Corpus Christi Caller-Times from Corpus Christi, Texas • 9

Sunday January 27 2002 Corpus CfjiM Caller callercom CalkerTimai file Newscaster Gena Looper daUvers the news on a simple and unadorned KZTV studio set in this 1981 photo The station's new owner Eagle Creek Broadcasting is expected to alter the look of the current set a He brought intense journalistic ethics to radio and TV That meant that we concentrated on news and we indulge in all the little chitchat that other stations do CiMr Timet IH Walter Furfey longtime soon anchor for KZTV this 1981 photo Both maps art reprasMtativa of the map of Texts uuxt to a map of the Unftad States ou the set station's basic proadi to TV news graphics design and the station has watch the set why put been using the same on-air pro- anchors in front of asks motions for years And as with Furley who is also the sta-the weather dials there are news director careful reasons for everything Added Looper was at the CBS affiliate always reluctant to change The logo: used the one especially if it was going to we have now since about the require an early said Looper In the 1950s Kennedy The promotions: want to waste valuable airtime have the people with the ability announcing the to write them and produce names them so we used the same ones a time there he for a long said Looper want to identify the The set going to said Furley were just Walter Furley the set Furley has high hopes that the station new owners stay true to most important tradition will still be the guiding said Furley doubt if that will Contact pop culturemedia critic Ricardo Baca at 886-3688 or bacajlScaUercom reading the news' because that was what was important But (identifying the anchor) was Borrowing from his steadfast newspaper background Vann Kennedy brought his straightforward no-nonsense approach to TV news an industry that has since been ridiculed for placing the emphasis on flashy graphics and starlet anchors instead of news brought intense journalistic ethics to radio and said Furley meant that we concentrated on news and we indulge in all the little chitchat and all the personality things that other stations If the new owners give KZTV a makeover much of the Kennedy-instilled charm could likely go by the wayside And while the staff likely miss the outdated graphics or OFF 50-66i BETTER 50-G6 OFF ENTIRE STOCK WINTER SUITS KASPEFMJESUIT AMANDA SMITH 'v a tt- i vS' 50-66 OFF ENTIRE STOCK COATS JACKETS MISSES'PETITES'WOMEN CC if 50-75 OFFf WINTER ft SWEATERS -V VALERIE STEVENS VALERIE STEVENS CASUAL ti jy i YOUNG DESIGNER COLLECTIONS I FOR HER Sit AMERICAN SPIRITED DESIGNER AMERICAN JEANS COMPANY' JEANS MAKER A MISSES PETITES If FAMOUS NEW YORK MAKERS i AMERICA'S FAVORITE DESIGNER it- TODAY ONLY! 1 1AM TIL 7PM 50-GG0FFl -ENTIRE STOCK! WOOL SEPARATES SAG HARBOR 50-75 OFF WINTER BLOUSES MISSES PETITES KAREN SCOTT NOTATIONS 'JORDAN KZTV FROM A1 Communications Commission Investor Jim Withers said the newscasts will look different from their current appearance which still reflects Vann Kennedy and his enduring impressive entrepreneurial legacy Kennedy arrives After opening a print shop launching a newsletter and starting a political newspaper in Austin during the Depression Kennedy moved south in 1946 to a city he thought would eventually grow to be one of the largest cities in Texas Corpus Chris ti Vann Kennedy now 96 and his late wife Mary launched radio station KSIX in 1946 with the help of friends Ten years later after a licensing battle involving the FCC the TV station KSIX was launched in September of 1956 It became known to viewers as so Kennedy changed the call letters in 1958 to KZTV to avoid confusion with Channel 6 In 1973 Kennedy opened the doors at KVTV Armed with two CBS TV affiliates and an AM radio station the Kennedys made their way through the brand-new broadcasting landscape They along1 with their faithful staffers have distributed news and information to the people of South Texas for more than 50 years But perhaps the most recognizable trait of the Kennedy tradition one that will likely exit stage left when new ownership arrives in two to four months is the adherence to a rudimentary no-frills newscast Earij-TV workshop In the early 1950s Vann Kennedy sent program director Gene Looper to Pasadena Calif to attend the first television workshop in the United States There Looper learned the ins and outs of TV production during two weeks of intense 12-hour days had the top newscasters from the Hollywood stations there to tell us how to read from a teleprompter and how to put together a said Looper 80 And the station group has used that know-how ever since By adhering to a fiscally conservative budget (entry level reporters now start af about $8 an hour and they used to start at minimum wage) and willfully resisting the glamorization of the TV news industry the Kennedys have made KZTV into something of a modern-day operational relic In decades past the broadcasting equipment matched the times But just a few years back meteorologist Phil Sokolov was still reading the temperature and humidity from the old weather dials which were shown on the air Kennedy liked that people could focus on (the said Sokolov who has been with the station since 1984 "He said that I even need to talk because people were looking at the dials They were one of Mr favorite From the source KZTV noon anchor Walter Furley added: Kennedy said that these are the actual dials the actual readings and he thought that that was truer to the reporting than when you type the (temperatures and wind speeds) up in beautiful colored fonts think right too Those are pretty expensive dials" representative Of the way the station group was run until its recent sale Because of the pay scale mostly recent college graduates and people looking for their second job would apply KZTV earned a reputation as a learning and very frugal station Its nightly newscasts have suffered in the ratings In recent years nightly news usually attracted about one-fourth of the viewers of Nol (ABC station Kill) and No 2 (NBC affiliate KRIS) However noon newscast is often the No 1 news at that hour And watching Furley on the noon broadcast only echoes the spirit of weather dials Furley delivers the news in his old-school authoritative baritone voice Furley said while most people compliment him on his voice some stand it been told I sound said Furley said) that I sound like I think I'm better than everybody else or (people ask) 'why you talk like real The KZTV logo is reminiscent of late 1980s advertising OFFl ENTIRE STOCK JUNIORS' WINTER CLEARANCE 50-75 OFF WOMEN'S WINTER SPORTSWEAR INCLUDES TAILORED SEPARATES BETTER COLLECTIONS -KNrrS-DRESSES 50-66 OFF FALL HANDBAGS AMERICA'S FAVORITE DESIGNER V- STRADA-GIANI BERNINI BUENO'JOE BOXER CANDIE'S yv -TV' I ENTIRE STOCKi SKIDS' WINTER llSWEATERSli -i 'TODDLERS' T--' t'icv f(e FOLEY'S CHARGE IT WITH WE ALSO WELCOME VISA MASTERCARD AND DISCOVER 0 FINANCE CHARGE BUY NOW NO PAYMENT TIL JUNE All the right choices.