The "For Portlanders Only" Update Thread

[Chris]

I would have loved to start something like FPO, but the problem was the stations I got are from PORTLAND, so rather than rival him, I just submitted them to Pete. The exception I have is this from Eugene from 1984:

And something from a local teletext station in Salem, but that's in FPO as well.
@DevanDrake99.5 - what is the oldest TV thing from Boise you have? I'd like to see it.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Peter, how did you came up with posting Portland nostalgia back when you started the FPO page? What was FPO about? I'm starting my own blog similar to FPO, but in Boise, ID, except mostly newspaper clippings from Boise since the pre-recorded VHS tapes at thrift stores from where I live are extremely hard to find. I do have hands on the VHS material from Boise from eBay, but how did you get your hands on other VHS tapes containing Portland material besides eBay? You find them at thrift stores, or you received them from Platapus contributors?

The clips mainly come from my dad's gigantic collection of VHS recordings that he made over a 35-year period. Lately though I've been finding a lot more of them through the Goodwill Outlet Store.

Not as many people have submitted clips as I've hoped. Chris sent some though, as he said.

 

[Chris]

Here's some stuff from Salem on YouTube (not mine)

 

[Chris]

More Eugene goodness!

 

[Chris]

Happy 70th KOIN-TV!
KOIN article

 

[Chris]

KPTV isn't showing Good Day Oregon today (Thursday). Instead it chose to air a whole bunch of infomercials for some reason.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

For those of you who remember watching The Ramblin' Rod Cartoon Show, I have three questions?

a. When in 1983 did the show change over sponsorship from The Pop Shoppe, which went defunct, to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre? Each closing sequence after around the summer of 1983 and until 1996 (the final year it was on weekdays) was punctuated by a clip of a CEC commercial, with an announcer (varying over the years) beginning the spiel with "Chuck E. Bucks (and other prizes) (have the appearance of the Pizza Time Players and) were provided by Chuck E. Cheese's (Pizza Time Theatre)..." and concluded with the announcer mentioning the list of CEC stores that existed in Oregon at the time.

b. During the 1986-90 period, didn't ShowBiz Pizza's Billy Bob Brockali (the bear mascot who wore red and yellow-striped overalls, and played a cigar-box bass guitar) appear on any shows along with the Pizza Time Players for the birthday celebrations?

c. For the show's final season in 1996-97, when it moved to Saturday mornings, I read it was cartoons only (meaning between the show's opening and closing sequences), with no more Smile Contests or birthday celebrations or the like... true?

Thank you,



Ben

 

[Peter Paltridge]

For those of you who remember watching The Ramblin' Rod Cartoon Show, I have three questions?

a. When in 1983 did the show change over sponsorship from The Pop Shoppe, which went defunct, to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre? Each closing sequence after around the summer of 1983 and until 1996 (the final year it was on weekdays) was punctuated by a clip of a CEC commercial, with an announcer (varying over the years) beginning the spiel with "Chuck E. Bucks (and other prizes) (have the appearance of the Pizza Time Players and) were provided by Chuck E. Cheese's (Pizza Time Theatre)..." and concluded with the announcer mentioning the list of CEC stores that existed in Oregon at the time.

b. During the 1986-90 period, didn't ShowBiz Pizza's Billy Bob Brockali (the bear mascot who wore red and yellow-striped overalls, and played a cigar-box bass guitar) appear on any shows along with the Pizza Time Players for the birthday celebrations?

c. For the show's final season in 1996-97, when it moved to Saturday mornings, I read it was cartoons only (meaning between the show's opening and closing sequences), with no more Smile Contests or birthday celebrations or the like... true?

Thank you,



Ben

1) I'm not sure. I have yet to find a 1983 episode.

2) No he did not. Granted I haven't seen EVERY episode from that time period, but since there were no Showbiz Pizzas in Oregon, there'd be no reason for Billy Bob to show up. Even if they were under the same ownership by that point.

3) Yes, the final season did not have Rod or the children at all (except for the main title).

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

1) I'm not sure. I have yet to find a 1983 episode.

2) No he did not. Granted I haven't seen EVERY episode from that time period, but since there were no Showbiz Pizzas in Oregon, there'd be no reason for Billy Bob to show up. Even if they were under the same ownership by that point.

3) Yes, the final season did not have Rod or the children at all (except for the main title).

Thank you!

Also, here's a screen grab from a 1990 episode that was apparently sponsored by Arctic Circle restaurants, because of what we see on the balloons... I wonder how that came to be? Oddly, if you watch the video at the link below, it still has the Chuck E. Cheese's spiel at the end.


~Ben

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

1) I'm not sure. I have yet to find a 1983 episode.

2) No he did not. Granted I haven't seen EVERY episode from that time period, but since there were no Showbiz Pizzas in Oregon, there'd be no reason for Billy Bob to show up. Even if they were under the same ownership by that point.

3) Yes, the final season did not have Rod or the children at all (except for the main title).

Another question: although I know that Ramblin' Rod was reduced to 30 minutes for the 1994-95 season (from 8 to 8:30 AM) due in large measure to the availability of Cartoon Network in our area, I believe it was restored back to 1 hour for the 1995-96 season (again from 7:30 to 8:30 AM) due to complaints from loyal fans of the series who sent in letters about the show's 30-minute cutback... is this true?

I do remember during that time they had Underdog reruns (which Nickelodeon recently lost the rerun rights to) mixed in with the 1993 Pink Panther series.

~Ben

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Another question: although I know that Ramblin' Rod was reduced to 30 minutes for the 1994-95 season (from 8 to 8:30 AM) due in large measure to the availability of Cartoon Network in our area, I believe it was restored back to 1 hour for the 1995-96 season (again from 7:30 to 8:30 AM) due to complaints from loyal fans of the series who sent in letters about the show's 30-minute cutback... is this true?

I do remember during that time they had Underdog reruns (which Nickelodeon recently lost the rerun rights to) mixed in with the 1993 Pink Panther series.

~Ben

I've never heard of either of those things, I do know the 1990-91 and 91-92 seasons had the syndicated Merrie Melodies show folded in as the second half. I was watching the show the most during that time. KPTV didn't air the main title or the credits, they put Rod's stuff over that.

I didn't know there were any RR episodes on YouTube! I tried to upload one ages ago and got an immediate copyright strike for a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Upon closer inspection I see this person has cut the cartoons out. Boo; I want the full thing.

RR sometimes had more than one sponsor. Chuck E Cheese was the main one, but there were others.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

I've never heard of either of those things, I do know the 1990-91 and 91-92 seasons had the syndicated Merrie Melodies show folded in as the second half. I was watching the show the most during that time. KPTV didn't air the main title or the credits, they put Rod's stuff over that.

I didn't know there were any RR episodes on YouTube! I tried to upload one ages ago and got an immediate copyright strike for a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Upon closer inspection I see this person has cut the cartoons out. Boo; I want the full thing.

RR sometimes had more than one sponsor. Chuck E Cheese was the main one, but there were others.

Again, that probably explained why Arctic Circle was the secondary sponsor of that 1990 episode I just shared.

I never knew that tidbit about the first two years of The Merrie Melodies Show Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends being part of the second half-hour of Ramblin' Rod. There were many variations of this opening theme when aired standalone.


This particular syndicated package of the August 1948 to 1969 shorts (those which did not air on either Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon or on ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show) was compiled to tie in with Bugs Bunny's 50th anniversary. Between 1992-95, it moved to FOX (then channel 13 for us) for its FOX Kids morning lineup, and then after the WB channel went on the air (as KWBP channel 32), the series moved there and also changed its name to That's Warner Bros! for the 1995-96 season (with a variation of the 1992-95 Merrie Melodies Show opening) and then was revamped again as The Bugs 'n Daffy Show for the 1996-99 seasons.

I believe that of the contents that were omitted when on Ramblin' Rod, I think there were no "Hip Clips" either. The "Hip Clips" were mid-show bumpers that were seen before the third and final cartoon on each half-hour installment, and varied in length from between 30 seconds and 2 minutes depending on the length of the previous two main shorts; these bumpers opened with Taz coughing out the words "...ANOTHER HIP CLIP!" and contained a clip from other segments unrelated to the three that had aired on any given weekday.


When The Merrie Melodies Show here had been part of Ramblin' Rod in the 1990-92 period (there were 65 half-hours, all of which were repeated between December 1990 and September 1992), it meant Ramblin' Rod still had a mix of the pre- and post-'48 shorts.

~Ben

 

[Peter Paltridge]

The Hip Clips were still there in the Ramblin Rod version.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

The Hip Clips were still there in the Ramblin Rod version.

Thank you!

~Ben

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

1) I'm not sure. I have yet to find a 1983 episode.

2) No he did not. Granted I haven't seen EVERY episode from that time period, but since there were no Showbiz Pizzas in Oregon, there'd be no reason for Billy Bob to show up. Even if they were under the same ownership by that point.

3) Yes, the final season did not have Rod or the children at all (except for the main title).

Here is a December 1983 episode, with the CEC sponsor tag at the end.


Again, there are so many of these to sift through before it is confirmed what the first episode was that had the CEC sponsor tag. I would hint it was the September 12, 1983 episode, which started the 1983-84 broadcast season.

~Ben

 

[Chris]

I have a better version of the 1988 episode I sent to Pete eons ago. I wonder if I should put it on YouTube.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

I have a better version of the 1988 episode I sent to Pete eons ago. I wonder if I should put it on YouTube.

That's the one I got struck for. You stand a better chance on Archive.org.

 

[Chris]

That's the one I got struck for. You stand a better chance on Archive.org.

I wasn't going to put the cartoons in, just the local parts.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981]

1) I'm not sure. I have yet to find a 1983 episode.

2) No he did not. Granted I haven't seen EVERY episode from that time period, but since there were no Showbiz Pizzas in Oregon, there'd be no reason for Billy Bob to show up. Even if they were under the same ownership by that point.

3) Yes, the final season did not have Rod or the children at all (except for the main title).

Peter,

The other thing I wanted to mention about Chuck E. Cheese's sponsorship for The Ramblin' Rod (Cartoon) Show, was that it had come at a rather inauspicious time for the pizza chain since 1983 was the same year that it had lost millions thanks to the video game crash that effectively destroyed many video game makers including Atari, the company that supplied Chuck E. Cheese's with a lot of its video arcade games, therefore it's a miracle that its sponsorship with KPTV 12 had survived that whole economical mess; however, the crash of '83 also killed off two other projects founded by Nolan Bushnell: Sente Technologies, a video game company which Bushnell sold to Bally Midway in 1984, and also Kadabrascope (sold to LucasFilm Ltd.) that was responsible for an animated Christmastime special to be broadcast on NBC (KGW 8 here): The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, which was to feature Chuck E. Cheese and his Pizza Time Players gang, and it only got air time through videotape at the Pizza Time Theatre ticket stands in the form of a slideshow.

During the years of this sponsorship, from 1983 to 1996, didn't Ramblin' Rod himself appear as a special guest (with guitar in hand) for some people's birthdays at the Chuck E. Cheese's at 9120 SE Powell Blvd. (just like when the Pizza Time Players gang had appeared on some episodes of his cartoon show)?

~Ben

 

[Peter Paltridge]

During the years of this sponsorship, from 1983 to 1996, didn't Ramblin' Rod himself appear as a special guest (with guitar in hand) for some people's birthdays at the Chuck E. Cheese's at 9120 SE Powell Blvd. (just like when the Pizza Time Players gang had appeared on some episodes of his cartoon show)?

~Ben

I've never heard of such a thing. There were "on location" episodes of Ramblin Rod, but they were in malls.