> In 1981, Jack Chase was sidelined by a heart attack, but
> returned to WBZ-4 and retired the following year.
>
> Although he began at WBZ before I was born, I thought I read
> at the time of Chase's death (I believe he passed away a
> couple of years ago) that he started at WBZ in the Spring of
> 1954. Prior to that, he was a newsman at the old WCOP-1150.
>
> I do know that Don Kent was at WBZ from about 1950 until
> 1983, although I don't think he was on TV on a regular basis
> until about 1955. I say "regular basis" because I have
> heard that when Hurricane Carol struck in 1954 (which would
> bring down WBZ-4's original tower), Kent was going
> back-and-forth between radio and TV (until the TV tower came
> down).
>
> I believe the first person to be paired with Jack Chase at
> Noon was Betty Adams in the early 60's; by 1965 or so,
> Shelby Scott had replaced her. They were together at Noon
> for about fifteen years. I recall that Linda Harris for a
> time co-anchored in the morning (after the early-morning
> show had been expanded to an hour around 1980 and soon
> renamed "4 Today") and at Noon during the last couple of
> years Chase was at WBZ.
>
> BTW, the full title of the early-morning show was "Daily
> Almanac", and started as a fifteen-minute show (6:45-7 A.M.)
> consisting mostly of a farm-and-makret report and the
> weather forecast, with very little (3-4 minutes) "hard"
> news. Until 1973, it pretty much had a monopoly on local TV
> news in Boston prior to 7 A.M.
>
> But in 1973, WCVB-5 launched a full-hour local newscast from
> 6 to 7 A.M. (the first TV station anywhere to do so), and
> this hurt "Almanac" badly in the ratings. By the late
> seventies, "Almanac" was expanded to a half-hour (6:30-7
> A.M.) with much more of a hard-news format (although the
> farm and market report still appeared). By 1980, it went to
> an hour, gained Ms. Harris, and had a title change.
>
> At the start of each edition of "Daily Almanac", Jack Chase
> would raise his coffee cup and say "Cheers". When Linda
> Harris joined him, she, Chase and Kent would all be seen at
> the anchor desk at 6 A.M., and after Chase and Harris each
> gave a headline and Kent gave a five-second weather summary,
> all three would raise their coffee cups and say "Cheers".
> Then the program would officially get underway.
>
Talk about a terrific collection of WBZ-4 memories. THANKS SO MUCH, JOE!
argytunes