wtkr – saleintothe90s

I feel like, if you lived in an area long enough you really get to know the news personalities. You see them on tv every day, they almost become a part of your family. Especially back in the day when you may of not had cable and there was nothing to watch in the afternoons.

(from my personal commercial collection)

Road Rebels with Andy Fox (WAVY [NBC])

Okay, so if you live in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach part of Hampton Roads you’re stuck in traffic a lot. Conveniently, Norfolk is where the TV station is, and they had a loudmouth reporter who ran for public office a few times. Thus, Road Rebels was born sometime in the early 1990s.

My parents and I both absolutely hated Road Rebels! It consisted on Andy Fox chasing down (yes by foot, in the street) and yelling at people who made illegal u-turns, or cut across shopping center parking lots to avoid a light. Real news. Sometimes Andy would bug someone long enough that a pothole got fixed. I found a clip show from 2005.

Oh snap, he got a DUI in 2006. I also remember he broke the “open container” law back in the 90s, where you get a ticket if you have open booze in your car while you’re driving.

Mr. Food (nationwide, shown on our CBS station, WTKR)

You knew it was almost time for Young & the Restless when you heard Mr. Food say, “OOH IT’S SOO GOOD!” near the end of the noon news. Mr. Food died a few years ago and it was a little upsetting because he was one of those people you saw on TV when you were little. Like he was a part of the house.

Mr. Food was on Conan once in 1997.

(no image)

Wednesdays Child (WAVY [NBC])

Wednesdays Child was a segment where longtime reporter Don Roberts would interview and spend time with a kid who needed a foster parent, or someone to adopt them or a big brother/big sister situation. I don’t see any old Wednesday’s Child segments from the 1990s on YouTube sadly. I remember Don going to arcades with kids a lot in the segments.

(source)

Joe’s Job (WVEC [ABC])

Kind of a precursor to Dirty Jobs, but not dirty, reporter Joe Flanagan would spend a day doing other people’s jobs. He was still doing the segment in 2015, here he works at Goodwill for a day. Check out this commercial for 1991 where everybody tries to do a parody of Nike’s “Bo knows”, but it just turns out terribly. Everybody.talks.monotone.

Joe retired last year but apparently is still active on twitter.

Don Slater (WAVY [NBC])

Weatherman Don Slater was my favorite guy on the news growing up. . He’s still there! He still posts on facebook almost every day.

Here is is reporting on Hurricane Gloria in 1985 with a sweet mustache. He’s not going out there!

Finally, here is Don reporting on the 1988 Blizzard. I was five, and this was the first time I had ever seen snow, I believe. Or the first time I remember seeing snow. Maybe it snowed once when I was a baby. We live in an area of Virginia that rarely gets snow. It’s a big deal when it snows here.

Longtime Hampton Roads reporter Les Smith also appears in the clip. He got burnt out and last I read, he’s a relator in the area.

Terry Zahn (WAVY & WVEC)

Another longtime reporter in the area was Terry Zahn. This is a report he did back in the 1980s over the reputation Norfolk used to have with Navy sailors. It’s pretty amusing.

“I was being sent to Norfolk…where they didn’t like sailors…” – Terry.

Terry eventually began reporting at WVEC in the 1990s. However, in the late 1990s Terry was diagnosed with cancer and died in early 2000. His funeral was during a snow day.

(source)

Bruce Rader (WAVY)

I remember sports reporter Bruce the most from his ‘stashe and his voice. He’s been on WAVY for forty years. Here is one of his earliest reports for WAVY back in 1978…reporting on Christmas ornaments. That’s cool, I guess. Putting that on my Christmas Christmas playlist.

Tag: wtkr

292. Local news bits and people (Hampton Roads, VA area)