and it brought her a ton of happiness. Sidebar: I remember watching Bill with her one day when he started his broadcast like this. "Two young punks" My grandmother got such a kick out of that...just another day of Bonds in Detroit. Last thought.... My grandma never judged or allowed her opinion of him be affected by his drinking and sometimes crazy rants on TV.... She always prayed for him and defended him. She did not condone his addiction but always felt that it was between him and God
Notice WXYZ in this period was apparently still at the top of the heap in spite of Bonds himself, as noted in the description, anchoring the news in New York on WABC. Looks like Jac LeGoff was keeping Bonds' seat warm; after Bonds came back, John Kelly went nowhere, staying right where he was on this. Bonds was hired by WABC in mid-1975 to co-anchor the 11 P.M. newscast with Roger Grimsby (while once-and-future Boston anchor Tom Ellis was paired with Grimsby at 6) owing to Bill Beutel at the time occupied with the ill-fated "AM America." Once that show ended in November and was replaced with "Good Morning America," Beutel rejoined Grimsby at the anchor desk for the 6 P.M. news only, while Ellis was moved to 11 to co-anchor with Bonds. Then in fall 1976, when Bonds left WABC and returned to WXYZ, who joined Ellis as co-anchor of the 11 P.M. "EWN" on WABC? Yep . . . Bill Beutel.
@@wmbrown6 I'd forgotten Bonds did a stint in NYC. He was also in San Francisco for a short time -- and managed a cameo in "Planet of the Apes" while there.
WXYZ and KGO are the only ones of the charter ABC O&O's to still have the same call letters as when they first took to the air in 1948-49. Only KGO is still owned by the network; WXYZ is now owned (as since 1986) by Scripps.
Ironically, that film was in WXYZ's library, and they showed it occasionally. In New York, however, it was a different story. In the later '70's the "CHL" film was part of a film package that aired on WNBC Channel 4 (I'm sure some people seeing the film when they got to Luke and the other prisoners working on a dirt road, wondering what was the "Eyewitness News" theme from WABC doing in that scene). By the late '80's it had migrated to WPIX Channel 11.
WXYZ, at the time, was using RCA TK-45A cameras. Around 1973 they replaced the infamous TK-42's at the station with the newer model. ABC O&O's were all over the map with color cameras in those days. Both WABC New York and KABC Los Angeles had Norelco PC-70's; KGO San Francisco, General Electric PE-350's; and Chicago's own WLS, G.E. PE-250's (which they'd first gotten in 1967 when the station was still WBKB).
The Cordoba was a Chrysler, not a Chevy. It competed with the Chevy Monte Carlo, Buick Regal, Olds Cutlass, Pontiac Grand Prix, Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar. Its Dodge twin was the Charger.
Jim Harrington. Ven Marshall. Classic conmercials. Especially Shifrin Willis Jewelers. This is now making me determined to look for more. And YES Rita Bell and Bill Kennedy At the Movies.
For those wondering why a newscast named Action News would use the Cool Hand Luke Tar Baby music, usually linked to Eyewitness News. Well in Detroit at the time, then CBS affiliate, now Fox-owned WJBK Channel 2 had the name Eyewitness News for their newscasts. WXYZ is now a Scripps Howard station.
Same reason why, in San Francisco, ABC O&O KGO's newscast was called "News Scene": Because then-Westinghouse, now CBS O&O KPIX got to the "Eyewitness News" name first.
Its like San Francisco where KGO-TV had to be named 7 News Scene because Group W in the 1970's held the rights to the Eyewitness News Name for now CBS O&O KPIX. In San Francisco's case KGO was using the model that formed WABC and KABC Eyewitness News though.
In 1994 during the time of the great network affiliate switchover when FOX struck a deal with a dozen New World/Argyle Television stations that were carrying the 3 original TV networks to have them become FOX affiliates, CBS, about to lose stations to FOX, tried to strike a deal with the Scripps-Howard stations including WXYZ in Detroit to switch to CBS, but it backfield as Scripps-Howard decided to keep WXYZ as the Detroit ABC station.
By the time Como did that ad, he was no longer with NBC, his specials were on CBS, and Sylvania was his sponsor. He still recorded for RCA Records, though, right up to 1987.
Great News Anchors,Commercials,still a great town Detroit back than, news reporters anchors well dressed and well spoken,was in the 8th grade in 1975.Haven,t watched anything on television since 2016, just garbage these days,reason I love watching this site and other similar websites.
I remember these news casters well, though I haven't thought about them in fifty years. By this period I was no longer in the immediate Detroit area but nearby in Ann Arbor. Human life sure is brief. Actually, Detroit was responsible for quite a few shows. Radio from the Maccabees bldg., "The Lone Ranger" 1932 (?) and "The Green Hornet" ~1937, both radio shows. Soupy Sales on 1950's TV from the same location. Also, there was the Lou Gordon show, UHF television during the late 1960's to mid 1970's. I believe his studio (no audience, just one on one talks/interviews) was located in the Stott building. I'm not sure if his show was syndicated or only local. It had the appeal of a larger audience though. Many guests visited repeatedly over the years. Father Malachi Martin, atheist Madelaine Murray O'hare, transsexual(!) Rachel Harlow, Fran Lee, the "scoop the poop" lady from NYC ("curb your dog, already"), Marjo, the one time child evangelist from California (all grown up, of course). I even remember muscleman Franco Columbu blowing up a hot water bottle in front of Lou Gordon. Ring any bells? Hey, anyone remember Sir Graves Ghastly? He was well made up Dracula, lay in his casket most of the time, and hosted Saturday afternoon horror movies. His show originated from some place behind the Fisher building.
I remember Sir Graves Ghastly. There are some You Tube Videos of him . He was classic. Better than Svengoolie. We need to get Detroit Classic TV shows preserved. And The Ghoul!! #Pharma!
Yes it is. Unfortunately, the last few minutes where her weather report are not in this video. I hope more of these old WXYZ videos from the 70’s and 80’s pop up.
@@CornPopSmokesNewports ...I hope so too. She did the weather for WXYZ for years, including Kelly & Company with husband John Kelly. Before that, she did weather for WJBK here in Detroit.
From 16:44 to 17:45, Chrysler's land yacht, the Chrysler Cordoba. If you owned a car like that when it came out, you'd tip the valet to keep it close and tip him again to keep it real close, didn't it?
And later he co-hosted "Kelly and Company," a daytime WXYZ talk show with his wife, Marilyn Turner (the "weather girl" on this station). It ran for about 15 years until 1993.
@@MR_MRM_ - And did you notice Ms. Turner making a little cameo at the end of the preview (and referred to by the V/O - would anyone know who he was? he must've worked at WXYZ for years). This, while New York's WABC at the time had Tex Antoine on at 6, and (but not for long) Gary Essex at 11.
The reportorial content is good and well-delivered, but the studio lights in the opening shot; the broadcasters walking onto the set; the "Cool Hand Luck" music, which was standard at ABC owned and operated stations at the time; and, of course, the "happy talk"--these are showbiz touches that have nothing to do with news. That approach still exists today, of course, even more so. Many so-called television reporters today have more in common with entertainers than with journalists. The PBS NewsHour remains the best daily news program on American television, and should serve a model at all commercial networks and local stations.
I was there then since I started in 1974. I ran camera for some of those newscasts. For that opening shot that included the studio lights we would frame the shot then point the camera at the floor until about 5 seconds before that shot then tilt up. I ran that camera a few times and I remember those days.
I'm sure it was shot in color and when it was time to playback clearly the color wouldn't lockup so when they went back to Kelly he was BW until the signal locked up on the studio camera.
Ohhh snap!
THAT was the Action News crew!!!
Channel 7 and ABC could do no wrong then. Great seeing this footage. 👌🏽
Please find more Detroit stuff if possible from the 70's and 80's. There's many treasures to be discovered as we at the time had probably one of the best variety of on air personalities anywhere in the country through this time. Brings back a lot of memories.
News from 1991 when this guy supposedly killed a cop!
Channel 7 6' O'Clock news was my dad's wake call for 3rd shift at the plant.
Whenever I hear Fur Elise in a commercial I think of Highland Appliance "Jonathan can't come out and play right now, he's practicing the piano"
I remember those Highland appliance commercials. 😅😅😅😅😆🤣🤣🤣Great times. I watched a few again. Brought back good memories seeing them as a kid.
The “Jonathon can’t come out..” was a commercial for Memorex cassette tapes.
Hearing that news intro from when I was 9 years old, transported me back for a quick Instant. My mom would take a break from cooking and switch from channel 50 to channel 7 ( & adjust that antenna 😅 ) just to catch the news everyday.
Thank tou for sharing. Seeing and hearing Detroits best news team was wonderful. Jusr hearing Jac. John. Marilyn. Al. Bill. Such memories. And hearing the announcer say ' Watch Spencers Mountain ' tomorrow on Rita Bells Prize movie was the clincher. ❤️
Six people at the news desk all at the same time. That was the big thing in those days -- the "news team".
No weather report every 10 minutes either
@@christopherthorkon3997 They still do that in California. If news breaks in Oakland, they send the African American Reporter. If something happens in Chinatown, they send the Asian Reporter (even if he's Korean)
Bonds was a super nice man who I had the pleasure of meeting in late 1980s...
My grandmother was his biggest fan and admirer.
She turned in at 6 and 11 everyday and you better not think of talking or changing the channel ...
I met him at he Tigers Annual dinner
When I was writing for the Free Press.
All I did was tell him my grandma wanted to say hello to her favorite tv personality of all time.
That was going to be it, but Mr. Bonds told me to have a seat next to him and tell me more about my grandmother.
We chatted about 15 minutes just before dinner being served...
We talked about my grandma and her fondness of him.
I told him the #1 reason why she loved his reporting was when he offered his two cents with his tell it like it is attitude....
He wrote her a half page letter, which included his acknowledgement of her loyalty and admiration.
Needless to say, My grandma was so proud to get the letter and it brought her a ton of happiness.
Sidebar:
I remember watching Bill with her one day when he started his broadcast like this.
"Two young punks"
My grandmother got such a kick out of that...just another day of Bonds in Detroit.
Last thought....
My grandma never judged or allowed her opinion of him be affected by his drinking and sometimes crazy rants on TV....
She always prayed for him and defended him.
She did not condone his addiction but always felt that it was between him and God
I can’t stop looking at the hairstyles. So many sideburns, such extreme combovers.
The Suits and Ties are something else as well. Made of those mystery polymer fibers created by Dupont or something
@@laurabeane8862It was beautiful!
Prell shampoo. It made your thick hair look even thicker.
Bill Bonds was a one of a kind, powerhouse anchor. Nobody could beat channel 7 in the news ratings during his reign.
Notice WXYZ in this period was apparently still at the top of the heap in spite of Bonds himself, as noted in the description, anchoring the news in New York on WABC. Looks like Jac LeGoff was keeping Bonds' seat warm; after Bonds came back, John Kelly went nowhere, staying right where he was on this.
Bonds was hired by WABC in mid-1975 to co-anchor the 11 P.M. newscast with Roger Grimsby (while once-and-future Boston anchor Tom Ellis was paired with Grimsby at 6) owing to Bill Beutel at the time occupied with the ill-fated "AM America." Once that show ended in November and was replaced with "Good Morning America," Beutel rejoined Grimsby at the anchor desk for the 6 P.M. news only, while Ellis was moved to 11 to co-anchor with Bonds. Then in fall 1976, when Bonds left WABC and returned to WXYZ, who joined Ellis as co-anchor of the 11 P.M. "EWN" on WABC? Yep . . . Bill Beutel.
@@wmbrown6 I'd forgotten Bonds did a stint in NYC. He was also in San Francisco for a short time -- and managed a cameo in "Planet of the Apes" while there.
@@MR_MRM_ - Not San Francisco - Los Angeles. He was at KABC when their "Eyewitness News" got launched in '69.
@@MR_MRM_ Bill Bonds was with KABC Los Angeles with Stu Nahan.
@@cabalenproductions6480 Thanks for correcting me. Is that how he ended up in the movie?
WXYZ was the sister station to WABC-TV, WLS-TV, KABC-TV and KGO-TV at the time. Wondering if they have other ABC O&O stations...?
WXYZ and KGO are the only ones of the charter ABC O&O's to still have the same call letters as when they first took to the air in 1948-49. Only KGO is still owned by the network; WXYZ is now owned (as since 1986) by Scripps.
"The Hiding Place" in Detroit was at the Eastland, Main (Royal Oak), Old Orchard, Penn (Plymouth), Riverland, Taylor Cinema and Terrace theaters.
Whenever I see the movie Cool Hand Luke I think of Channel 7 Action News
Ironically, that film was in WXYZ's library, and they showed it occasionally.
In New York, however, it was a different story. In the later '70's the "CHL" film was part of a film package that aired on WNBC Channel 4 (I'm sure some people seeing the film when they got to Luke and the other prisoners working on a dirt road, wondering what was the "Eyewitness News" theme from WABC doing in that scene). By the late '80's it had migrated to WPIX Channel 11.
Got any Channel 50 "Bill Kennedy at the Movies?" I'll pay to preserve some of those gems.
And Rita Bell, "oh, I'm sorry that's the wrong anwer...but we'll send you $7.00!
15:39 -- oh, man! Those were great donuts! Another childhood memory unlocked by UA-cam 😎
My granny's fav. I was 9 when this was aired...😁
20:12 Al Ackerman! I remember him...
Delicious Morton's Donuts, that takes me back to my childhood!😋
Wild to see Troy Dungan here not doing the weather at all. He moved to WFAA in Dallas in 1976 and was chief meteorologist for over 30 years.
WXYZ, at the time, was using RCA TK-45A cameras. Around 1973 they replaced the infamous TK-42's at the station with the newer model.
ABC O&O's were all over the map with color cameras in those days. Both WABC New York and KABC Los Angeles had Norelco PC-70's; KGO San Francisco, General Electric PE-350's; and Chicago's own WLS, G.E. PE-250's (which they'd first gotten in 1967 when the station was still WBKB).
ABC would buy all new equipment to televise the Olympics then after that they would give out the cameras and the like to the O&Os.
@@KarlB737 - Let me correct something: WXYZ, in their color, apparently originally had TK-43's. As did KGO before replacing them with the GE PE-350's.
Sometime in the next couple of years after this, Al Ackerman would move to channel 4.
This is 1 week before the Edmund Fitzgerald would go down on Lake Superior
Detroit's Channel 7 news had the same theme tune we had in Chicago on WLS 7. Even the same logo.
Cool Hand Luke "Tar sequence" 1967.
Great movie if you haven't seen it.
@16:45- "Soft Corinthian Leather"😊
So 70's!
Ricardo Montalban.
The Cordoba was a Chrysler, not a Chevy. It competed with the Chevy Monte Carlo, Buick Regal, Olds Cutlass, Pontiac Grand Prix, Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar. Its Dodge twin was the Charger.
"All this and more in a surprisingly affordable small Chrysler... Cordoba."
Wait, that was considered SMALL!? That boat is HUGE! 😮
How many "Channel 7"s used that same logo in the 70s?
Jim Harrington. Ven Marshall. Classic conmercials. Especially Shifrin Willis Jewelers. This is now making me determined to look for more. And YES Rita Bell and Bill Kennedy At the Movies.
Policians all sure paused to think before answering back then! Unlike now.
For those wondering why a newscast named Action News would use the Cool Hand Luke Tar Baby music, usually linked to Eyewitness News. Well in Detroit at the time, then CBS affiliate, now Fox-owned WJBK Channel 2 had the name Eyewitness News for their newscasts. WXYZ is now a Scripps Howard station.
Same reason why, in San Francisco, ABC O&O KGO's newscast was called "News Scene": Because then-Westinghouse, now CBS O&O KPIX got to the "Eyewitness News" name first.
Its like San Francisco where KGO-TV had to be named 7 News Scene because Group W in the 1970's held the rights to the Eyewitness News Name for now CBS O&O KPIX. In San Francisco's case KGO was using the model that formed WABC and KABC Eyewitness News though.
In 1994 during the time of the great network affiliate switchover when FOX struck a deal with a dozen New World/Argyle Television stations that were carrying the 3 original TV networks to have them become FOX affiliates, CBS, about to lose stations to FOX, tried to strike a deal with the Scripps-Howard stations including WXYZ in Detroit to switch to CBS, but it backfield as Scripps-Howard decided to keep WXYZ as the Detroit ABC station.
WXYZ still used it to end their news broadcasts up until about 1994 or so.
17:14--It's surprising to see Perry Como in an ad for Sylvania because he recorded for competitor RCA at the time and for many years.
By the time Como did that ad, he was no longer with NBC, his specials were on CBS, and Sylvania was his sponsor. He still recorded for RCA Records, though, right up to 1987.
1:11 Paul Frees is the voice of the Audi commercial.
22:20 Speaking of “never too far from a bar,” the Happy Talk kind of went off the rails here.
The Audi guy sounds like Vincent Price.
Great News Anchors,Commercials,still a great town Detroit back than, news reporters anchors well dressed and well spoken,was in the 8th grade in 1975.Haven,t watched anything on television since 2016, just garbage these days,reason I love watching this site and other similar websites.
Were Doris Briscoe and Diana Lewis she was from LA came here in 1977
I remember these news casters well, though I haven't thought about them in fifty years. By this period I was no longer in the immediate Detroit area but nearby in Ann Arbor. Human life sure is brief.
Actually, Detroit was responsible for quite a few shows. Radio from the Maccabees bldg., "The Lone Ranger" 1932 (?) and "The Green Hornet" ~1937, both radio shows. Soupy Sales on 1950's TV from the same location.
Also, there was the Lou Gordon show, UHF television during the late 1960's to mid 1970's. I believe his studio (no audience, just one on one talks/interviews) was located in the Stott building. I'm not sure if his show was syndicated or only local. It had the appeal of a larger audience though. Many guests visited repeatedly over the years. Father Malachi Martin, atheist Madelaine Murray O'hare, transsexual(!) Rachel Harlow, Fran Lee, the "scoop the poop" lady from NYC ("curb your dog, already"), Marjo, the one time child evangelist from California (all grown up, of course). I even remember muscleman Franco Columbu blowing up a hot water bottle in front of Lou Gordon. Ring any bells?
Hey, anyone remember Sir Graves Ghastly? He was well made up Dracula, lay in his casket most of the time, and hosted Saturday afternoon horror movies. His show originated from some place behind the Fisher building.
I remember Sir Graves Ghastly. There are some You Tube Videos of him . He was classic. Better than Svengoolie. We need to get Detroit Classic TV shows preserved. And The Ghoul!! #Pharma!
I hope thesw classics have been preserved.
Is that Marilyn Turner walking in @ 0:15? She passed away yesterday at 93.
Yes it is. Unfortunately, the last few minutes where her weather report are not in this video. I hope more of these old WXYZ videos from the 70’s and 80’s pop up.
@@CornPopSmokesNewports ...I hope so too. She did the weather for WXYZ for years, including Kelly & Company with husband John Kelly. Before that, she did weather for WJBK here in Detroit.
23:03 Cool to see the Standard Oil version of this jingle. I have the Amoco version on my own page (audio from a promotional record).
You have anything from KGO?
Please, do you have any more news from miami?
From 16:44 to 17:45, Chrysler's land yacht, the Chrysler Cordoba. If you owned a car like that when it came out, you'd tip the valet to keep it close and tip him again to keep it real close, didn't it?
That guy looks like a Colombian drug lord 😂
Who, Ricardo Montalban?
@@jarrelljimerson3346 it is him? Wasn't sure. But he looks like a bad guy from Scarface there!
@@doctorbohr1585 ...you must be thinking of Robert Loggia. He played one of the bad guys along with Al Pacino in that movie.
@@jarrelljimerson3346 I guess I'm thinking of the colombian dude to whom Scarface said he's only got his word and his balls 😂
Whatever happened to John Kelly?
Died in 2016, aged 88.
And later he co-hosted "Kelly and Company," a daytime WXYZ talk show with his wife, Marilyn Turner (the "weather girl" on this station). It ran for about 15 years until 1993.
@@MR_MRM_ - And did you notice Ms. Turner making a little cameo at the end of the preview (and referred to by the V/O - would anyone know who he was? he must've worked at WXYZ for years).
This, while New York's WABC at the time had Tex Antoine on at 6, and (but not for long) Gary Essex at 11.
The reportorial content is good and well-delivered, but the studio lights in the opening shot; the broadcasters walking onto the set; the "Cool Hand Luck" music, which was standard at ABC owned and operated stations at the time; and, of course, the "happy talk"--these are showbiz touches that have nothing to do with news.
That approach still exists today, of course, even more so. Many so-called television reporters today have more in common with entertainers than with journalists.
The PBS NewsHour remains the best daily news program on American television, and should serve a model at all commercial networks and local stations.
I was there then since I started in 1974. I ran camera for some of those newscasts. For that opening shot that included the studio lights we would frame the shot then point the camera at the floor until about 5 seconds before that shot then tilt up. I ran that camera a few times and I remember those days.
PBS NewsHour has matured greatly over the years.
@@KarlB737 - I was right about the cameras being RCA TK-45A, no?
Yes you are correct.
Can anybody comment on the result of some of these stories from yesteryear ?
It's 1975. WXYZ-TV is a network-owned station in what was at the time a top-10 market.
And (at 11:16) they're using B&W videotape??
Since it's labeled B&W and the news switches back to color, my guess is the color camera or VTR wasn't working for the remote segment.
I'm sure it was shot in color and when it was time to playback clearly the color wouldn't lockup so when they went back to Kelly he was BW until the signal locked up on the studio camera.
Ven Marshall………. that’s a bad wig.
here after the stupid “7 news detroit” rebrand
Before Scripps buried them 6ft under...
True.
Yeah. Can't watch them much now.