Local TV Editorials

[radioman148]

The infamous George Putnam News on KTLA and KTTV always included George's One Reporter's Opinion, at the 30 minute mark. When George was upset, his conservative editorials would turn into emotional tirades against the COMMUNISTS, and anybody who he felt had disrespected the American flag.

It's no secret that Putnam was the inspiration for Ted Baxter on the MTM show.

Putnam was quite a character. I remember him on KTLA with a young Hal Fishman at the time.
I too had heard that Putnam was the inspiration for Ted Baxter.

 

[easttxtv]

KDFW/4 in Dallas used to have a VP/GM that did an editorial segment at the end of some of the 10pm newscasts; this was in the early 1980s. Once he left the station, I don't remember seeing any others on Ch.4.

The only other thing in the market that came close (that I saw) was a weekly show on WFAA/8 called Let Me Speak To the Manager (later dubbed Inside Television) done by Ch.8's then-VP/GM Mike Shapiro
( http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/2002/wfaafifty/images/50th/mikeshapiro1.gif ) ...he would answer viewer mail as well as an occasional editorial segment.

I met Mr. Shapiro once after he retired; he kept an office in a building not far from the home he retired to in semi-rural east TX. He was actually quite gracious and amiable, and didn't mind me recognizing him from LMSTTM.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

I had always thought that it was the late Jerry Dunphy that was the inspiration for the Ted Baxter character. Perhaps it was an amalgamation.

This may have come up elsewhere, but the newscaster on "The Simpsons", Kent Brockman, was apparently based on Dunphy. On another tangent, having never seen an LA newscast for real, imagine my surprise when I learned that Dunphy didn't speak in a high-pitched Irish brogue, like he did on the Cheech y Chong "Championship Wrestling" bit when he called the match with Iron Joe McGraw.