When I was a kid in KC (Independence, Lee's Summit: theater, high school)

[PVPete]

There were five commercial TV stations. WDAF was an NBC affiliate. KSHB was an independent channel, later affiliated with FOX when FOX first started. KSMO was an independent movie channel.

WDAF had Phil Witt and Cynthia Smith as anchors. Dan Henry was the affable weather man. Frank Boal on sports. Kevin Kietzman was a little known third string sports guy that did Saturday nights IIRC.

KCTV had Wendell Anschutz and Anne Petersen. I had a crush on Anne Petersen. Mike Thompson did weather, but Fred Broski was the weekend guy. I remember Broski was the host of the KCTV5 New Year's bash at the Hyatt, and he always had split pea soup at midnight. Jack Harry and Don Fortune did sports with BIG BOARD SPORTS which was something. I think Harry did play-by-play for KC Comets games too which were taped delayed on KCTV5.

KMBC had Larry Moore of course, with Laurie Everett. Bryan Busby just got there. Len Dawson did sports with Dave Stewart on the weekends.

Denny Trease and Paul Splitorff were the Royals TV guys, with about 40 games a year (only road games) televised on WDAF. Some times, they'd have to pre-empt NBC programming, which would make people mad, even if it was a Cosby Show re-run.

The Royals played at Royals Stadium, which had orange seats and artificial turf that was unbearably hot in July. Dan Quisenberry would take a hose and spray people in right field from the bullpen. Right field was general admission and only $5. The Royals were perennial contenders. The Chiefs were always expected to be awful.

Going to Crown Center was a big deal. That was "downtown" to us (we lived in eastern Jackson County) My parents got dressed up to go out to dinner, and when they did, they went to somewhere like V's Italian Ristorante. Blue Ridge Theater was where we saw movies, unless we went to I-70 Drive-In.

My dad worked by Union Station and used to eat lunch by there and watch parts of the ceiling fall to the ground.

I had no concept of the Kansas side, other than Royals radio ads with Kurt Stillwell advertising "come to the park - Overland Park." I imagined it all as farmland.

When I started reading the paper, I read Gib Twyman, Jonathan Rand, and Jeffrey Flanagan in the Sports section. I started listening to sports radio. There was one station - 980 KMBZ, and they only had sports talk for 3 hours a day with John Doolittle.

Anyway, that is my walk down memory lane.

[CrownVic95]

I remember just about all those names.

I'll never forget running into Cynthia Smith at DFW on 11/22/83. I remember the date because it marked 20 years since the JFK assassination and she had flown down that day to do a special piece from Dallas because she had lived there at the time. I was coming back from business in Albuquerque and had a connection at DFW. We rode back on the same horrific (weather) Delta flight and I had a nice chat with her as we waited for luggage at KCI.

I ran into several other media/sports personalities around town as well in the 80s. Don Fortune, Mike Thompson, Danny Jackson, Muhammad Ali, among them.

I also remember in about 1976 there was a new kid in town named Jeff Christie who had a talk radio show on one of the local stations. A dozen or so years later that familiar voice was heard nationally as Rush Limbaugh.

[luzianne]

I still see Anne Peterson around. She shops at the same grocery store I do.

And I remember all of the people you mention other than some of the sports ones, because I never did read or listen to sports news too much. I watched sports, just not sports news.

A lot of the people you mention are still around. I wonder what ever happened to Laurie Everett? I was wondering that recently when Larry Moore semi-retired. I know she was going to travel with her husband, but never heard anything about her after that. I remember her saying at the time that she and her husband liked to travel and they didn't care about having a nice house, etc.; that they would rather spend the money on travel than on a house.

Another one - Don Fortune. Anybody remember him? Edit - just saw that CrownVic mentioned Don Fortune. I went to college with Don Fortune's niece. Her name was Fortunato and said he shortened his name for TV.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I still see Anne Peterson around. She shops at the same grocery store I do.

And I remember all of the people you mention other than some of the sports ones, because I never did read or listen to sports news too much. I watched sports, just not sports news.

A lot of the people you mention are still around. I wonder what ever happened to Laurie Everett? I was wondering that recently when Larry Moore semi-retired. I know she was going to travel with her husband, but never heard anything about her after that. I remember her saying at the time that she and her husband liked to travel and they didn't care about having a nice house, etc.; that they would rather spend the money on travel than on a house.

Another one - Don Fortune. Anybody remember him? Edit - just saw that CrownVic mentioned Don Fortune. I went to college with Don Fortune's niece. Her name was Fortunato and said he shortened his name for TV.

I and a few of my coworkers went to lunch one day at Wendy's - just off I-35 at 87th? We walked in and there he was sitting at a table having lunch wearing those notorious glasses. Did a double take, of course. It's always cool when something like that happens.

[Okey Dokie]

Anne Petersen is doing commercials for John Knox Village, and she still looks great. I remember one April Fools' Day when the Johnson County Sun (I think) ran a front page story that she and George Brett were engaged.

There's a group on Facebook, "Things and Places we Loved in greater KC when we were much younger" that is very active and covers the whole metro area. Fun to check out.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

Anne Petersen is doing commercials for John Knox Village, and she still looks great. I remember one April Fools' Day when the Johnson County Sun (I think) ran a front page story that she and George Brett were engaged.

There's a group on Facebook, "Things and Places we Loved in greater KC when we were much younger" that is very active and covers the whole metro area. Fun to check out.

I don't remember that store, but I can just imagine!

But I thought everyone knew Anne Peterson was married. Her husband is a dentist, but she kept her maiden name instead of taking his name.

[Okey Dokie]

This was long ago, before she was married, and before GB was married.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

This was long ago, before she was married, and before GB was married.

Ah. I don't remember her before she was married. I mean, I probably saw her then and just didn't know. The first I really paid attention to her at all is when she and Wendell were on together and she was pregnant.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by PVPete

There were five commercial TV stations. WDAF was an NBC affiliate. KSHB was an independent channel, later affiliated with FOX when FOX first started. KSMO was an independent movie channel.

WDAF had Phil Witt and Cynthia Smith as anchors. Dan Henry was the affable weather man. Frank Boal on sports. Kevin Kietzman was a little known third string sports guy that did Saturday nights IIRC.

KCTV had Wendell Anschutz and Anne Petersen. I had a crush on Anne Petersen. Mike Thompson did weather, but Fred Broski was the weekend guy. I remember Broski was the host of the KCTV5 New Year's bash at the Hyatt, and he always had split pea soup at midnight. Jack Harry and Don Fortune did sports with BIG BOARD SPORTS which was something. I think Harry did play-by-play for KC Comets games too which were taped delayed on KCTV5.

KMBC had Larry Moore of course, with Laurie Everett. Bryan Busby just got there. Len Dawson did sports with Dave Stewart on the weekends.

Denny Trease and Paul Splitorff were the Royals TV guys, with about 40 games a year (only road games) televised on WDAF. Some times, they'd have to pre-empt NBC programming, which would make people mad, even if it was a Cosby Show re-run.

The Royals played at Royals Stadium, which had orange seats and artificial turf that was unbearably hot in July. Dan Quisenberry would take a hose and spray people in right field from the bullpen. Right field was general admission and only $5. The Royals were perennial contenders. The Chiefs were always expected to be awful.

Going to Crown Center was a big deal. That was "downtown" to us (we lived in eastern Jackson County) My parents got dressed up to go out to dinner, and when they did, they went to somewhere like V's Italian Ristorante. Blue Ridge Theater was where we saw movies, unless we went to I-70 Drive-In.

My dad worked by Union Station and used to eat lunch by there and watch parts of the ceiling fall to the ground.

I had no concept of the Kansas side, other than Royals radio ads with Kurt Stillwell advertising "come to the park - Overland Park." I imagined it all as farmland.

When I started reading the paper, I read Gib Twyman, Jonathan Rand, and Jeffrey Flanagan in the Sports section. I started listening to sports radio. There was one station - 980 KMBZ, and they only had sports talk for 3 hours a day with John Doolittle.

Anyway, that is my walk down memory lane.

While I remember most of the new celebrity names you mentioned, no way could I have just listed them all like that. You must have some memory!

I think we grew up in the same era. KC Royals right field GA. Those were the days! Cool Crest, cruising Noland Road, Worlds of Fun, Blue Ridge Mall and theater. What was that cafeteria in the lower level of Blue Ridge Mall?

I pretty much grew up in the city, but we moved to the Raytown area (SKC) during high school and then back to Brookside after that. The only reason we ever went to Kansas was to go to Malibu Grand Prix in Lenexa. Growing up so close to KS, I had no idea about anything on the KS side. I too though it was just open land, and compared to today, it basically was. 435 in KS looked like it does up by the airport.

We used to "road trip" out to Lee's Summit to the "country" and going to StL seemed like the only other thing to do when bored with KC.

Looking back, KC was a simple place back then.

[PVPete]

Cruising Noland Road, LOL. Wow, that is a memory.

I remember Fall Fun Fest in Blue Springs, apple picking at Stephenson's Farm in Independence, eating at Gino Schiraldi's pizza place, hanging out at Independence Center, playing baseball at Pink Hill Park. I remember Guns and Roses and Michael Jackson playing at Arrowhead Stadium (not at the same time!). I remember Randy Miller was the area DJ who kept getting fired and bouncing from station to station because of his pranks. I remember Q104 was the Top 40 station for a bit that I would listen to, then I got upset when they switched to a country format.

When I was older my parents moved to Kansas. 119th was about the furthest south anything was developed. 127th went down to one lane where you'd have to stop and let the opposite car pass over a small bridge. I remember getting lost once and reaching the end of Shawnee Mission Parkway, probably around where Quivera is now. My dad worked at Sprint on their campus in Fairway. The Border War back then meant Roy Williams vs. Norm Stewart.