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Slam Bang Theatre

J

JayDavis

I just thought of this as I saw one of the posters on the board has a screen name of Slam Bang.

Does anyone know if Channel 11 ever made any VHS or DVD of the old Slam Bang Theatre? Is there a website dedicated to the history of that show? I remember when cable first came to Lubbock, you could get KTVT and at that time, it was an independent station and as a kid, we would always watch Slam Bang Theatre before going off to school.

If I remember correctly, the guy who played Icky Twirp also worked at Channel 11 as a sales manager for the station. Is that not correct?

Any history and/or links to Slam Bang Theatre would be fun to learn about.
 
JayDavis said:
If I remember correctly, the guy who played Icky Twirp also worked at Channel 11 as a sales manager for the station. Is that not correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, It was Bill Camfield. I'm not sure if he was Sales Manager or Promotion Manager. He wore many hats at KTVT. I had the pleasure of running camera on some of his shows about 1969 or 1970. He was a real hoot, and a very nice guy as well.

Most of the sketches were totally unrehearsed. They were taped in advance, but pretty much whatever happened was what went on the air.

I don't know if any tapes survive, but I'd be surprised if they did. Video tape was quite expensive back then and we routinely re-recorded over a tape for the next week’s episodes.
 
Somebody posted a website link on the old board one time that had pictures and a few stories about the show. If I locate the site I will post it here.
 
Thanks for the link jd, that was a very interesting site.

My friends and I just loved that show. Especially The Three Stooges.

Icky was great also, no doubt................we just don't have "original" programming like that anymore........which is sad to say.

Barney is it these days. :(
 
That patioculture link is a good one. There's a lot of links out there, here's some of the better ones (IMHO)out of my Slam Bang folder:

Be sure to click the links on the bottom of the page on this one:
http://www.ickytwerp.net/

http://www.magazine.tcu.edu/articles/2005-03-MS.asp?issueid=200503

This one has old KTVT info (from Mike Shannon) and hear the Slam Bang theme:
http://www.shufflethecards.com/Panther/page3.html

....and this one has info on Bill as "Gorgon"!!!
http://gammillustrations.bizland.com/monsterkid2/id18.html
 
I grew up in the 70s in a small town in Central Texas. When we got cable TV, we only had 12 channels. We got WFAA and KTVT from DFW via several microwave hops. We got WFAA because there wasn't an ABC affiliate in the Waco market. We also got KVUE in Austin. Any time there was a big storm between our town and some point north of Waco where the cable company picked up KTVT/WFAA off the air, we'd loose the pictures because the microwave signals couldn't get through the heavy rain.

I remember the newscasts on KTVT. They were so different from the news on network affiliates. They came on at noon and I think 9 pm. It was so laid-back, they'd joke around all the time. I seem to remember them having a pretty good news department for a true indy.

It was a big deal in our town when we got KTVT via cable. As a kid, it was nice to see cartoons in the morning when the other stations had news. I remember they always counter-programmed during the time of news on the affiliates so you could find something else to watch. My Grandfather got hooked on their Saturday Night wrestling. I also remember the Westerns on Saturday afternoon, the country music shows on Saturday night, and the cheap sci-fi movies on Sunday afternoon.

I heard they were on over a huge part of Texas and Oklahoma via microwave links. I had cousins in Midland who also watched KTVT. But, I know they weren't on as far south as Austin or San Antonio. One of the first Superstations.
 
Horns said:
I grew up in the 70s in a small town in Central Texas. When we got cable TV, we only had 12 channels. We got WFAA and KTVT from DFW via several microwave hops. We got WFAA because there wasn't an ABC affiliate in the Waco market. We also got KVUE in Austin. Any time there was a big storm between our town and some point north of Waco where the cable company picked up KTVT/WFAA off the air, we'd loose the pictures because the microwave signals couldn't get through the heavy rain.

I remember the newscasts on KTVT. They were so different from the news on network affiliates. They came on at noon and I think 9 pm. It was so laid-back, they'd joke around all the time. I seem to remember them having a pretty good news department for a true indy.

It was a big deal in our town when we got KTVT via cable. As a kid, it was nice to see cartoons in the morning when the other stations had news. I remember they always counter-programmed during the time of news on the affiliates so you could find something else to watch. My Grandfather got hooked on their Saturday Night wrestling. I also remember the Westerns on Saturday afternoon, the country music shows on Saturday night, and the cheap sci-fi movies on Sunday afternoon.

I heard they were on over a huge part of Texas and Oklahoma via microwave links. I had cousins in Midland who also watched KTVT. But, I know they weren't on as far south as Austin or San Antonio. One of the first Superstations.
Click to expand...

They were also on C-Band satellite up until the CBS switch.
 
KTVT had alot of great programming, both syndicated and in-house throughout the 70's,80's and even early 90's (Pre CBS). We always watched saturday night wrasslin' (as my grandad called it) and the westerns on sunday. One thing I always liked about KTVT were their advertisers. Two in particular was the Siegels "Wine Of The Week" segments they would show during the saturday night movie/lawrence welk and I believe the other was live ads for either Joe T Garcias or El Fenix. They both had the same guy, who used to do the V/O for all the havertys ads.
 
John Powers was the spot ad guy at KTVT.He had a short stint at KVIL-FM in the 80's. John Whitson was the 12 noon anchor,with Kurwood(?)Rowell the announcer/weather person.The female co-anchor was a revolving door of sorts with Judy (White)Martin,Ann Gedes(?) all lasting a year or less. John was essentially doing "rip and read"from the AP wire. This made the hour all the more laid back. The daytime TV was a great alternative, Bullwinkle, The untouchables ,and those great-not so great "teen flicks" from American International. Channel 11 was on the cable system in Austin in 1974 and was on some cable systems in Colorado in 1975.
 
Seems like the guy who did the Siegels "Wine Of The Week", also did the Haverty's furniture spots. I always thought those were shot at channel 4.
 
KPLEXCOMPLEX said:
John Powers was the spot ad guy at KTVT.He had a short stint at KVIL-FM in the 80's. John Whitson was the 12 noon anchor,with Kurwood(?)Rowell the announcer/weather person.The female co-anchor was a revolving door of sorts with Judy (White)Martin,Ann Gedes(?) all lasting a year or less. John was essentially doing "rip and read"from the AP wire. This made the hour all the more laid back. The daytime TV was a great alternative, Bullwinkle, The untouchables ,and those great-not so great "teen flicks" from American International. Channel 11 was on the cable system in Austin in 1974 and was on some cable systems in Colorado in 1975.
Click to expand...

I even remember seeing them in OKC, Tulsa and Little Rock over cable until the late 80's. I always thought the siegels spots were cut at the old KTVT studios..
 
I don't think his last name was Powers. I worked one summer out at Possum Kingdom Lake at Camp Grady Spruce and two of his son's worked out there.

I swear their last name was Goldstein or a "German" sounding name. I just
can't think of it right now. Two of the nicest guys you'd ever meet though.

Just came back in to modify this post. I think their last name was Sauerman.
 
stevezodiac said:
Seems like the guy who did the Siegels "Wine Of The Week", also did the Haverty's furniture spots. I always thought those were shot at channel 4.
Click to expand...

No they were done at Channel 11. I ran camera on some there about 1969-70. I can't remember the guy's name though... Does anyone remember the really awful "Texas Giant" Furniture spots? "Momma got two for the price of one...and so can you." They were truly awful but very effective. Another Channel 11 in house special.

The Dallas studios, where I worked, were used mostly for spot production. We did a lot of them. Don Lacy was the guy in charge, and Dale Wells directed most of them. Has anyone heard from those guys?
 
Yes, Sauermann is correct.

I went to a New Year's Eve party and saw the former camp director where I worked that summer.
His son's names are Al and Mike and Sauremann is the correct last night. I was fairly sure, but the
former camp director told me I was 100% correct. :)
 
Slambang said:
KTVT had alot of great programming, both syndicated and in-house throughout the 70's,80's and even early 90's (Pre CBS). We always watched saturday night wrasslin' (as my grandad called it) and the westerns on sunday. One thing I always liked about KTVT were their advertisers. Two in particular was the Siegels "Wine Of The Week" segments they would show during the saturday night movie/lawrence welk and I believe the other was live ads for either Joe T Garcias or El Fenix. They both had the same guy, who used to do the V/O for all the havertys ads.
Click to expand...

Sorry to continue driving this off-topic but me and my dad watched Texas Rangers baseball on KTVT during the early 90's. Steve Busby and Jim Sundberg were just fantastic at play-by-play. I'll always remember how Busby would report a home run: "And theres a lond drive to deep right field!!...going back! over the wall! Gooobyyyyeee!!". I was fairly dismayed when Texas Rangers baseball went to KXTX (although I enjoyed the great Mark Holtz) and now KDFI. Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve do a fantastic job but I'll take the Busby/Sundberg combo anyday.
 
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