Nostalgic Rambler: May 2021

Welcome to the Nostalgic Ramber

Hans Jeff Borger is heard on WRGE 97.9 FM in Ocala, FL featuring Christian programming.

"The Nostalgic Rambler" radio show can be heard on Youtube. Just search for Hans Jeff Borger Nostalgic Rambler.

Why a blog? I wrote a book "The Little Grownup: a nostalgic Michigan boyhood" which should appeal to most baby boomers. A mass market book? Well, not yet...but the potential is there! (Be sure to buy it at "finer on line bookstores" everywhere!)

The comments presented in "The Nostalgic Rambler" probably won't be of interest to the masses...anymore. If grandma and grandpa and their friends were still alive, then it would be a different story.

I live in the past. My time warp is a comfortable cocoon even if it sometimes drives my wife crazy. The music of the 1940s and 50s, the stars of those days were big stuff in their day, but are now almost forgotten. Oddly enough, I was born in '64 so those iconic years were for the most part over by that time.

Through "The Nostalgic Rambler" I maybe can help share my love and knowledge for those times and things...all at one time important pieces of Americana but now a bit faded in memory.

The woman who did the blog about cooking all of Julia Childs' French Cuisine Cookbook in a year got a sweet movie deal out of her blog experience. I wouldn't mind that but would be happy to know that you are reading this....and maybe enjoying my time warp, too.

Hans Jeff Borger

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Remembering WKBD Channel 50, Detroit's Greatest TV Station

When I was growing up in the Detroit area in the 1960s and 1970s, broadcasting already fascinated me. Right down the road from my grandparent's house was WKBD Channel 50.

That's where all the TV shows we watched as kids came from, everything from I Love Lucy to Speed Racer. This wonderful world of television was where I wanted to work. What a great goal!

Years later and after 4 years of college to learn the broadcasting trade, Channel 50 wasn't interested in hiring me. What a sad thing that was. Anyhow, the legendary station is still there and has always been in the back of my mind.

I did a previous blog about my fascination with "I Love Lucy" which Channel 50 broadcast ad nauseum back then. When "Lucy" star Desi Arnaz came to town I recorded the audio of his appearance on the famous "Lou Gordon Show" which is on Youtube here. Gordon was a controversial talk show host on Channel 50 and even for today's standards would be considered rude. He even got poor Desi upset by the end of his visit! The video tapes of Gordon's show were apparently not saved so my audio might be the only copy of Desi's visit to Detroit.

I was pleased to discover that author Christopher Lock has just published a brand new book on Channel 50. It's not a boring look at the station today, which is now nothing like it was in the 1960s and 1970s...this book takes us back to the "golden years" of WKBD, with pictures and details of most of the programs that were on back then.

If you'd like to be transported back to the baby boomer 60s and 70s of Detroit TV, you will love this time capsule. The book is available on Amazon and click on the link to watch Mr. Lock's Howell Library Talk about Channel 50.

I think he included most of what I remember except for Snipets!