Houston.BloggersPub

Saw the sad Houston music and club news on Facebook and The Insite. Musician Scott Gertner is closing down his famous Skybar in Montrose according to these reports.

Seems Gertner, a three-time GRAMMY Award nominee by the way, is not happy with the building where the club is located says Isiah Carey. READ MORE AT THE INSITE

I went to the Skybar a few years ago and had a great time. The club had a great view of Houston from the patio area. I’ve passed by Scott Gertner’s Sportsbar Live on Fountain View near Richmond but have never gone inside.

> Mike McGuff Blog

Today on my post VIDEO: Glenn Beck’s radio work in the 1980s I received this encouraging reader comment after I asked where the chalkboard was in the Beck video (a joke referring to Mr. Beck’s prop on his current Fox News show):

I think that brat kid of yours is using the chalkboard. So he can get educated so he wont be a dead beat like his loser father.

Anonymous attacks my child and me. What’s next? Will they go after the children’s hospital book drive I am organizing?

Well at least it’s better than the time a reader told me I was going to “burn in hell” after I posted about someone close to me passing away.

Classy.

> Mike McGuff Blog

Heard the sad news on the radio that recent 88.7 KUHF All Things Considered traffic reporter Marty Ambrose has passed away after battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Ambrose was considered a pioneer of the Houston traffic scene. According to KUHF:

While at the American Automobile Association in 1975, he volunteered to sit in for the resident traffic reporter on occasion, and after the ammonia truck disaster 1976, co-founded the area’s first network traffic reporting service, Houston Traffic Central. In 1989 he joined Metro Networks, where he stayed as senior anchor and director of community relations until 2003.

Ambrose was 69.

I met Ambrose last year when I taped my appearance on KUHT 8’s Houston 8 (both stations are in the same building). He seemed like a really nice, well-liked person.

> Mike McGuff Blog

Here is an example of Glenn Beck’s radio work before the political bent. This was when he was a zany morning man on FM radio.

Just before moving to Houston’s Power 104 KRBE in 1989, Glenn Beck worked at Phoenix Top-40 station KOY-FM, then known as Y-95. His partner in the above video is Tim Hattrick.

One question…where is the chalkboard in this video?

RELATED
- Mike McGuff talks to Pat Gray of the Glenn Beck Show
- Glenn Beck on his 104.1 KRBE years
- The evolution of Glenn Beck: The Connecticut years

> Mike McGuff Blog

If you like old Houston TV newscasts from the 1980s and 90s, then this video I found on YouTube is for you. I’m glad someone thought to tape all this stuff.

> Mike McGuff Blog

Reporter: Shoplifting was part of a “freelance” assignment
TV reporter accused of shoplifting from Sears told police she was a freelance reporter working on something “on the side.” (Thanks Brooks)

TV reporters reluctant to reveal age
Want to see TV news people scatter faster than cockroaches at an exterminators convention? Ask them about their ages.

Fox Affiliates: We Are Not Fox News Channel
Several news directors say Fox’s reputation for right-leaning broadcasts often misleads viewers into thinking their local news reports follow the same approach.

Political candidates are their own TV newscasts
Political candidates are hiring former television reporters to produce postive stories to air on campaign websites.

Jane Skinner Leaving Fox News
Fox News Channel dayside anchor Jane Skinner announced that she is leaving the network. (Thanks Brian)

> Mike McGuff Blog

If you like classic rock, you’ll love this. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has a great article on the city’s old Memorial Coliseum. A place where lots of mega bands cut their teeth on the live circuit.

Houston television photographer Jaime Zamora was there with camera ready to capture the rocking moments:

Zamora was a Corpus Christi teenager in the late 1970s and saw dozens of shows at Memorial Coliseum, including Ted Nugent, the Scorpions and Van Halen. Concerts then were an all-day affair — Zamora and his friends sometimes skipped school to get a good spot in line. READ MORE

You can see those photos in a gallery right here.

See more at classicconcertphotos.com.

> Mike McGuff Blog

In honor of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse film coming to movie theaters, let’s watch Jimmy Fallon be funny making fun of film star Robert Pattinson. Where are Taylor Lautner’s abs? I might spray paint on some right now.

(Thanks Will-E)

> Mike McGuff Blog

There is a 100% chance that former KPRC 2 weatherman and current ABC The Bachelorette/future Bachelor Pad sensation Jonathan Novack will be performing at Houston comedy clubs.

Culturemap.com posted an unedited transcript between Mr. Novack and reporters. Novack goes into a lot about ABC’s The Bachelorette but I am skipping those parts (click above link to read a lot more). I’m only reposting the parts about TV news and Houston comedy clubs.

Paulette Cohn: So, you’re a public figure anyway, you’re a weatherman, what has the reaction been like when you went back home.

Jonathan Novack: It’s really funny, I’ve been doing the weather here in Houston for three years and I don’t really get recognized very much. I’m on like one episode of The Bachelorette and now everybody is coming up to me after one episode, and I thought it was hilarious, I’m like don’t you people watch the news? I guess not.

So that’s been kind of interesting. I think overall it’s been pretty positive. People have been saying, “oh we were rooting for you, we were pulling for you,” and I just finished up in my station here at the NBC affiliate so my contract ran down so I’m not there anymore and people saying that they miss me doing the weather and come back to channel 2, come back to NBC and all this stuff, but in general it’s all been positive. No milkshakes thrown at me like in the movie the weather man so that’s good.

[snip]

David Barron: Fine thanks, there aren’t of network affiliate jobs in the top ten markets and you were able to work your way to one and then you gave it up. How do you feel about your decision to leave the KPRC, would you want to return to television news and do you believe that that career path might have been impacted by your decision to reality shows?

Jonathan Novack: No, I don’t think the show had anything to do; it didn’t have anything to do with my contract. That was honestly my plan whether or not I made it on the show, I was looking to move on and up. So I mean I don’t regret that, I that’s just how I’ve always kind of been. My first station I left after 3 years, Miami I left after my first contract was up, and I mean weekend weather is great, but I want to do more than that.

So, I know if I stay here, while I love Houston, it may not be the best decision professionally for me. So I know they’re few and far between for the jobs and so I’m hoping if I, hopefully I’ll find something and if not then I don’t. I mean there’s, I’m the kind of guy it’s like let’s go with it and see what happens, and my decisions that I make at the time are what I think are the best decisions, and I can just only hope that something good will come of it.

David Barron: So, you said you’re doing nights in town before you leave here or what …

Jonathan Novack: Yes I was just, there’s a little thing over at Davenport on Tuesday night. There’s one at Monday night, I forget where it is but my friend who is a comic around town, he invited me to, and so it might be the last, I don’t know if it’s the Last Stop or not, but there’s a few places in town I’m going to start hitting up here in the next couple of months, getting back into it.

I’m going to start writing comedy bits for Jonathan right here. First joke for free:

“So, anyone watch The Bachelorette on ABC13? [audience applauds] Well, I was a contestant on that show… [more audience applause] Yeah, the first time I saw Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky there was a 100% chance of perspiration on my part. [audience oohs] Yeah I took her hand off camera, looked into her eyes said, ‘I think there is a warm front in my pants.’ [rim shot sound effect off stage]. Hey, thanks for the support folks, make sure to tip your servers!” [massive applause]

For real though, someone needs to find out where he is performing, record it on video, upload it ot the Internet and let me know the link!

RELATED
- Former weatherman Jonathan Novack continues in reality TV
- Houston TV meteorologist on ABC’s The Bachelorette 2010?
- KPRC 2 meteorologist Jonathan Novack is leaving
- Bachelor Jake Pavelka guest hosts on WFAA 8
- Mary Lee storms onto KPRC 2’s weather team

> Mike McGuff Blog

If you haven’t seen anchor Alan Hemberger on KIAH 39’s news lately, you are not hallucinating. Hemberger, who has most recently been sitting on the anchor desk during the weekends, is no longer with the station (although his bio is still on the KIAH 39 website at the time of this writing).

“We’ll let Houston’s news directors decide if in fact I’m retired,” Hemberger told the mikemcguff.com blog. “We’ll see if anyone needs part time, nightside, or weekend help. Or if I only have a face for radio.”

Hemberger, along with Sherry Williams (now at KHOU 11), was part of the original anchor team in channel 39’s latest incarnation of news. Before that he was a popular anchor on Houston’s KTRK 13 Live at 5 with Melanie Lawson. He’s also worked in Austin and San Antonio too.

What you might not know is that Hemberger was also a reporter on Entertainment Tonight in the 1980s.

On a personal note, I have to mention how gracious Hemberger was to me when I interned at KTRK in the mid 1990s. I never forgot that and I think it is an important lesson for today’s broadcasters.

Hemberger has had a great career and I am sure it will continue into the future. I contacted Tribune Company (the owners of KIAH) about Hemberger but the media representative did not get back with me.

I leave you with a very funny report Hemberger filed while at KTRK.

> Mike McGuff Blog