WSBK-TV38 Boston, MA: 'Ask The Manager'

[Jack & Bobby - The WB]

Anyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!

http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/gallery/atm.htm

[MWright186]

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
nyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!

Oh gosh. I remember that show. I think it came on Sunday mornings. I use to
watch it all the time. I loved it. IIRC, the woman was red headed? Am I
remember correctly? There was an older gentlemen who was also on the show?
Do you remember another popular host? He become sort of the voice of the
station. He use to host the movie loft every night.

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/gallery/atm.htm

[Taylor Pratt]

Dan Berkery
Meg LaVigne
Stu Tauber (last host)

others:

Cliff Allen
Dana Hersey (voiceover)

Post by MWright186

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
nyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!

Oh gosh. I remember that show. I think it came on Sunday mornings. I use to
watch it all the time. I loved it. IIRC, the woman was red headed? Am I
remember correctly? There was an older gentlemen who was also on the show?
Do you remember another popular host? He become sort of the voice of the
station. He use to host the movie loft every night.

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/gallery/atm.htm

[Jorabi]

"Jack & Bobby - The WB" wrote ...

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
Anyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!

Yes, I watched it religiously after getting WSBK on cable in 1974.
It was on Sunday nights at 10:30 then. Bill Flynn was the manager
and Dana Hersey was the host. Then Joe Dimino became the manager
and he was followed by Dan Berkery IIRC. I don't know what happened
after that because my cable system dropped WSBK.

The show got sillier as the years went on, though. I was always
wishing they would answer more questions and go into more detail.

[grmnh]

It was a great show...remember it well....the redhead's name was Meg

Post by Jorabi
"Jack & Bobby - The WB" wrote ...

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
Anyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!

Yes, I watched it religiously after getting WSBK on cable in 1974.
It was on Sunday nights at 10:30 then. Bill Flynn was the manager
and Dana Hersey was the host. Then Joe Dimino became the manager
and he was followed by Dan Berkery IIRC. I don't know what happened
after that because my cable system dropped WSBK.
The show got sillier as the years went on, though. I was always
wishing they would answer more questions and go into more detail.

[Chuck Miller]

I remember Ask the Manager, as not only did I live in Boston for some time (and
still have family there), but my cable system carried WSBK until it became a
UPN affiliate. I also believe the show may have aired when WSBK was owned by
the Boston Archdioscese, but my memory is cloudy on that.

Most of the questions regarding Ask the Manager dealt with whether certain
shows could be acquired by WSBK, or why certain favorites were taken off the
air, or why they spent oodles of dollars on Murphy Brown and nobody watched the
reruns, yet they still held on to M*A*S*H and Three Stooges reruns (and their
Saturday morning lineup of old Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto movies).

The show did have a real lo-tech charm to it, and there were times when the
show was unintentionally funny (my favorite was when the station manager, who I
think at the time was Dan Berkery, was asked if WSBK would ever acquire a
British TV show that Berkery's letter reader misread as "Are You Being Sued?"
(he meant to say "Are You Being Served?") Berkery went on some tangent about a
British legal TV show, not sure if "Are You Being Sued?" was about lawyers or
process servers or what.

Unfortunately, Ask the Manager was one of the last non-sports-related
self-produced programs at WSBK. It's kind of sad when one realizes that by the
time the mid-1980's roll around, local TV shows and their local programming
were squeezed off the air by infomercials and tele-evangelists and 30-minute
toy ads masquerading as Saturday morning cartoons.

Chuck

[Just Me]

Post by Chuck Miller
The show did have a real lo-tech charm to it,
Unfortunately, Ask the Manager was one of the last non-sports-related
self-produced programs at WSBK. It's kind of sad when one realizes that by the
time the mid-1980's roll around, local TV shows and their local programming
were squeezed off the air by infomercials and tele-evangelists and 30-minute
toy ads masquerading as Saturday morning cartoons.
Chuck

I couldn't agree more with the sentiment...

Those old local shows were a unique part of the city. The hosts and
guests were our people...

It's kind of like the old neighborhood coffee shop...it was dirty and
grungy and it never changed, but it had great coffee and they always
knew your order before you even opened your mouth...
Today that shop has been replaced with still another Starbucks...

I remember being on the Willie Whistle show, and the Major Mudd
show...we would show up for the taping and boom, we'd be on tv the
following week. (we didn't know how good we had it back then...)

Ah well, at least we still have "Chronicle"....though I understand
it's just about the last show of its kind left in the country...that's
pretty sad. I fear one day soon we will be reminiscing about what a
wonderful show "Chronicle" was, and wondering how on earth we let it
die.

I miss "Candlepins for Cash" too...


Peace, --JM

[Linda M. Young]

Post by Just Me
I miss "Candlepins for Cash" too...

My dad watched CANDLEPIN BOWLING every Saturday till the day he died.
Man, that brings back memories...remember Bozo on WBZ and Dale Dorman
(the world's loudest voice) on Channel 56?

Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

[Just Me]

Post by Linda M. Young

Post by Just Me
I miss "Candlepins for Cash" too...

My dad watched CANDLEPIN BOWLING every Saturday till the day he died.
Man, that brings back memories...remember Bozo on WBZ and Dale Dorman
(the world's loudest voice) on Channel 56?
Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

What a great site !
Thanks for keeping the memories alive.

I remember Bozo fondly.
I remember Dale Dorman (unfortunately...)
I wonder if he's still alive...

For still another blast from the past, you might want to check out
Charles Laquidera's "Big Matress" site.

http://bigmattress.com/weblog/

Charles is alive and well, living a life of liesure in Hawaii...
His weblog is current and very interesting...
I bet he'd love your site.

Thanks again.

Peace, --JM

[Uniblab]

Post by Just Me

Post by Linda M. Young

Post by Just Me
I miss "Candlepins for Cash" too...

My dad watched CANDLEPIN BOWLING every Saturday till the day he died.
Man, that brings back memories...remember Bozo on WBZ and Dale Dorman
(the world's loudest voice) on Channel 56?
Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

What a great site !
Thanks for keeping the memories alive.
I remember Bozo fondly.
I remember Dale Dorman (unfortunately...)

Ugh, Dale was the worst -- his voiceovers were so obnoxious. On the
irritation scale, he was second only to Willie Whistle (Remember him? Even
as a child, I would have considered murder just to shut him up.)




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[Linda M. Young]

Post by Uniblab
Ugh, Dale was the worst -- his voiceovers were so obnoxious. On the
irritation scale, he was second only to Willie Whistle (Remember him? Even
as a child, I would have considered murder just to shut him up.)

Yeah, Dale Dorman, the mouth that roared.

But Willie at least provided one of the funniest TV blooper segments of
all time. Showed up on a couple of the NBC blooper shows back in the 80s.

Linda

[Philip Busch]

Post by Just Me

Post by Linda M. Young

Post by Just Me
I miss "Candlepins for Cash" too...

My dad watched CANDLEPIN BOWLING every Saturday till the day he died.
Man, that brings back memories...remember Bozo on WBZ and Dale Dorman
(the world's loudest voice) on Channel 56?
Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

What a great site !
Thanks for keeping the memories alive.
I remember Bozo fondly.
I remember Dale Dorman (unfortunately...)
I wonder if he's still alive...
For still another blast from the past, you might want to check out
Charles Laquidera's "Big Matress" site.
http://bigmattress.com/weblog/
Charles is alive and well, living a life of liesure in Hawaii...
His weblog is current and very interesting...
I bet he'd love your site.
Thanks again.
Peace, --JM

Bozo (Frank Avruch) is still alive, semi-retired and still doing some
voiceovers for WCVB-TV Ch.5 and Dale Dorman is on mornings on WODS
Oldies
103.3 FM.

I am pleasantly shocked that there are quite a few Boston and former
Boston viewers in this newsgroup. IMHO Boston definitely had the best
local tv up until the 1980's.

Phil

[Uniblab]

Post by Philip Busch
I am pleasantly shocked that there are quite a few Boston and former
Boston viewers in this newsgroup. IMHO Boston definitely had the best
local tv up until the 1980's.

Remember "Captain Bob" and "Jabberwocky" on Channel 5? And "Good Day" with
John Willis and Janet Langhart (originally called "Good Morning" until it
was changed so it wouldn't be confused with ABC's new "Good Morning
America"). We were a test market for what eventually became "P.M. Magazine"
in other cities; it was called "Evening Magazine" and was hosted in the
early years by the great team of Robin Young and Marty Sender (who died
tragically a few years ago). Then there was "People Are Talking" with Nancy
Merrill. All the Westinghouse/Group W stations had a local version of
"People Are Talking", and all of them had newscasts called "Eyewitness
News". Remember "Candlepins for Cash" with Bob Gamere"? Remember "The Great
Entertainment" -- broadcasts of vintage movies hosted by Frank Avruch?

Remember when Channel 25 was owned by CBN, had the call letters WXNE, and
picked up all the syndicated rejects that Channels 38 and 56 didn't want.
Remember when Channel 68 was an over-the-air pay service called Starcase?
And when they dropped Starcase, they invested in all kinds of syndicated
programming, which pretty much bombed.

Remember when perennial-third-place Channel 7 got new ownership (the new
channel SE7EN!) and started raiding the other stations' talent? Tom Ellis
and Robin Young were paid record salaries for news anchors to do NEWSE7EN,
which flopped.




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[*com (Dan Lanciani)]

In article <415db0b7$***@corp.newsgroups.com>, ***@uniblab.net (Uniblab) writes:

| Remember when Channel 68 was an over-the-air pay service called Starcase?

I believe the decoder I built is still inside my Betamax SL-7200...

Dan Lanciani
***@danlan.*com

[Linda M. Young]

Post by Uniblab
America"). We were a test market for what eventually became "P.M. Magazine"
in other cities; it was called "Evening Magazine" and was hosted in the
early years by the great team of Robin Young and Marty Sender (who died
tragically a few years ago).

Yeah, we had PM MAGAZINE in Providence. It was great; if you missed one
of the national segments on PM, you could change channels to EVENING
and catch it there. I have their two segments on ST. ELSEWHERE on tape
somewhere.

Post by Uniblab
Remember when Channel 25 was owned by CBN, had the call letters WXNE,

And they cut out all the references to Trelayna's "mind power" in
STAR BLAZERS because those were "tools of the devil"?

Post by Uniblab
Remember when perennial-third-place Channel 7 got new ownership

Heck, I remember when Channel 7 was WNAC (isn't it back to WNAC now or
is that Channel 4?) and Channel 5 was WHDH and Channel 6 was WTEV...

Linda

[Uniblab]

Post by Jorabi
"Jack & Bobby - The WB" wrote ...

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
Anyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!

Yes, I watched it religiously after getting WSBK on cable in 1974.
It was on Sunday nights at 10:30 then. Bill Flynn was the manager
and Dana Hersey was the host. Then Joe Dimino became the manager
and he was followed by Dan Berkery IIRC. I don't know what happened
after that because my cable system dropped WSBK.

After the station was bought by Paramount (it previously had local
ownership), pretty much all the local programming disappeared. The central
management for the Paramount station group pretty much determined
programming acquisitions, and local station managers didn't have much
latitude in determining what would air, only when the centrally-acquired
programs would air.




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[Uniblab]

"Uniblab" <***@uniblab.net> wrote in message news:415b838a$***@corp.newsgroups.com...

By the way, here's a good "Ask the Manager" tribute page, if you're
interested:

http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/gallery/atm.htm




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[Taylor Pratt]

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
Anyone remember this series? The station manager would go on the air
once a month for half an hour (usually the early- Saturday or Sunday
morning timeslot) along w/ another person and would answer questions
about the programming on WSBK and the programming industry in general.
Even gave away ATM coffee mugs! I learned sooooooooooooo much from
this show and this was the PRE-internet days, too (I'm 29)!!! Wish
more stations did a "Ask The Manager"-esque show... but WSBK's
low-budget, highly entertaining version was especially endearing!
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/gallery/atm.htm

lol It's not just random advertising. It's a pretty good source of Ask
The Manager history including stillshots of the hosts from past
episodes. I wonder whatever happened to Meg (LaVigne) and Stu
(Tauber)??? I think they'd be happy to know people enjoyed watching this
show and looked forward to seeing the friendly management week after
week. I had forgotten it's Sunday at 10:30PM airings.

Wonder if anyone's selling ATM shirts, hats and/or coffee mugs on eBay?

ATM coffee mug pic (sorry, no sales):
Loading Image...

[Linda M. Young]

Post by Taylor Pratt
lol It's not just random advertising. It's a pretty good source of Ask
The Manager history including stillshots of the hosts from past
episodes. I wonder whatever happened to Meg (LaVigne) and Stu
(Tauber)???

Last time I heard, Meg was working in Virginia. I THINK Stu has retired,
but I'm not sure.

BTW, that's my web page. I'm glad you like it. :-) I watched ATM from
October of 1980 until the show ended. When I moved to Georgia my mom
would videotape the show for me ever week and then mail me the tapes
when she finished one. The last year or so with Stu was hideously
boring. Yeah, they answered the questions in more depth, but there was
no fun to it any longer. Mostly they pushed the UPN lineup and anything
that wasn't UPN they ignored. I remember the time Stu said BABYLON 5
was only a "cult show" and of course it wasn't anywhere near as good
as STAR TREK: VOYAGER.

The voice of Channel 38 was, of course, the inimitable Dana Hersey.
He left 38 when it became a UPN shill, as Dan Berkery did.

And you're right--the mug and the t-shirt aren't for sale. :-)

Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

[Taylor Pratt]

Linda, you did a first-rate job on your webpage. I thank you for keeping
the spirit alive for all of us who remember it. :-D I agree w/
everything you say. Did you ever think the ATM buzz would start again in
the newsgroups? I'm glad I mentioned it. You never know w/ obscure
television shows and it's worth putting it out there just in case you
have another person say: Yeah, I remember that show.

Post by Linda M. Young

Post by Taylor Pratt
lol It's not just random advertising. It's a pretty good source of Ask
The Manager history including stillshots of the hosts from past
episodes. I wonder whatever happened to Meg (LaVigne) and Stu
(Tauber)???

Last time I heard, Meg was working in Virginia. I THINK Stu has retired,
but I'm not sure.
BTW, that's my web page. I'm glad you like it. :-) I watched ATM from
October of 1980 until the show ended. When I moved to Georgia my mom
would videotape the show for me ever week and then mail me the tapes
when she finished one. The last year or so with Stu was hideously
boring. Yeah, they answered the questions in more depth, but there was
no fun to it any longer. Mostly they pushed the UPN lineup and anything
that wasn't UPN they ignored. I remember the time Stu said BABYLON 5
was only a "cult show" and of course it wasn't anywhere near as good
as STAR TREK: VOYAGER.
The voice of Channel 38 was, of course, the inimitable Dana Hersey.
He left 38 when it became a UPN shill, as Dan Berkery did.
And you're right--the mug and the t-shirt aren't for sale. :-)
Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

[Uniblab]

Post by Taylor Pratt
Linda, you did a first-rate job on your webpage. I thank you for keeping
the spirit alive for all of us who remember it. :-D I agree w/
everything you say. Did you ever think the ATM buzz would start again in
the newsgroups? I'm glad I mentioned it. You never know w/ obscure
television shows and it's worth putting it out there just in case you
have another person say: Yeah, I remember that show.

Yeah -- definitely an excellent site, Linda. The sections devoted to the
other shows are equally as well done. At last, I've found out a place that
details the various (heartbreaking) transitions from master to master on
"Lassie". I never have caught the episode where Timmy abandons her, though.
Probably just as well.




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[KazamaSmokers]

The January shows were always the best, as they made a point to tape
them in succession immediately after the station christmas party, and
they'd do the shows completely looped out of their heads, drinking
"eggnog" the whole time.

Hersey also did a short-lived series called "We Don't Knock" that was
one of the funniest things ever on the air.

Hersey's wife, a lovely women, has worked for many years at Boston's
Channel 5.

[Linda M. Young]

Post by KazamaSmokers
The January shows were always the best, as they made a point to tape
them in succession immediately after the station christmas party, and
they'd do the shows completely looped out of their heads, drinking
"eggnog" the whole time.

Oh, yeah, the Christmas shows were the best. I still have a bunch of
them on tape and I watch 'em every year. Remember "Rudy Cheeks, Rudy
Cheeks, Rudy Cheeks!"

I was depressed the entire weekend after the show where Joe Dimino
left and ATM was temporarily cancelled. Dan finally did work out,
though. I always remember how he was saying "this show has gone to
hell in a handbasket." I have a bumper sticker on my car that I
think of as "the unofficial ATM sticker"--it says "Where am I going
and what am I doing in this handbasket?"

Post by KazamaSmokers
Hersey also did a short-lived series called "We Don't Knock" that was
one of the funniest things ever on the air.

My mom taped one of those for me. It was the one where Dana was on the
train. If I kept it I have no idea where it got off to. I wish I'd
seen all of them.

Post by KazamaSmokers
Hersey's wife, a lovely women, has worked for many years at Boston's
Channel 5.

Didn't know that. Gad. Foster and Amanda [Hersey's kids, whose pics he
showed on ATM occasionally] must be in their 20s now or close to it.
I remember him talking about Fos in the crank-up baby swing!

God, I miss all those guys...

Linda
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/televisionindex.htm

[Moviezzz]

Post by Jack & Bobby - The WB
http://www.flyingdreams.org/tv/gallery/atm.htm

What a great site!!! Thanks for the link!!

I was also a big fan, watching the Sunday night shows every week, back in the
Dan and Dana days. Really learned a lot, even though at times it seemed Dan
didn't want to answer any letters and kept goofing around.

Learned a lot about TV as well, about how films were acquired and all of that.

Thanks for reminding me of it. Haven't thought about it in a long time.