The Knoxville News-Sentinel du lieu suivant : Knoxville, Tennessee • 130

alMrtMto Idt '-'vOviv -V W-' H-i I- 1 -V 1 1 ty L' jt V' y'-'- 5 SJ 1 i1 1 4' 1 1 ') 1 1 ty 5 i 1 1 1 1 i mfir A I 1 tm -1 1 I 1 -ft i A'' a I V-- i 5 -N- i Showtime 10 The Knoocvfee Newe-Sertinel Sunday January 26 1907 V7V- '77 7 7 iTjr Cover Story a vvirrifygTi-WTr He transformed uanall educational station into ETs dear PBS source By Wayne Btodsoe Please kno'w his door A1 -Curtis is retired WdLsortof J'v OnJan 11 Curtis 65 retired as chief executive officer of WSJIvWJSOP Channels 2 and 15 However Curtis will 1 continue to be Guy Lombardo of as leader of the A1 Curtis Big Band: he will continue booking talent for the Tennessee Valley Pair and he ia still on the Board of Governors of the Lexington Unit of the Shriners Hospitals far Crippled Children in Kentucky been in TV for 41 years I attribute that to having very little ri' says Curtis with a chuckle "Goah been a fad 41 Curtis shqiherded the station from a tiny educational channri operated by the Tfinnnnnoo fltwtft Boon! rfiMiiMtinn tn VHndqiendent PBS affiliate with two signals that together cover most of East Tennessee Talking with a reporter in a conference room at the WSJKAVKQP offices cm Magnolia Avenue Curtis la an mmimtiiMMiliat Jim Tindell general manager and chief financial officer ofWSJKWKOP will take over most of reeponeihilities (if not i his title) at the station -v uBecauae of the tiriit budgst'I know if he will actually be TindeQsqys Curtis says he had three goals for the station when he wait to VlSfiL One was to BBt a second stronger simal for the station Another was to rat the station off the UT campus The third was to get another channel cm the air so the Tri-Cities would have a good dear signal for 1 the station The last goal la the onjy one not yet realised Helping to make Big Bird his role as CEO of of the band for bigger artists touring the ana inducting liSowoe Eddy Arnold Tom llrtor tiBHHIMI tlw Grand Ole Opry In radio working at WROL-AM Curtis Jones and Mitzi Gaynor li a a fT fU flifll Ga music remained a sideline Curtis had a to keen him off the road He married Lola Thacker in 1958 and the couple had two daughters Curtis says he decided to take a position with WSJK after realizing that he had no chance at becoming managar at WBIR because station executives had someone dee in He took a job at Hedging WSJK as a in 1966 a few months a lot like Knoxville says Education' decided to divest itself of authority over educational TV stations The move would mean the station would have to solicit donations from the community to survive was really remembers Curtis didn't know if the public 7 thought enough of us to keep us or 7 That waa answered when the first lund-raising effort netted more then $100000 1 course that waat enough to rpn the station hut it sure indicated that people were willing to support says LuckS the popularity of cable TV had broug ht the programming to people who receive the signal over the air Community support has continued to ineweee while state aid federal support has continued to be cut In 1983 WSJK wee transferred to a community organization titled the East Tennessee Public Communications Corp But it' was another decade before the -station was able to move its and studioa from finmmiiTiiraitMWM Building to its current location at 1611 Magnnlia Ave whidi formerly housed --Blue CrossBhie Shidd In 1990 WSJK mmgri to obtain a license fer Channel 15 nun the FOC Curtis says the application process was difficult Both Lincoln Manorial University and a church had applied fer the lioenae WSJK agreed to give LMU 30 minutes of free programming per week to get the university to mop its appUcatian but the station hal to pay the cmirch $35000 to withdraw its application- As fer dedaian to retire he the station actually went cm the air Tinddl who had waked with Curtis at WBIR as a cameraman and producer and had run the film department tor a time moved to WSJK in 1966 as wdL WSJK waa first educational TV station Its studios were on UFs campus and its broadcast tower was on Short Mountain in Sneedville The signal could hardy be lacked up back in 1 Knoxville where the programming onginated TOn a good day' if it was raiiy you miAt piA it ramemheri Curtis In 1969 Curtis was named general 7': managwr of the station That same year National Educational Television was transformed into the Public Broadcasting later spent time as a DJ in Rome returning to work at WBIBChannM 10 in 1956' first job was directing the CaB Walker Farm and Home soya 7 Curtis I was mostly hanging cm for the Walker self-dubbed Coon sometime City Councilman and one-time mayor both hasted and sponsored the -y show Curtis says Walker was actually quite eeay to direct but occasionally he would hove a surprise 1 Alter one particularly ucooesftd night of coon hunting Walker brouit his eight 1 dwd raccoons nJ laid them out on the fawtin floor for his TV audience to yrmpintp 1 thought that was kind of In bad says Curtia MWe had to mop iqi blood and everything But he waa proud of Curtis also worked on Wide and Tennessee played both titie roles on Capers Wh Unde Fudd and the Birthday and directed hosted by fiitare mobile hcane magnate Am Clayton used to rehearse on Sunday afternoon in remembers Curtis record the music then on Wednesday videotape the show and -Hpsvnc the Vet Curtis was still Interested In making music of his own In i960 he famed the A1 Curds Big Bend whin began getting regular gfgs at country dubs and miiitaiy bases across ths 8outhssst The group doubled ea a beck-up Curtis of the Tri-Cities area about 60 miles from Sneedville and so is Johnson The WSJK nigtuil there he says is about as weak as it was in 'Knoxville before Knoxville gained WKOP Channel 15 in 1990 Curtis says it will take someone in the 7 who is willing to stir up enough enthusiasm to make the new a 7 reality However it would be difficult to find anyone anywhere quite like Curtis Born In 1931 Curtis grew up In North Knoxville and attended Central High School He had his first brush with 7 broadcasting when WNOX announcer Lowell Blanchard and comedian Archie Campbell brought wire recorder (which recorded on wire rather than on -r magnetic tope) to a senior career diy and let the students record their voices He worked as a movie theater usher and played trombone with several bands (inducting the Car Tucker Orchestra) He attended the Umvetiity of es wHhsra he roomed with Hal Duriuua who was actually a tape ays Curtis which means that instead of simultaneous network feeds stations would air tapes and send than onto other PBS established a bona fide network and with the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting bean to produce popular shows indudjng and ths aarty the state Bond aft i 11 anCUEms S'.