Almost anything was likely to pop up on air in the early days of KBDI-Channel 12, one of two local public-television stations.
Mostly, one local TV critic said in 1984, four years after the station’s founding, “programming featured nothing but the station’s founding fathers traipsing and clowning in front of the cameras.”
There were regular – and low-cost – programs, of course,such epics as “Teletunes,” a rock-videos show; “Home Movies,” which was exactly what its title implies, and “Who’s Taking the Heat,” a show about energy-conservation.
They all will be there when the station celebrates a quarter of a century on air at 9 tonight with “KBDI: 25 Years of Colorado Public Television,” an affectionate and slightly zany one-hour look back. It repeats at 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Housed in various buildings in Broomfield and Denver (including, briefly, an abandoned Safeway store), KBDI was founded in February 1980, the brainchild of John Schwartz and Diane Markow.
How grim were the early days financially? So grim that the staff was exultant when it got offices with doors in 1985. “It used to be like working in a warehouse,” said Winston Laszlo, director of marketing at the time.
The 25th-anniversary show includes an interview with the revered Ted Krichels, KBDI’s first general manager and the man who, among other brilliant moments, came up with the idea of airing Rush Limbaugh and the Lambda Report, a gay and lesbian news show, back-to-back.
Kim Johnson, vice president of broadcast operations, who joined the station in 1989 and is KBDI’s “senior” employee, has fond memories of the early days. “What was fun about that time was we never took ourselves seriously. It wasn’t a party environment, but we did have fun.”
They’re still having fun. The anniversary show won’t be a dreary list of accomplishments. “Basically, we’re poking a little fun at ourselves. We were comical, with a really great vision.”
Around the dial
Jerry Bell, program director for KHOW 630-AM, is steadfast in his plan to drop talk-show host Bill O’Reilly in favor of Philadelphian Glenn Beck. O’Reilly is running a poor third to Rush Limbaugh (KOA 850-AM) and Sean Hannity (KNUS 710-AM) in the local ratings, but Bell is delaying the change to give Westwood One, which owns O’Reilly’s show, a chance to find another Denver outlet. So far, no takers. … Getting serious: KCNC-Channel 4 anchor Jim Benemann hosts “Colorado Decides 2005,” a discussion of referendums C & D, between Gov. Bill Owens and Jon Caldara (7 p.m. Friday, Channel 12). … ESPN’s “SportsCenter: The Hispanic Impact” airs at 4, 9 and 11 tonight through Thursday, with episodes focusing on Roberto Clemente, Tony Gonzalez and Manu Ginobili. … Quotable: “We don’t ever want to operate by the conventional TV wisdom.” Ted Krichels
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
