- Nailed ''em both.\
\
Wuddn''t turrible.
Charles Barkley
- Picture, OP!
- Bill Bonds, a longtime TV news anchor in the Detroit area (who also appeared in one of the "Planet of the Apes" movies) was such a notorious drunk that he started ending his newscasts saying that he''d be back tomorrow evening, "God willing" (I guess reflecting a one day at a time philosophy.) \
\
A friend of mine said that he was involved at one time with a teenaged girl in her neighborhood, until her brothers beat him up.
r43
- About 20 years ago, when he was new to the market and not yet well-know locally, the chief meteorologist for the Houston NBC affiliate Frank Billingsley once came to a party my housemates and I were throwing. He came with a mutual friend; they headed straight for our bathroom and proceded to hoover I couldn''t tell you how much coke.
http://www.click2houston.com/newsteam/278392/detail.html
- That esteemed WCBS anchor and hot daddy, Jim Jensen was a drug addict. It was true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzM17CI_TWQ
- Here''s a story about our local anchor who starved herself to death. I''m good friends with "Peggy" in this story.
http://www.cyberhood.info/et/watchingherdie.html
- How sad. Did you know her as well, r6?
- I knew her from TV. The sad thing is she really didn''t look too deathly thin on TV, only in person and then it would take your breath away. Jane Pauley apparently did a story on her and I missed it.
- Alright.
Years ago over in Nashville, TN there was this lady named Oprah who worked on the local news with Chris Clark.
Chris Clark took a bit of flack for hiring Oprah because there were some intolerant minded people who did not want her on tv.
Even the news producers and everything did not even know what to make of her name.
Heck, when I was a kid I thought her name was kinda far out myself. Ain't gonna lie.
Please remember this is ages before Oprah was, well, you know, Oprah.
Chris Clark held to his guns and did the dutiful and tolerant minded thing. Please note that Oprah was only a fair (and very young and new) news reporter but she did always have a very lovely and low speaking voice and near perfect elocution.
Anyhow...
The rumor for years was that Chris Clark (who had a Clark Kent look back in the day) and Oprah had some kind of "thing" going.
I do not know if it was sexual or what. But, that is what the rumor was.
They used to be spotted around town and all.
I have nothing more.
- Rumor has it the NYC Police Commissioner''s son, Greg Kelly, is gay.
- Speaking of Greg, I saw him jogging downtown this week. He looks thinner in person.
- Pat Gray is in the middle in the front row.
http://www.birminghamrewound.com/WBRCTeamColor.JPG
OP
- Jogging? He doesn''t look very fit on TV. Kind of short and dumpy looking
- The sordid romance of Jim Lampley and Bree Walker, back when they co-anchored the news at KCBS in Los Angeles.\
\
Both were married with kids, but flirted and giggled on air to the point it was obvious they were having an affair. This Nikki Finke story from back in the day spells it out, including the sad attempts by Mrs. Lampley to keep her husband -- which included a surprise birthday party for him when everyone knew he was knee-deep in the affair.\
\
They eventually married and divorced, then ping-ponged back and forth for a while. Eventually Lampley met another woman and got arrested on domestic violence charges with her. Walker gave up TV news (or rather, it gave up on her) and she tried to become an actor.\
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Throw in the fact that Walker has syndactylism (lobster hands and feet) and was once a stunner who due to plastic surgery abuse now looks like Jocelyn Wildenstein -- it was a complete on-air soap opera.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900408&slug=1065315
- Rosemary Lucas, who went by her first name only, before Cher even!
http://books.google.com/books?id=W3XWMYpsezsC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq= "Rosemary Lucas" Birmingham&source=bl&ots=dtMPNNdJ5t&sig=MAwlGnaf-sWey7J9wO4ztiHJcv4&hl=en&ei=JnSeTL3LIsGclge0tKHtAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage
- ^ OK, I exaggerated about the Cher thing, but it was considered very exotic and glamorous locally.
OP
- Bree Walker looking beautiful, 1989 (with JIm Lampley)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzNcHzrLDoo
- ... and Bree today.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rXeUUrOD_gs/SHKMkgsgqKI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/ZzFf0uqPUe0/s640/248FernandoAndBree-FS.jpg
- FYI: The profoundly fugly old dude at R12, lower right, is none other than Country Boy Eddie, who used to host a crack-of-dawn morning variety show on Channel 6, and who gave a local beautician named Wynette Byrd her first big singing break.
OP
- There actually was a weather guy somewhere in a small Texas town who did do the gerbel thing and he got run out of town when it got found out.\
\
Anyone remember?
- Anyone know anything about George Oliphant, the little hottie who does that "George to the Rescue" show for WNBC in New York? I hear he''s married with a kid but would love to know if he dabbled in the homosex pre-wedding vows (which I doubt as he appears to be on the boring side, cute as he is).\
\
Also, anyone got any dirt on Brett Larson?
- Hugh Smith was an honored and beloved anchor of WTVT-Ch. 13, Tampa. He loved his community, family and God. He also loved the whores.\
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Arrested in a vice sting, he made a tearful public statement on his program about his regret and desire for redemption. The community and his family welcomed him back into the fold and his career carried on, stronger than ever.\
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Nine years later, he was arrested again for soliciting a 15-year-old runaway.\
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Total perv. Good newsman, though.
http://www.teddwebb.com/showcase/where_are_they_now/hugh_smith.jpg
- Gayle Anderson of LA''s KTLA has long been rumored to be a guy in drag. She does look pretty rough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdDjTcjAez0
- r9, did she take him with her after she hit it big?
- What? No way, r23. I''ve never heard that before. That''s funny.
- Dallas weatherman Steve McCalley (channel 8) was run out of Amarillo after being caught in a local park having sex with a male attorney according to a former friend
http://www.wfaa.com/on-tv/bios/67751472.html
- Back in the 80's there was a weatherman at WSB in Atlanta named Russ Minchew. He was long married with children but it was well known among the gay crowd at the time that Russ had a penchant for trolling Piedmont Park looking for bush action. He'd been arrested several times by the Atlanta PD but WSB was always able to get it quashed because of their connections at city hall. Then in the mid 80's he got caught in Columbus, Ga. (90 miles away) soliciting a small group of teenage street trash for some action. The cops found a stash of gay porn mags in his trunk which Russ claimed he was "holding for a friend" (how original) LOL.
WSB wasn't able to quash that one because it was out of town. He went on trial and won mainly because the kids he solicited along with their scummy families showed what trash they were on every interview, and his lawyer was able to get the jury to think Minchew was set up by the Columbus cops.
After he won the lawsuit WSB forced him to resign. A short time later he moved back to his hometown of Pensacola, Fl. with the family and did some sort of show down there and died a short time later due to brain cancer.
- The gerbil incident in Texas occurred in Wichita Falls at KAUZ Channel 6. It was many years ago -- probably in the 1980s. As I recall, the weatherman''s name was Rich Segal.
- Oh wow Bree looks like a completely different person and not for the better.
- Does anyone in the DC area have any dirt on Steve Cheveny (sp?) or Weatherman Tucker Barnes from the local Fox 5 Morning News? I think they’re both hot and have jerked off to them both quite a few mornings.
- Does anyone have any dirt on local Chicago celebrities? A little gossip could only make things at stations like WGN Channel 9 more interesting. Probably the only thing.
- There have been rumors for years that one of the anchorwomen in Seattle has a bit of a shoplifting problem.
- Wow, what dishy dirt, OP! Tell us more absurd stories about weather girls in obscure markets back in the ''70s!
- Fred Richart, a local automobile dealer, decided to reward his top salesman with a trip upstairs at a New Years Eve Party. The salesman ended up tying Fred to the bed post for something a little kinky when his wife stormed in. The salesman ran away and Mrs. Richart proceeded to heat her curling iron before jamming it up her husband''s ass.
- I used to bartend in a gay DC strip joint and it was a haven for the pseudo-butch weathermen. One weather guy, who was very hot, used to come in every so often, was doing porn on the side. They let him go. Wish I could remember his name. Another weather guy was Bill Kamal; he''s now in prison in Florida for molesting a kid. Susan Kidd, JC Hayward, Wendy Reiger are lesbians.
- I don''t remember the full story, I''ll have to call my uncle in Baltimore, but when NY channel 7 anchor Sade Baderinwa (sp) was an anchor in Bmore she supposedly had an affair with a high ranking politician and alledgely left town because of it. A couple of years ago, Sade was hit by a wild out of control car while she was doing a field report. Its been said that that car was not out of control and aimed straight at her on purpose.
- Read the Nikki Finke article. Did ratings for Bree newscast go down because of the affair?
- Judging from this ''70s parody reel from WWL-TV, complete with fake (?) bag of coke, New Orleans broadcasters are/were a fun bunch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRajITvADI
- [quote]Another weather guy was Bill Kamal; he''s now in prison in Florida for molesting a kid. \
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He has only the one testicle, right?
- r38 - there was a much-honored investigative reporter in New Orleans named Mike Longman. He was tough as hell.\
\
Unfortunately for him, his hobbies included crystal meth and jailbait teenagers. They nabbed him for child pornography, and then all the stories started tumbling out... neighbors said he''d be on coke and meth binges for days, with hustlers hopping the fence at all hours to party with good old Mike.\
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He served something like 5 years in prison.
- In Providence we had a local TV personality who cohosted PM Magazine with Matt Lauer. She was rumored to have a coke problem and then all sorts of weird things started happening. Here''s a snippet from a news story:\
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Martines was found in the trunk of her Mercedes on a side road in Dighton in 1988. She claimed she had been abducted and beaten after stopping at an Interstate 195 rest stop. She claimed her alleged attacker drove the vehicle to Dighton and left her inside the trunk, but no arrests were made and police reports remain sealed.\
Later that year, she resigned her position as Matt Lauer’s co-host on WJAR-Channel 10’s “PM Magazine.”\
Four years later in November 2002, Martines Pina disappeared for six days before checking herself into Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.
- Bump!
- The Jason Martinez story is juicy. As is Jason Martinez.
He came from a small Fresno station and was signed as an anchor stud at KTLA in Los Angeles - a major jump. But the Fresno station refused to say why he didn't work there any more. No congratulations, no "we'll miss you," none of the stuff that comes when an anchor gets promoted to a major market.
Martinez worked in L.A. for about nine months as one of the station's main anchors. Then he vanished and his bio was gone from the station website immediately, with no new job in sight. KTLA adamantly refused to comment on it, which only made the press buzz around even more.
So, a few months later, Martinez pops up at KUSA in Denver as a consumer reporter - a much smaller job in a much smaller market. KUSA made a big deal about their new hire.
He appeared on KUSA, and then disappeared from their air and their website as well -- after ONE DAY. Westword reported on it:
[quote]The day of Martinez's first Denver broadcast, Cornetta and other 9News employees received an e-mail accusing Martinez of being a "sick individual" with a "sex addiction." The e-mail, which was from an address that no longer exists, included lurid messages that Martinez had supposedly sent to KTLA colleagues. Turns out that in September, Martinez had also disappeared from his weekend anchor gig at KTLA after just nine months, and without explanation. "Befuddled by his sudden disappearance from the air," the Los Angeles Daily News wrote, "Martinez's fans and friends have written to his Facebook page to ask about his whereabouts." On October 2, Martinez responded, posting the following Facebook message: "Jason Martinez is thankful for his family, true friends and fans for their support. Yes, I have resigned from KTLA. Don't believe any of the rumors out there. None are true. I will be back soon doing the job that I love." But will it be at Channel 9? Martinez couldn't be reached for comment, and that Facebook page is now down.
That was a year ago, and Martinez hasn't surfaced on local news again to my knowledge. The rumors at KTLA he referred to involved a completely psycho sexual appetite, including fucking some woman out in the open in the employee parking lot, who then ended up stalking him.
He has major big-dick face, so keep an eye out if he pops up on YOUR local news, ladies...
http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/files/2009/12/martinez1-246x300.jpg
- Let us not forget the troubled, scandal-ridden life and career (in NYC, anyway) of Steve Bartelstein....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/03/18/2009-03-18_wcbs_anchor_steve_bartelstein_resigns_fr.html
- Any stories about local celebs in KY or IN?
- so r44, did bartelstein really have cancer?
nosey nora
- R34, I remember that Fred Ricart story. Pretty funny since they both appeared on his corny commercials.%0D\
%0D\
Back in the early nineties, local anchorwoman Andrea Cambern , who was married, was caught making out(or having sex) with a local public radio (NPR) personality in a bathroom at an art gallery during a Friday night "Gallery Hop". This was in conservative Columbus, OH.%0D
- Who cares, R46? He''s Chicago''s problem now. Look out, Boystown!
- The thing about Pat Gray and Rosemary Lucas is absolutely not true. Another woman named Pat Gray was arrested on such charges, but it started the awful rumor, which hurt WBRC's Pat Gray very deeply.
edgeover17
- In Cincinnati, newscaster Norma Rashid had an affair with the very married Charlie Luken, former mayor turned newscaster and then mayor again. Rashid was fired and just sort of "disappeared" although no one was quite sure if it was over the affair or WHAT it was. She was quite popular for a long time in that city.
- Little Rock KARK Weatherman Brett Cummins woke up naked in a hot tub with a dead man who was also naked & wearing a dog collar around his neck. Needless to say, Brett is no longer employees with KARK. Cause of death was accidental drug/alcohol related.
- R43, this psycho sexual appetite must've been pretty extreme if it bothered KTLA. Wonder if any of the details ever got out.
Once my friends and I got bleacher seats at the Oscars when they were still held at the Shrine Auditorium. KTLA's Sam Rubin who's still there now, was covering the arrivals. He appeared to be quite the pig. He continuously felt up some young blonde who was also with the station, right there out in the open in front of all of us.
- Bump!
- Fox 28 Columbus news anchor Yolanda Harris's hubby was accused of 'sexting' teen girls.
At least he didn't have them chained in the basement!
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/10/05/judge-ex-cops-texts-to-girls-violence.html
- Here's Mike Longman's LinkedIn profile, which indicates that he lives in NYC now and doesn't know how to spell the word "contributor."
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikelongman
- And Brett Cummins' LinkedIn page shows that he bounced back from his waking-up-next-to-a-corpse episode with a position as a call-center manager, and now he's an insurance salesman in Colleyville, Texas.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/brettcummins
Fate%20worse%20than%20death
- R45 on the local WTTV channel in Indy, they replaced Popeye & Janie with Popeye & Peggy.
Peggy was married to my dentist and was a great gal. I had their daughter in my gymnastics class.
After she had been on the air a couple of years, Peggy divorced the dentist husband and ran off with one of the art directors of her show....
And she stayed on the air for a some time afterwards.
Olive%20Oyl
- Thanks R38. I had to post that blooper reel on facebook it was so good.
Mike Longman. When I was in high school all the guys used to talk about Mike Longman cruising them and trying to pick them up for money and other stuff. I'd never met him.
Then decades later when they finally caught him (or decided they'd had enough of his bullshit) I said I remembered what he'd been up to when we were in school. Everyone denied they'd ever said that and got on me for not reporting him.
- Philadelphia had two, one involving EXTRA reporter, Jerry Pennacoli.
1) Jerry's was the gerbil urban legend. I recall about 4 hospitals -- including one in Baltimore -- that he was rumored to have the gerbil removed. Local papers tried to confirm it was an urban legend, but it killed his broadcasting career here. I've always been impressed he was able to continue on with his career.
2) John Bolaris, a sleezy weatherman known for hitting night clubs. I've included the link below, and apparently he won some lawsuit against Am Ex, but this incident cost him his job as he blabbed about it in Playboy. Just a really pathetic guy -- he was down in Fla during spring break, I believe.
http://gawker.com/5875492/real+life-the-hangover-destroys-horny-philadelphia-weather-mans-life
