When you see the headline, 15 Massachusetts Beloved TV Personalities That You’ve Grown Up With, what names immediately come to mind? Chet and Nat? Who can forget Bob Lobel appearing in the Jimmy Fallon movie, Fever Pitch?
With the recent anniversary of The Blizzard of 78, memories of Boston‘s TV news and weather people came flying back! When you think walls of snow, does the name Shelby Scott come to mind? Weatherman Bruce Schwoegler was so famous, they even referenced him on Saturday Night Live!
Not All Were From TV News!
Some of the BIGGEST local TV stars didn’t report the news, sports or weather. Boston TV was rich with kids shows! I won’t spoil it for you. You’ll have to read on! The rock stars of our childhood TV’s brought us the good news of a no school, snow day, and sometimes the sad news, that we were too young to understand. Some, even rode horses! While they were bigger than life, they seemed like our friends.
Meeting Your Heroes
There’s an old saying: never meet your heroes. According to the myth, you end up disappointed meeting your heroes. That’s not the case here in Boston. Every time I met a local hero, they lived UP to their bigger than life, TV persona. For example, I got to meet and interview the amazing Jack Williams, the now retired news anchor of WBZ-TV Channel 4. The in-person, Jack, was as kind, friendly and genuine as the on TV, Jack, was. Same goes for Dana Hersey, the wonderful host of TV-38’s Movie Loft. I was lucky enough to interview him on my radio show back in the 80’s. When he walked in the office, it was like a rock star entered the building. But, was Dana so kind and polite, and made me feel like he was the lucky one to meet us.
So grab the clunky remote, and let’s take the ride to remember the 15 Massachusetts Beloved TV Personalities You’ve Grown Up With! But beware: close your office door, this may take awhile!
Thanks to Old School Boston on Twitter for sharing some of these amazing memories!