CITY BEAT: PERSONAL MEMORIES OF WTVP, WAND-TV
Paul Osborne
Editor/Publisher
Doug Quick’s “Scrapbook’ story about the rocky start of WTVP in Decatur on pages 4 and 5 of this edition, brought back a lot of memories of my contact with the station over the years —first as WTVP and after February, 1966, as WAND-TV. My first experience with WTVP was in the mid-1950s, only a few years after it came on the air, when several of us from Roosevelt Junior High School were able to sit in on some of the programming at the station — and also ask questions.
One of the students embarrassed all of us by intentionally referring to one of the WTVP personalities by a name that offended him when the student, with a big smile, asked him a question.
It was about that time that local churches were given free air time to present programs with the congregations being rotated so those participating would have a program every once-in-a-while.
I made my tv speaking debut at WTVP on one of the church programs but I don’t remember too much more about it — since it was a lifetime ago.
I do know that it was something really special back then for church members to be able to sing and speak on television — even though it was black and white and most people had “rabbit ears” or outside antennas to pick up the signal.
As a teenager, I always enjoyed watching the locally-produced programming in-cluding the old-time horror movies with host Bill Cecil on Friday nights and the teenage dance party from the WTVP studio on Saturday nights.
• AFTER I became editor of this newspaper, WAND News Director Dick Westbrook, who I had met when he was news director at WDZ when I was on that station, invited me to be a panelist interviewing some political figures on some of the news programming.
Years later, after being elected Decatur’s mayor I had regular scheduled interviews at the station for several years to update viewers on what was happening in city government.
I have been blessed with newspaper, television and radio involvement over the years and I’ve always enjoyed working in all forms of media.
Many of you may remember my GE Cablevision daily news show in the 1970s and my “Newsline” daily news show that ran on WFHL-TV 23 in the 1980s and early 1990s. (I built a tv show production studio at our newspaper offices on South Park from which to do the show in the 1990s.)
You may also remember the “Thoughts for Today” program that I wrote and presented on WDZ in the 1960s and, in the 1970s, I was on WDZ’s Hotline Show with Lois Howlett every Thursday morning for several years. My radio involvement continues today on WSOY’s Byers & Co., where I’ve been the 7:00 a.m. City Hall Insider guest for the last 21 years — and counting.
Whether it has been working on the Decatur Tribune, public speaking engagements, or appearing on radio and television, I’ve always enjoyed the experiences and the people I’ve met, and worked with, along the way.
Many of them continue to be subscribers to this newspaper even though most of them no longer live in Decatur.
51 YEARS AGO! This photo shows my first television show at GE Cablevision’s station at North Water and Grand Avenue in Decatur in 1973. (That’s me on the left, looking much younger and slimmer.) RCC’s Winfield Scott is in the other chair. The show was broadcast live and people could call the number in the background and be put on the air. It wasn’t as sophisticated as today’s call-in programs. We had to use the phone on the table and people were immediately put on the air with no delay. We didn’t have any “call screener”. Callers who apparently had too much to drink would call in, along with wrong number calls and some real nasty characters — all live for the viewers’ “enjoyment”. The only way to stop someone who wouldn’t shut up or used foul language was to hang-up on them and then smile at the camera. One night, when I was interviewing the controversial State Rep. A. Webber Borchers of Decatur, who was sitting in the chair at right, he and a caller started arguing and when I tried to mediate the “debate”, Borchers got up from his chair, walked over to the camera and stuck his face about 5 inches in front of it and told the caller: “I think you are crazier than a bed bug! What do you think about THAT?” I’ve often wondered what kind of a reaction there was from people who were switching channels and were suddenly confronted by Borchers’ face filling their television screen!
• CONGRATS! While I’m on the subject of radio and television programming, congratulations to WAND-TV’s Sean Streaty who is celebrating 30 years at the station.
Sean Streaty
I’ve known Sean since he was at WSOY and we are fortunate that he has remained at WAND-TV over the years.
Watching the local news would definitely not be the same without him.
• OUCH!!! Illinoisans paid the second-highest property tax rate in the nation in 2022!
According to the Illinois Policy Institute, “the typical Illinois homeowner paid about $5,055 in property taxes – more than homeowners in any other Midwest state and more than double the typical American homeowner’s $2,457 bill, according to the most recent census data for 2022. “Illinois homeowners paid more in median property taxes in 2022 than the typical homeowner in Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina – combined.”
In Macon County, the average increase in property tax between 2018 and 2022 was 17% or a $375 annual increase on average.
Based on comments from some of our readers, Macon County’s real estate taxes have gone up even more in 2023-24.
However, data is not yet available for the two most recent years.
• JUST IN case we have a few drivers out there who don’t recognize what the wide white lines at a stop sign or traffic signal mean — they form the area where pedestrians walk across the street!!!
I’ve noticed a huge number of drivers at most intersections in town stopping their cars atop the designated pedestrian walkways.
Maybe those drivers should cut the above photo out of the Tribune and tape it to their dash — so they will know a pedestrian walkway the next time they are see one.
• I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. every Thursday morning at 7:00 for the City Hall Insider.
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