Real Life "Ted Baxters?"

[Stanislav]

We've all laughed at Ted Knight's brilliantly funny portrayal of Ted Baxter -- the perennially befuddled, dim-witted, and tongue-tied local news anchor -- on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." One would like to think that even before TV news became "infotainment," and on-air talent is well-prepared and trained before anyone deigns to hire them, someone as inept as a Ted Baxter couldn't possibly exist in real life.

Or could he?

What are your memories/nominations for the most inept local TV news anchor you have ever seen? I'm not talking about someone whose personality simply rubs you the wrong way, but someone who often mispronounced or garbled words and names, or couldn't deal with the tedchnical logistics of different camera shots and introing in and out of prepared stories, etc. In other words, the fictional Ted Baxter is your benchmark -- who, in your experience, comes closest?

 

[FreddyE1977]

..well, to start, Bill Burns on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. He joined them when they were still Dumont's WDTV in the early 50's, and stayed till retiring in the mid-80's, I think. Why he had so much staying power was something I could never understand. He had a very stilted, halting method of reading a teleprompter, would make frequent mispronunciations of words, names and world capitals, and would use very folksy homespun colloquialisms that you'd never hear from any other newscaster. In the 70's they hired his daughter Patti and teamed them up for the noon newscast....the Patti and Daddy show! Syrupy enough to make you quite sick...."Well, Dad, today in Southeast Asia....." But Pittsburgh viewers ate it up....especially the over-60 Female crowd that was the biggest demo for the noon news. I had heard that as a young man Burns was quite dashing....could not imagine that at the time I was seeing him, but I guess a lot of our elder female crowd was living out some vicarious fantasy from years gone by.

There is a very famous blooper reel out there that shows Burns introducing the early PM CBS soap opera as "The Young and the Breastless". A friend of mine from Erie, PA told me about a similar guy up there whose toupee would come flying off during the newscast, but I don't recall his name.

 

[LKellerIII]

This isn't an answer about real life Ted Baxters, but since I lived in LA at the time of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, I can tell you that Baxter was a composite of 3 local Los Angeles newscasters. The pompous manner, vocal delivery, and deep stentorian voice was based on George Putnam who was a right-wing nut, but was of normal intelligence, as near as I could tell. Also, George was the first newscaster I'm aware of that stood while anchoring, as did Ted Baxter.

The gray hair and stupidity was based on Jerry Dunphy, who did not appear inept or bumbling on-air, but had a reputation for being a dim-wit behind the scenes. Finally, the name came from a local anchor named Baxter Ward.

 

[jal41]

Andrea Thompson, actress and short-lived Headline News anchor who was brought in for the 2001 relaunch. I don't know what CNN was thinking when they hired her.

 

[jwk1979]

WBIR-TV 10 in Knoxville had a sports anchor named Mark Smith that was pretty inept when it came to reporting. He would on a regular basis give sports scores on the 11:00 news such as a game being in the bottom of the second when they had been played that afternoon and the other stations had given the final score during their 6:00 newscast.

 

[Mr1derful]

WSIL-TV in Carbondale(originally started in Harrisburg)IL had Ted Baxter's "son" doing weekend sports in the early 90's . His name was Lon Tay, and he came across as a hybrid of Ted, Harry Carey, and Boris Karloff. He came from Decatur and came across as a parody of Ted Baxter. He was hired by Don Brown, who somehow BS'd his way to the news director job once the Wheeler's bought the station. Don loved to tell broadcast journalism students that "if you want to do sports, you've got to be the next best thing since sliced bread". If that was the case, then Lon Tay was the moldiest piece of pumpernickle that ever graced Ch. 3. I remember attending a Murray State University football media day when Houston Nutt(now at Arkansas) was coaching.
You should have heard the snickering when Lon walks in acting like he's the man. Lon lasted about a year and a half and moved back to Decatur. Mention his name to some folks in Southern Illinois and they'll laugh.

 

[therealjm12]

I always assumed that Ted Knight pulled his character Ted Baxter from his experiences working at WTEN in Albany. As I a child I remember watching him hosting Kids shows (I think Popeye among others). I, also, remember him doing booth announcing on TV and probably co-owned WROW-AM (a 5,000 watt station). I don't remember him doing news but I was a child and wouldn't have watched that anyway. Even if he didn't do news he certainly was around the people who did do the news.

 

[FreddyE1977]

When Hank Baughman was an anchor for WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, he also owned a small radio station in Johnstown, PA. I remember his wedding announcement in the paper....the bride is employed by W??? in Johnstown, PA, and the groom is a newscaster for WPXI-TV and owner of W??? in Johnstown, PA. ;D

 

[bpatrick]

I always assumed that Ted Knight pulled his character Ted Baxter from his experiences working at WTEN in Albany. As I a child I remember watching him hosting Kids shows (I think Popeye among others). I, also, remember him doing booth announcing on TV and probably co-owned WROW-AM (a 5,000 watt station). I don't remember him doing news but I was a child and wouldn't have watched that anyway. Even if he didn't do news he certainly was around the people who did do the news.

Back before my time, around 1950, Ted Knight was an announcer on
a radio station in Burlington, NC (WBAG, I believe), and did a two-man
songs-and-comedy act on WFMY-TV in Greensboro with a guy named
Bill Jefferies. I don't know if he picked up any Ted Baxter mannerisms
there, either, but again, as he was in Albany, he was certainly around
newscasters.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Isn't Jerry Dunphy the inspiration for Kent Brockman on "The Simpsons"?

 

[LKellerIII]

Isn't Jerry Dunphy the inspiration for Kent Brockman on "The Simpsons"?

That hadn't occurred to me, but it's probably true. Harry Shearer does the voice of "Brockman." Prior to his time on SNL, movies, and voicework, he did satirical news on local LA radio with Michael McKean and David L. Lander ("Lenny & Squiggy"), among others. They loved to lampoon the local LA TV media of the time (early 70s), including people like Putnam and Dunphy - both of whom were Ted Baxter models.

Also - Brockman looks like a cartoon version of Dunphy, who was an LA anchorman for many years, but had prematurely white hair from the time he was young.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Harry Shearer was indeed part of the morning drive news team at KRLA in Los Angeles in the late 60's...A pretty whacked out situation, as he, along with McKean, Lander and others, were part of a comedy group called "The Credibility Gap", and their newscasts were supposedly kind of a radio version of "The Daily Show" 30 years before "TDS" even existed! (I have heard airchecks of several KRLA jocks who became well known nationally, like Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, and Emperor Hudson, but never the Cred Gap...That would be priceless.)

 

[LKellerIII]

"Harry Shearer was indeed part of the morning drive news team at KRLA in Los Angeles in the late 60's...A pretty whacked out situation, as he, along with McKean, Lander and others, were part of a comedy group called "The Credibility Gap", and their newscasts were supposedly kind of a radio version of "The Daily Show" 30 years before "TDS" even existed! (I have heard airchecks of several KRLA jocks who became well known nationally, like Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, and Emperor Hudson, but never the Cred Gap...That would be priceless.)"

Corky - I was a big fan of KRLA in the late 60s when it was struggling with its identity, and doing a lot of innovative programming, including album-rock at night, and the Credibility Gap. The Gap was many years ahead of its time - and it's truly amazing that they were allowed to do left-wing satire on a Top 40 station and have it qualify as meeting the station's FCC requirement for news and public affairs. It wasn't on only in morning drive, but ran about 4 or 5 times daily - repeating earlier segments, but adding new segments as they day progressed. It was started by Lew Irwin, KRLA's News Director with only the existing regular news staff, but grew to include Shearer, McKean, and Lander. I remember that Shearer did a great Nixon impression, and Richard Beebe (veteran news guy at the station) would do Spiro Agnew.

 

[dubya3qt]

Andrea Thompson, actress and short-lived Headline News anchor who was brought in for the 2001 relaunch. I don't know what CNN was thinking when they hired her.

I know what they were thinking!

I guess you missed some of her semi-nude shots on NYPD Blue.
And Ted Turner had a notorious eye for the ladies - which influenced female talent selection. CNN Center has a hotel attached and Ted had a permanent suite for "conferences."

 

[bpatrick]

I suppose, then, that that's how Catherine
Crier, whose previous experience was as a
judge in Dallas, got to CNN :. Turner did
have one "rising star" in the '80s, Liz Wickersham,
who went practically everywhere with him as
well as being quite visible on CNN. I don't know
what happened--maybe it's when he married Jane--
but it's been years since I've seen Liz.

 

[Stanislav]

I suppose, then, that that's how Catherine
Crier, whose previous experience was as a
judge in Dallas, got to CNN :. Turner did
have one "rising star" in the '80s, Liz Wickersham,
who went practically everywhere with him as
well as being quite visible on CNN. I don't know
what happened--maybe it's when he married Jane--
but it's been years since I've seen Liz.

From Wikipedia:

"Liz grew up in Orange, Texas as the daughter of Charlie Wickersham, owner of a local Ford-Lincoln-Mercury automobile dealership. Her father had strong connections with Charles Wilson, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 2nd congressional district. After attending the University of Texas, she moved to Georgia where she became Miss Georgia USA in 1976 and competed in the Miss USA pageant, where she won the Miss Photogenic award and placed in the semi-finals. She later appeared as the cover model for the April 1981 issue of Playboy magazine. Shortly after, Ted Turner was formally introduced to her, possibly through the connection with Wilson. Working with CNN, she interviewed Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at his invitation in 1982, and again two years later. From 1984 until 2001, she would co-host the CNN program Showbiz Today which featured entertainment industry news (similar to Entertainment Tonight). Wickersham also served as the host for the WTBS program "Good News". Wickersham married attorney Paul Derounian and lives in Manhattan."

So it seems she's been out of the business for several years now, and living off the income of a Manhattan attorney (not too shabby).

 

[Ultimajock]

Harry Shearer was indeed part of the morning drive news team at KRLA in Los Angeles in the late 60's...A pretty whacked out situation, as he, along with McKean, Lander and others, were part of a comedy group called "The Credibility Gap", and their newscasts were supposedly kind of a radio version of "The Daily Show" 30 years before "TDS" even existed! (I have heard airchecks of several KRLA jocks who became well known nationally, like Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, and Emperor Hudson, but never the Cred Gap...That would be priceless.)

...I believe one aircheck exists of (I think) Dave Diamond's last night at KRLA, which The Credibility Gap worked into their bits that night...I think both Diamond and The Gap wound up moving to KPPC within a few weeks of that night...

 

[LKellerIII]

"...I believe one aircheck exists of (I think) Dave Diamond's last night at KRLA, which The Credibility Gap worked into their bits that night...I think both Diamond and The Gap wound up moving to KPPC within a few weeks of that night..."

I'd love to hear that KRLA aircheck. I remember that the Credibility Gap moved to KPPC, though I don't remember Dave Diamond ever working there. Unless I missed something, Diamond was purely a Top 40 guy, though he might have stretched the format a little in the mid 60s at the short-lived KBLA. I guess he may have also worked at 106.7 after it became KROQ in the mid 70s. KPPC was an all-around great station in 70-71 (Les Carter years), but they didn't give the Gap as much air-time as KRLA had.

I recall that Shearer, Lander, and McKean fought KRLA for use of the "Credibility Gap" brand, and won. After they left KRLA, I saw them do a live performance at the Ash Grove on Melrose - Bonnie Raitt was the opening act. A great show...