PAUL VAN HOUSE REMEMBERS:
My two favorite memories are of on-air gaffes. Both of these as well as photos and other audio cuts are on my Radio memories page, binxsoftware.com/radio/radiodaze.htm.
The gaffe was at WIDG St. Ignace while I was doing the morning sports. The PD (Mike Travis) posed in the window in front of me next to Leo Sayers' "Endless Flight" album in which Leo is floating in mid - air. Travis then turned the album sideways and matched the pose. As I started to giggle he turned the album upside down and began to stand on his head. I totally lost it as I was talking about a man who fell into the icy waters of Lake Huron during a yacht race and was rescued when helicopter lights shined off of his "bald head." I cut the sports short and Travis issued a "Thank You Bouncin' Binky," a reference to my CB Handle.
The second was while doing the morning news at KPRC Houston. I was reading a story about how a very unfortunate boy was beginning the new year in Austin ... as sports anchor Steve Gilmartin slid into the studio to do his thing. Now this was a "filler" piece that I always included to fill time if necessary. Since there was literally no spot load that morning, I was deep into the "not proof read" filler. The story was about a boy who had some sort of birth defect, his father was in prison, his mother on drugs, and other unfortunate things. I could hear Gilmartin suppressing laughter as each new tragic development was revealed. When I read the line about one of his relatives being run over and killed by a taxi cab I had to kill the mic because I was laughing out loud. After 10-15 seconds of dead air, I keyed the mic back on and tried to finish. Gilmartin's face was red as he tried to contain himself. I finally gave up, hit the sports jingle and introduced Gilmartin, a consummate professional. As he was muttering something about "that poor little boy," my head was down and I was shaking with silent laughter. As Gilmartin tried to compose himself there were long pauses and deep breaths. You could hear me sobbing in the background. He finally got into a fairly lengthy actuality and we were both able to compose ourselves.
Luckily, I have both of these on tape and will hopefully post them on my web site in the future.
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