1991 Weekend Crew Windom Memorial

On January 25th, 2007 KTVB lost one of their best switchers and master control operators. Judy Windom was tragically murdered, her 16 year old son entered a guilty plea for the slaying.
Judy was one of the most reliable and harderst workers of the operation. She worked the toughest shifts signing the station on every Saturday and Sunday at 5-am. She was never late and never complained and was always cheerful and smiling. She worked her way through BSU getting a Special Ed degree and paid her own way while raising two kids.

I remember the weekend she graduated and how proud she was...We got video of her at commencement and ran it on the weekend news. After getting her degree she concentrated on teaching and left KTVB and we missed her, we still do.

1991 Newsroom Liveshot

At KTVB the end of a long work day was always capped by a liveshot or newsroom. Sometimes the exhaustion was unbearable, you rush all day for your 1:10 of glory, and god forbid if you stumble on a word! On this day I made the deadline with 4 vsots a Pkg and a newsroom, I delivered the story and nailed the liveshot, it was a perfect day. After the newsroom its back to the desk for the rewrites...I never figured out why the anchors couldnt help out...they only do a fraction of the work...but then I remembered the 3 hour lunch break and it all makes sense.

Lowman Firestorm

It was a hot Saturday back in July of 1989. Tom Hadzor and I had just finished working the dayshift when we heard the anguished cries over the scanner calling for fire engines and hand crews, as many as posible. It was the big Lowman blowup, it was ominous, in the fire world it was Big Wednesday. We broadcast emergency announcements urging people to evacuate the town.

Hadzor had been promoted to photographer just the week before but I knew this guy had talent. I asked him if he was up to a night on the fireline and we drove into the jaws of the fire. We made it through the first 3 roadblocks but then the firestorm hit and the only traffic moving was coming from Lowman. We spiked out at the basecamp and talked to firefighters coming in off the lines they were spooked saying the storm packed high winds and 40 foot flames.
The PIO's promised a shot at first light, they said they had shut and pulled all firefighters out of Lowman.

We slept under a water truck that night, the only reporters at Morris Creek Summit...all other media was stuck in Idaho City. When we got into Lowman we couldnt believe the destruction....everything was flattened. Dead cows and horses were strewn about but there were no fatalities. Our story was an exclusive and John Patterson booked a Sat truck for us, this was my first satellite live and it went well.