Last Saturday I had the pleasure and honor of working the weekend evening shows with my long-time FirstNews partner, Maria Antonia. (Jim Flink was there, too, but nothing is perfect. Actually, it is fun to work with Mr. Flink as he, too, is a veteran of the early mornings. Clearly, nobody can stand to work with me for too long, although, Maria made the best run!) It was 1988 when FirstNews hit the air...the first morning news program in Kansas City. Originally, we went on the air for a half-hour at 6:30 a.m. In the early days, Maria and I really wondered if anyone was actually out there watching. Turns out a lot of you were...research indicated that increasing numbers tuned in when Maria was on screen and, then, used the weather portions of the show to get in the shower or get the kids out the door and on the bus...truly news you can use!

Over the weekend, we chatted a bit about things people still mention to us from those Jurassic Park days. For example, Maria found a little tadpole at the Brookside dime store with which she quickly became infatuated. She insisted it could clap it's little "hands." First of all, a tadpole with hands is pretty interesting all by itself but to use those hands to express pleasure! Well, now you're talking. As my dad used to say, "You can lead a horse to water but...if you can get him to float on his back, then you've got something!" We spent some considerable time with that little applauding creature. I'm not entirely sure what happened to that frog-to-be but I heard rumors he got an agent and was about to star in a sit-com for ABC, but the producers decided to go with a human instead and the legendary Urkel was born. He was so depressed he kept hanging around the parking lot of some fancy French restaurant trying a different way of getting a leg up in the world.

One of the best early FirstNews memories is named Betty-Cam. She had worked at KMBC for a long time when Maria and I started the morning news. At the time, before robotics, real live people ran the cameras and Betty ran ours in the morning. We didn't have any tower cameras or shots from NewsChopper Nine so we started talking about Betty-Cam. Much of the time she would get comfortable behind the camera and read steamy romance novels featuring Fabio on the covers. Every now and then, I would grab one of them and read aloud on the air..."As Renaldo pulled Saphira close...they could feel their hearts beating in time to music heard only in their own ears...'Oh Renaldo...take me...' she sighed. 'Of course, but where...I only have one bus fare'...." These were not the best books in the world, but, as Betty would tell me "Anything's better than listening to you!" Betty could tell more about approaching weather by the pains in her back and knees than any computer but it is hard to promote "First Alert Achey Joints" brought to you by Betty!

As Maria and I continued to wax nostalgic...which nostalgic didn't like one bit...she mentioned the frequent appearances of a little dog I used to have, named Jingles. Jingles, so named because he was a Christmas present from someone not really a friend, was a Dachshund-Chihuahua mix and seemed to have inherited the idiosyncrasies of both breeds. I used him in a lot of feature stories...once he played the parts of lion and lamb for a story about that March adage...for Halloween, he'd be a black cat. We had a tiny budget. He had a bit of "small-dog syndrome" and would occasionally allow his inner werewolf to surface. He could be fierce. Once, while doing a feature story at my house, our FirstNews photographer at the time, Jeff Roberts had to knock on our door. Now, Jeff is a big, strong, fearless guy but Jingles didn't care. He attacked. To this day...many years later...Jeff still has flashbacks of those shining little pin-needle sharp teeth lunging for his kneecaps.

In the Maria days of FirstNews, we visited New York, Branson, Strawberry Hill, Liberty, Blue Springs, Olathe and all points in between. We did holiday specials on the Plaza and it was always 50 below wind-chill. I even remember my audition for the job. I sat down on the news-set with Maria, who was already a respected and well-liked journalist in town, they turned on the cameras and we just talked. One of the stories they showed for us to discuss was the infamous "squirrel-on-water-skis" piece. I've seen variations on that theme dozens of times since and it always reminds me of the fun Maria and I had on FirstNews.

Now, don't feel bad for Jim Flink. I would like nothing better than to recall all the good times we had together during his FirstNews tenure but so much of it is still subject to law-suits and litigation I can only say "No comment."