The "news," of course, wasn't just news. The national and international news was given a brief reading, often times no more than a minute. Local events, on the other hand, were covered with camera crews, live feeds and on-the-scene reporters. Sometimes the local news was a neighborhood festival. All of the "news" was crammed into the first 15-18 minutes, before the broadcast shifted to weather and sports. Approximately 5 minutes of a 30 minute newscast was given over to weather. After the weather came the sports. Being a gym rat in every sense of the phrase, I looked forward to the sports. I analyzed the sports. Then, I analyzed my analysis. I remember many of the people who brought the news, weather and sports to us in Baltimore. They were part of my world every day and there wasn't a one of us who didn't develop opinions about each one of them. Channel 13 had Jerry Turner and Al Sanders doing the news (actually, Turner started in 1962 and had a number of co-anchors before being paired with Sanders. One of his co-anchors was Oprah Winfrey, who was brought to Baltimore to be paired with Turner in the mid-1970's. It didn't work out and everybody had an opinion as to why. Winfrey then became a reporter and I specifically recall covering a story or two at the same time she was. I was a reporter for a weekly newspaper at this time, having just graduated from the University of Maryland School of Journalism). Turner and Sanders became Baltimore icons and dominated the ratings for many years. When Turner disappeared from the news and Baltimore learned their newsman had cancer in his esophagus, it was a state-wide tragedy. Turner died of esophagal cancer in 1987. Sanders continued on, alone for a year, then as co-anchor with Denise Koch. Then "Al" got sick; his cancer was in his lungs. The news of his illness was also a huge tragedy. Sanders died in 1995 of lung cancer. Koch continues as anchor, paired with various co-anchors. Channel 11 had Rolf Hertsgaard (who, after leaving that job, became a member of the Church I attend. He sang in the choir. He was a very good person. He died in 2004). After Hertsgaard, the station hired Ron Smith and other co-anchors. Later, Rod Daniels took over with various co-anchors. Daniels is still a co-anchor. Channel 2 had George Rogers as a primary anchor when I was a teenager. He had various co-anchors. Stan Stoval was an anchor there. Channel 45 was a late-comer to the local news stage. For a long time a man named Ernie Boston did brief newscasts without even one mobile camera crew at his disposal. The folks doing the news now, and, as local news goes, doing it quite well, are Jeff Barnd and Jennifer Gilbert. Both have been at the station for a long time.
Anyway, after the news came the weather. Here, I'll just name the folk I took a liking to. The weather reporter who I watch or listen to, even now, is a gentleman by the name of Tom Tasslemyer. He is on Channel 11 TV and WBAL Radio. He does the late newscast on Channel 11 and the early weather on WBAL, although I believe he does the morning duties from his home. His peer at the same stations, John Collins, is very similar in his approach, combining actual scientific knowledge with good humor. I recall a lady by the name of Rhea Perlman doing the weather at Channel 11 along with a puppet named JP. JP always cried out the anchor's name, Rolf, when Rhea and JP were done.
On to sports. We've had some very good sports reporters in Baltimore. Vince Bagli was the primary one. Everybody loved him, including me. I never met him in person, but I was incredibly fond of him. And I don't mean to make this in the past tense, because, while fully retired, he is alive and active as far as I know. He knew everything about Baltimore sports and even though he delivered his broadcast in a very off-the-cuff folksy way, his words were loaded with facts and background that told an accurate story. I am sure that Bagli had a lot to do with Sam Lacy being a sportscaster at Channel 11 on weekends. The long-time Afro-American Sports Editor was another wonderful person to listen to. He oozed knowledge and came across as somebody who was very noble and always spoke the truth. Lacy, a reporter first and foremost, followed Jackie Robinson around during the season he broke the race barrier in Major League Baseball. And yet I never knew that while watching him during those years. He was just that humble. Channel 11 also had Chris Thomas, and it has Gerry Sandusky. Anybody who lives in Baltimore has very fond memories of listening to Chuck Thompson and Vince Bagli doing the Colts games on the radio. Chuck did telecasts of the NFL for CBS, and he was superb. But you had to hear him on the radio to appreciate how good he was. Many radio play-by-play people who do football more or less take their time and don't finish describing a play until long after it is over. With Chuck, he described the action as it happened, and he did it with eloquence and accuracy. Anyway, Channel 13 had a lot of very decent sports people. Nick Charles was here for many years until leaving for network TV. The station also had a fine reporter named Randy Blair, who, sadly, died of a heart-attack at a very young age. Channel 2 had Jack Dawson, who was another walking encyclopedia of Baltimore sports. Also at Channel 2 was Keith Mills. Mills is at WBAL radio these days and is greatly appreciated. He's almost as down-to-earth as Vince Bagli.
As TV becomes more and more diversified, local stations are losing viewers and its an open question how long these local newscasts will continue. The more I think about it, the bigger the loss that Baltimore and its citizens will suffer if in fact the local news goes away. As newspapers shrink and fold-up, the monitoring of local government will become lighter and, well, less. The shrinking fourth estate at the local level is a huge problem. There are blogs that cover local government. I intend to find them and keep track of them. A government that is not watched is a government that will stop working for the people.
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