News Blimp

[Smittian]

Anyone remember the “News Blimp” spots from the Late 70’s/Early 80’s? Offbeat news stories interspersed with cuts from rock songs. Our local station aired them around 11 PM & the intro music featured spaceship-like noises. I was a HS kid who was usually half asleep when it came on and I often thought we were under attack by aliens

 

[deepstblu]

I know WIOQ in Philly ran them at some point but don't ask me anything more.

 

[TheBigA]

Anyone remember the “News Blimp” spots from the Late 70’s/Early 80’s?

The producer was Ben Manilla, who died last year. He created a website:

News Blimps

The News Blimp was a syndicated radio news feature created in the early 1970s as the emerging free-form FM radio format bumped up against the broadcast standards mandated by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Produced by a core of some half-dozen producers and writers, this website contains

www.newsblimps.com

Around that same time, there was the National Lampoon Radio Hour, that later led to the National Lampoon Radio Minute.

 

[K.M. Richards]

And then there was Earth News Radio (1972-1985), written and anchored by Lew Irwin. It was something of a successor to the KRLA (and later KPPC-FM) feature The Credibility Gap, a combined news/satire/music show that aired from 1968 to 1971.

I can find no obituary notices online, but if Lew is still alive, he celebrated his 91st birthday on March 30.

 

[Mark Roberts]

The producer was Ben Manilla, who died last year. He created a website:

News Blimps

The News Blimp was a syndicated radio news feature created in the early 1970s as the emerging free-form FM radio format bumped up against the broadcast standards mandated by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Produced by a core of some half-dozen producers and writers, this website contains

www.newsblimps.com

Around that same time, there was the National Lampoon Radio Hour, that later led to the National Lampoon Radio Minute.

My college station subscribed to the Progressive Radio Network. The News Blimps were sent to us on reel-to-reel tape. We aired each one only once.

I also heard them on WWCT Peoria (heard frequently at my parents' house in St. Charles County, Missouri, thanks to some ducting on the Illinois River), a progressive-rock station that lasted a surprisingly long time.

 

[vw86]

The team that put those together went on to create and produce the Bill St. James classic rock shows Flashback and later Time Warp - the latter of which still airs today.