We sent Steve LaRosa to dinner with on-air power couple Dave Walker and Lois Hart. They dished about a menu of topics.
Steve La Rosa: How long have you been married?
Dave Walker: In 2009, it will be 30 years.
SL: How did the romance start?
Lois Hart: I can’t remember. It was 30 years ago.
DW: I remember…We’d go over to the Pepper Mill that used to be on Arden. I remember thinking that she was gorgeous and sweet and that I was going to marry that girl. Lois was in the middle of her feminist rage at the time. It took a year and a half. We did live in sin for a little bit.
SL: On the air, you two have an engaging chemistry and a rhythm, despite being married. Did you study Sonny and Cher?
LH: Funny you should say that…our dogs are named Sonny and Bear.
DW: (Our on-air repartee) started because we both loved and hated certain movies. People found it refreshing and engaging. So, we decided, let’s just be ourselves. If you like us, great. If you don’t, that’s OK. We bicker as most normal couples do…on and off the air.
SL: Who pursued whom?
DW: I pursued Lois. She had a boyfriend in San Jose. I never understood that, when I was right here! (To Lois) You married me to be the co-anchor…
SL: Who’s smoother – Dave or McLovin? (of “Superbad” fame.)
LH: Dave, by a hundred times! When he asked me to marry him, we were planning a vacation. He said, how would you like to make it our honeymoon?
DW: I proposed at the Emmy Awards. I just wanted to get out of there. We were nominated… lost again. And I thought, well, I’m going to get something out of this. LH: And I hate to admit that I loved that movie (“Superbad”). Our nephews put it on at Christmas… it was hilarious.
DW: Though I dress a little worse than he did.
SL: Where did you get married?
DW: At a home on the Garden Highway at the friend of a friend’s. We’ve tried to locate the place since then, but we can’t find it now.
SL: Where was your honeymoon?
DW: Vancouver. We almost missed the train in Sacramento. I literally grabbed Lois by the waist and tossed her onto the train and asked the guy if this was the train to Vancouver?
SL: So you could have ended up in Redding or something?
DW: Could have…or Mexico…it was pointed west toward San Francisco. I was betting it would hang a right when it hit the coast, and it did. After Vancouver, we took the train to Bampf.
SL: Was it an experience that poets spend lifetimes trying to describe? Enquiring minds want to know.
DW: Yeah, Shakespeare couldn’t have handled it.
SL: First job in broadcasting?
LH: Traffic manager at a radio station in Salinas.
DW: WBGC radio, in the Golden Triangle, Florida…Bonifay, Chipley and Graceville. I did news, the farm report, played some Lawrence Welk, sold advertising to fertilizer companies, cemeteries and funeral parlors for $10 to $15 a spot.
SL: Wow, nice commission, huh?
DW: Yeah, and the station was so cheap, they would single space the AP wire copy to save money and use the flip side to write commercial copy.
SL: Too bad this didn’t make it in time for our “green” issue. Sounds like you were green before green was green…and you were a DJ!
DW: You betcha. The first time I heard myself on tape I said, “Oh my God, I sound like Gomer Pyle!” I was shocked.
SL: How about other jobs?
LH: I waitressed through college.
DW: I was a soda jerk. Just a jerk now. Mowed lawns. Slopped hot asphalt on roofs. Hardest job was working on a fishing boat.
SL: In the Gulf?
DW: Yeah. I wore the same t-shirt and jeans every day…couldn’t get the fish smell out.
SL: Did the chicks dig you?
DW: Didn’t bother after awhile…
SL: You or them?
DW: Both. My fragrance preceded me…
SL: You two were the first anchor team that launched CNN…was it a high-wire act without a net at first?
DW: Yes. It was the “monumental” debut of the first 24-hour cable news network.
LH: We anchored the first hour.
DW: We had five producers, each giving different instructions. There were huge discussions as to whether I would introduce myself as Dave or David.
LH: Up until the minute we were going to sign on, people were debating, “How should we intro this momentous occasion?”
SL: So what happened?
LH: We said, I’m Lois Hart, I’m Dave Walker, and we went on. Ted Turner had a band playing “Nearer My God To Thee,” which was being recorded. In the event of a nuclear war, that performance was to be broadcast from a bunker Turner had constructed in Tennessee.
SL: So, Ted’s supposition was that we’d all be holding hands, sitting in front of our TVs, watching CNN as the bombs were falling?!?
DW: & LH: Yes.
SL: Leaves the “Bluebird of Happiness” fans out in the cold.
DW: At one point during the broadcast, we had to literally break into a reporter’s live cut-in, in the middle of his sentence, because we were losing the satellite window. Just before we came back to the studio, an angry producer told us, “Tell them (the viewers) that ABC f____ed us!”
SL: In the earlier part of your careers, what was the rep of KCRA and the Sacramento market?
LH: Huge. That’s why I went there. (From Channel 13)
DW: Back when I was at 13, there was one rating period where we squeaked out a win over Channel 3. It was like beating the Russians in the Cold War.
SL: Ever learn anything useful from consultants and do you pine for the days of entrepreneurial owners, like Jon Kelly?
LH: Yes and Yes.
DW: No and Yes. One consultant who studied our tapes said I should part my hair on the other side. That was the sum and substance of his recommendations.
SL: Excluding “Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy”, what’s the closest Hollywood ever came to capturing the newsroom experience?
LH: “Broadcast News.” Holly Hunter, playing the producer, says to William Hurt, the anchorman, “Do you want permission to be lazy or ignorant?” That resonated because of the stereotype of TV news people being more interested in TV than news.
DW: It goes to the constant argument of news versus entertainment value. Will it attract an audience? It’s been ongoing since the beginning. You have to do a little of both. And, by the way, you definitely can’t do the IFB thing they did in the movie (with the producer constantly talking to you in your earpiece – and read the news at the same time).
SL: What has been the impact of the FCC deregulation of broadcasters – prime time access,
local programming, minority programming?
LH: The debate is less relevant in the Internet age. Even two years ago, the argument over cross ownership (meaning the multiple ownership of media in the same market) was more relevant because the model is changing so fast.
DW: They (the FCC) used to hold us more accountable to serving the community. They still do, but behind the ownership issue, economically… for the broadcasters to survive was consolidation. It’s questionable whether duopolies are even effective.
SL: Is the Golden Age of local broadcasting over?
LH: Yes.
DW: Yes. All three of us worked in a time when there were three or four stations in a market with huge ratings and profit margins of 50 percent or more. Loved every moment, but don’t pine for them. This is a legacy station that set the standard for broadcast journalism. Praise be to Bob Kelly, the soul and visionary who realized more than 60 years ago that news would make KCRA distinctive and much to Jon’s delight made a lot of money. But it’s a much more competitive environment and local ownership is now a thing of the past.
LH: They refer to KCRA as a legacy station.
DW: You won’t see those ratings or shares anymore.
LH: No Weeknight. (KCRA’s groundbreaking magazine program) No feature reporters. Our reporting staff is smaller than it used to be.
DW: (Jon) Kelly would try just about anything.
LH: There was more experimentation. Now it’s driven by…it’s more risk averse.
DW: Broadcasting, by nature is a conservative business. It’s a profit making business. The luxury was…because profits were larger, you could be bolder and experiment more. Weeknight was great stuff.
SL: Brag about each other – an achievement or talent that each would be too humble or embarrassed to mention?
LH: Dave played baseball…hardball, not softball, till he was 60.
DW: Lois did two mini-triathlons in her early 50s. And on the bicycle portion, she got a flat and kept going.
LH: Cautionary tale-changing a tire without glasses is challenging.
SL: Favorite anecdote or biggest faux pas you witnessed in broadcasting?
LH: Back at CNN, the anchor was listening to an American hostage in Iran speaking via satellite to his wife, when the hostage pleaded, “Please feed the birds.” The anchor announced to camera, “Obviously, he wants to call in an air strike.”
SL: With no irony or humorous intent?
LH: No, the co-anchor froze in silence.
SL: Reminiscent of Mike Myers’ frozen stare when Kanye West called out President Bush…
DW: Another incident…involving the President of CNN…as the hostages were being released by Iran. At that moment we were taking live coverage of Irish TV discussing the release. All of a sudden they went to a commercial, then cut from the middle of the commercial back to us, live, as the lumbering President of CNN was rushing to the desk, screaming (in reference to the Irish commercial announcer) “Get that prime asshole off the air!”
LH: (On another occasion) We were in a break (off the air), making fun of another anchor team who used to sign off, saying “Enjoy!” (Emphasis on the second syllable) Unbeknownst to Dave, we came back live, just as he was mimicking the anchors, addressing me gleefully, “Up Yours!” (Emphasis on the second word)
SL: Surprising interview?
DW: Robert Teller, inventor of the H-bomb… interviewed him in the late 60s or early 70s. It was like interviewing Dr. Strangelove. He had been over-served.
SL: Hah?
DW: The inventor of the H-bomb was drunk on set.
LH: Sylvester Stallone had to be shot from a certain side. Peter O’Toole was drunk. The most fun was Pavarotti. He was so large he had to bring in his own chair. He was full of life. Radiant.
SL: Ever a story so sad or tragic that you had to hand it off?
DW: No, but I was on a story and I had to step outside the home of a family whose daughter had been taken away to Europe by her father. At the time, they didn’t know her whereabouts and the mother was in such anguish that it really got to me.
SL: Hero that you got to meet or interview?
LH: Pavarotti and Beverly Sills. Each takes your breath away when you hear them sing. They both were fabulous, gracious, lovely people.
DW: Yeah. Mickey Mantle. I grew up in an age when he was Superman. He had his failures. He was heroic for admitting to them.
SL: Ever throw down with a politician?
LH: Yes. It was on YouTube. It was Doug Ose defending John Doolittle. I asked him the same question twice. I felt he hadn’t answered and I was going to pin him down.
DW: Leonard Padilla. I asked him if he was more concerned about the homeless or running for mayor.
SL: Speaking of throwing down, you're throwing up in the picture...oranges that is. Are you adept at juggling?
DW: No, I can only juggle one item at a time.
SL: You're standing in front of the fridge. What's in there?
DW: Nothing that Lois ever cooks.
SL: Why did you return to Sacramento?
LH: It was a good opportunity…a good job. It was kind of home to us.
DW: 18 years at KCRA, five at KOVR. It’s a beautiful city…has a very mid-western feel to it. We were gone for 10 years and when we got back, people would come up on the street and say “Hi,” like it was just two weeks.
SL: How many tattoos do you have and of what?
DW: None. Just piercings.
SL: Dave, I borrowed this from Playboy…what are your turn ons and turn offs and you can’t say puppies and rude people…
LH: Too bad…puppies would be right up there.
DW: Turn ons…newspapers, baseball and yes, puppies. Turn offs…fog and cold weather. SL: What do you two do for kicks?
LH: Play with our shih tzus, bicycling and golf.
SL: Favorite dive?
DW: The Torch Club and the Virgin Sturgeon… well, it’s not really a dive, it’s a great restaurant.
SL: Unknown talent?
DW: I’m a great guitar player. (Lois laughs.) Well, I think so.
SL: Really, what kind of music do you play?
DW: A friend and I in our college days played guitar. We performed for an elementary school. I remember looking out upon a sea of blank faces as we were belting out “Froggy Went a-Courtin.” No expressions. I decided at that moment, if we can’t get sixth graders revved up, this didn’t bode well for our folk singing careers.
SL: Oh yeah, the folk music scare of the 60s…
LH: I’m a good scrabble player.
SL: When you two retire from this line of work, what would be your next dream job?
DW: I think more in term of things that interest me…being a professional student…or being a guitar player for a hot band…or working in the White House or for a presidential candidate. I’m fascinated with politics and policy.
LH: Torch singer…or public interest lobbying.
SL: Really?!? What’s your favorite torch song?
LH: “Since I Fell For You.”
DW: She was a backup singer in high school for Candy and the Sweet Teeth.
SL: Wow. She must have great flossing habits.
DW: I constantly have to remind her. We’ll be in a nice conversation at dinner and I’ll hand her the floss.
SL: LuxLife extravagance?
LH: First class travel. A year ago, a friend invited us on her yacht, which she co-owned with (TV’s) Judge Judy. We got to fly home on Judy’s Gulfstream 10. It was the most unbelievable experience I’ve ever had.
DW: It was fun. Not something we strive for.
LH: He likes it.
SL: The question on everyone’s mind – Is Mike “Blue Canyon” Teselle on the news director’s list or is he an Eskimo?
DW: Mike is getting therapy for that and we’re all supportive of that in the newsroom. So far it’s not working.
SL: Thank you for your candor and good humor. Looking back, we appear to have had a discussion that, strangely, steered heavily toward doggies, romance, bombs and a Yossarian-like behind the scenes look at broadcasting, which seems fitting, because he was a bombardier. What do we conclude from all this?
DW: We conclude that we have been blessed, that life is serendipitous, a banquet that you take a big bite out of every day.
