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Marvin Zindler on KATL

H

hrhwebmaster

For those of you interested in true crime reporting, media personalities, and, umm, radio history - JR Gonzales who writes the Bayou City History blog in the Chronicle has notified me he has come across some old audio tapes of a Marvin Zindler produced and hosted program on KATL in the early 1950s called The Roving Mike. He's going to be publishing articles about the series during the month, with audio clips, and the first installment was published today.

Check it out. It's going to be a fun month.

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhis...er_tapes_the_return_of_the_roving_mike_1.html
 
I'm old enough to remember when Marvin was with the sheriff's department and I heard quite a few of his "incident reports," which were often over the top, in true Zindler style. But I had no idea that he was on the air that far back. Thanks for sharing this.
 
Thank you, Bruce; great job as always. JD, scroll down and look at the pictures of the KATL and you will see a picture of Bob Stevenson Sr, who would later appear on KTRK-TV, KHOU-TV, and heard on KXYZ, KTRH, KENR and KILT with his "Outdoors Show." Jack, good to see you alive and well..
 
I recall soon after I went to work at KTHT in July of 1970, the newman was trying to get information from the police about an incident. Since the police would not comment, the newsman, Jim Wilson, called Marvin. Since he was a deputy with Harris Co., he would get all the information, with the understanding HE would voice the report.
 
Shannon, that is definitely Marvin! By the way, the pictures I was stating about earlier are attributed to KXYZ, where Bob Stevenson was on the air.
 
The pictures of KXYZ Chuck was talking about are in my KXYZ Gallery, posted recently:

http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/2009/08/kxyz-gallery.html

Tim Nolan, later of Tim and Bob, Guy Savage, later 1st Sports Director of 13, Paul Boesch, Fred Nahas, who was kind of Houston's Paul Harvey (or Walter Winchell), Bob Stephenson, Ken Collins, and Ted Hills, who went way back to KFVI in 1925, later KTLC and the first program director of KTHT, 1230, in 1944.

I recently had dinner with Mike Henry of the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland. He was in town continuing his research into the origins of the Vox Pop program on KTRH in 1932 which later went on to the networks.

The library holds a huge collection of QSL cards and Mike has offered to scan a bunch of the Houston ones for me, including one going back to 1922 (WEAY) and many from the 30s and 40s. I hope to have a QSL gallery to post soon.
 
I have to say it

I am near the end of my own long career in radio because I'm planning to retire next year after 45 years in this crazy business.

I bring that up because I'm old enough to remember hearing a lot of those people on Houston radio back in the 50s. Looking at all those great photos in Houston Radio History has helped me put faces on a lot of those names and voices I can still hear in the back hallways of my memory.

Those pictures also bring to mind something I've thought for a long time about radio as it was back then. In the 40s, 50s and well into the 60s and even the 70s, people who worked on the air in radio were grown-ups. They dressed, acted, and sounded like mature adults on the air and behaved as mature adults everywhere they went because they knew they represented their radio station to the public.

Quite a contrast to most of what we hear on the air these days, and it's so sad. It's not the fun business it was when I broke into it.
 
The first time I heard Marvin Zindler was on KXYZ. He did a police report as the PR man for the Harris County Sheriff's Department. I suppose that was about 1955 or so. And by the way, he was terrible.
 
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