[BC] The Driveway Shot

[Jeffrey Kopp]

>[Ron:] If you look past the big talking face wearing the
>headset/mic and out the windows in the background you can
>see that the chopper is on the ground and the background
>isn't moving.
Yes, fellow-Oregonian Ron, that was the station; I
was just reluctant to say which.

I guess that would properly be called a "tarmac shot."

Others in our market will remember the "Power of 2"
campaign about a decade ago hyping KATU's adding a
second chopper, to the thundering tune of "Flight
of the Valkyries." These overplayed promos garnered
hoo-has from the usual directions.

OTOH, I've read that 12's 'copter does double duty,
having the call sign of another station (I forget
which) painted on its other side.

In Seattle, KIRO-TV had long had a helicopter, and
after KOMO-TV obtained one, KING-TV (usually that
market's innovator, but careful with their bucks)
acquired a small, unsafe-looking model in the mid-80s.
I still remember Aaron Brown yelling on the evening
newscast about a bumpy wintertime cross-Sound ride in
the thing, still shaken when he went on the air a
quarter hour later.

Recently there was a wave of nostalgia about KISN
radio's Aerocar (ca. 1962) on the local radio board,
and when I suggested it was probably a cross-promotional
gimmick (the inventor/manufacturer was local, and it was
the station's entry in that year's summer parade), former
employees quickly asserted that the station really did
own and fly it, although some feared at the time its
wings might fall off.

Due to the paucity of alternate routes in this
geographically constrained city, radio traffic reports
never made a lot of sense here, although they are more
useful on morning TV (i.e., one can learn if it is
necessary to head out early or make other arrangements).