 Back in my college days my friend Tony Guiden and I sat around dreaming of the day when we would be out of school and working full time as some sort of journalist or communications professional. I didn't know where I would end up, but I had a pretty good idea that Tony would be wildly successful. Why? Tony worked hard and was very intelligent. Did I say that he also had that TV personality handsome look, and a great radio voice!  I vividly recall on one of our silly laughing days that we both agreed that we would go ahead and give each other our autographs so that when we became famous, we would own a real piece history. Then we burst out laughing! As fate would have it, I got a job at KATV - Channel Seven in Little Rock, an ABC television network affiliate, and Tony got a job in radio news. I didn't see him much after we graduated but I did hear him on the radio when it was news time! What an amazing voice. I vividly recall on one of our silly laughing days that we both agreed that we would go ahead and give each other our autographs so that when we became famous, we would own a real piece history. Then we burst out laughing! As fate would have it, I got a job at KATV - Channel Seven in Little Rock, an ABC television network affiliate as a news photographer, and Tony got a job at job radio news. I didn't see him much after we graduated but I did hear him on the radio when it was news time! What an amazing talent. And again, his voice! In the early 80's local affiliate TV station news departments may have been in their heyday. From the early 50's through the 60's most of the nation relied more on network news for national news and local newspapers for local happenings. During the 70's the local TV stations started chipping away at the revenues of the stalwart newspapers and what emerged were local "talking heads" that had news and WEATHER. I remember so many times when everybody in the house had to be quiet because the weather was coming on. Some people lived and died with their scheduled news coming across the airwaves. Local TV personalities also started to emerge as community leaders, not because of their astute abilities and knowledge as leaders, but because they were small-time celebrities. I worked with way to many celebrity wanna-bees than I care to remember. To a local small market reporter the only thing lower than an intern was a photographer. I happen to be both. Luckily not at the same time. Needless to say there was a high rate of turnover among reporters coming and going. The really talented ones left for bigger markets and more money, while many others left for the other station in town seeking more exposure and celebrity. Outside of directors and management it was often the photographers who were the longest standing members of the newsroom. Because of that it fell upon us veterans (of maybe 12-18 months) that the job of training the news reporters fell upon the photographers. Because the news director knew he would be losing another staff member at some time right around the corner he was always on the hunt for the next reporter. I knew this when my friend Tony Guiden was planning on leaving his job at the radio station and moving back to his hometown area in Virginia. Knowing we were low staffed I knocked on the door of the news director, and after hearing him say, "come on in," I saw he was in a meeting with the assignment editor. I offered to come back later but he kindly insisted that I tell him what I needed. I proceeded to tell him about my friend Tony and started listing all his virtues. He stopped me during my third bullet point and said, "Call him, and see when he can come and meet with me. If he's half as good as what you just told me, I want him!" The fact is Tony was twice as good as what I just told him. I quickly called Tony. Assuming I was calling to wish him farewell he told me he was all packed and leave in the morning - headed home. I then said, "Wait! Unpack that suit and tie and be here in the morning for an interview as a TV news reporter!" The next morning was a Friday and Tony looked as handsome as ever, naturally polite, even charming, as I introduced him to the news director and assignment editor. I left him to carry on with my duties and asked them when they were finished to bring Tony to me so I could walk him out and say goodbye. When he appeared at my editing station he reached out and gave me a big-ole-college-buddy-bear-hug, and said, "You now what I need to go do now?" Before I could respond, he said, "I've got to drive..... BACK to my apartment and unpack! I start Monday!" Then we burst out laughing! In the Spring of '80, Assignment Editor, Bob Steel, sent the only two Harding graduates on the staff, me and Tony Guiden, to the Harding campus to cover a story on the construction update for the Benson Auditorium. We interviewed then President Cliff Ganus for the 6:00 o'clock news, gathered all of the B-Roll we needed and headed back to Little Rock so the story could air that same day at 6:00 o'clock. But the best part of that assignment was on our way to and from Searcy, Tony and I were almost giddy about two buddies from college now working together in our first real big-boy jobs as a news reporter and photographer. On our back to the station he asked... "Do you want my autograph now?" Then we burst out laughing! One more thing - Take another look at that camera on my shoulder in the photo above. It was a CP-16. When I started at KATV in the late 70's all we used was 16mm motion picture film, as it was known then Newsreel film. After shooting the news reel t had to be developed in photographic chemicals, physically cut and spliced together, and very often had to have a separate soundtrack produced and laid down beside it in order for it to make a complete story. When I moved on just five years later all the news videographers used was 3/4" video cassette tape. In the early 90's my friends and former KATV colleagues, Larry Foley, and Tim Hamilton came to Chicago to spend a day or two visiting me so we could catch some baseball games and local sites. While there, we visited the Broadcast Museum of Communication. Stop! There it was. On display. Under glass. As a relic of history, a CP-16! Made me feel old. I loved that old news camera. I wish I had a photo of that display. But here's a picture of another CP16. -30- 
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