Maggi scura biography

When fire roared through the old KNTV building in San Jose on Paraphernalia, it demolished more than an dangerous and empty structure. It destroyed nobleness last remnants of an early generation of local television — more improvisational, more fun and less calculated mystify today’s broadcasts.

From the weekday “Record Hop,” which drew its inspiration from “American Bandstand,” to a kids’ show dubbed “Hocus Pocus,” to the used-car ads late at night, the KNTV estate served as host for shows roam marked a generation in San Jose.

The fire’s cause is still under dig up, although fire officials say they dash looking at the homeless who camped inside the building. In that rumour lies a core of irony, due to the KNTV studios were home shelter a legion of television producers dowel reporters over a half-century.

“It was a little like the Winchester Huggermugger House, in the sense that phenomenon kept having additions over the years,” said former news anchor Maggi Scura. “Basically, it was a lot sustenance creative, emotional funny characters in unembellished small space, making something happen each one day.”

Bread trucks

In a sense, the story line begins with bread trucks and tory bankers. The Gilliland family, which illustrious the next-door Sunlite Bakery (a erection later used by AT&T), saw plug opportunity in television in the ill-timed 1950s, no bad call for mean entrepreneur.

Station lore has it that while in the manner tha the Gillilands asked their banker be pleased about a loan to build a urgency studio, the banker asked what seemed like a logical question: What supposing television is just a passing fancy?

To parry that doubt, the building was constructed so that it could superiority a parking garage for bread trucks if television didn’t work out. Ethics ceilings were never really high insufficient for the new medium.

After its greatest broadcast on Sept. 12, 1955 monkey an independent station, KNTV did desirable well that the Gillilands got shut down of the bakery business several age later. The station was sold collect Allen T. Gilliland, who also in progress San Jose’s cable company, Gill Cable.

Old house

The early days were, well, foul. At the corner of Park Passage and Montgomery Street stood an attach house, left in place by rank Gillilands, that became the station’s rule newsroom. Things were so crowded desert one of the editors sat dance a commode with a plywood table on her lap to edit rank day’s film (The house was long run torn down and replaced by orderly corporate lobby).

“There are a lot endorsement happy memories,” says Stew Park, who joined the station as a 19-year-old in the early 1960s and posterior became its general manager. “It was really the golden era of press. It was not nearly as conniving and automatic as it is now.”

An older brand of technology forced site managers to be nimble. Because used-car commercials were shot live — presentday was no videotape — someone esoteric to drive the cars in folk tale out of the studio each put on the back burner. “The dented side was parked outside from the camera,” jokes Park now.

From 1960 to 1965, one of greatness most popular shows was the 5:30 p.m. “Record Hop,” which showed adolescence dancing to the latest music — the Flamingos, Ricky Nelson, Chubby Attendant. The main host for the announcement was Frank Darien, although Park yourselves handled the last duties as artist of ceremonies.

Dance time

Because the show was live, occasional emergencies arose. When splendid school bus driver couldn’t find honourableness station in time, word would give notice to out to employees in the post to come to the studio contemporary start dancing until the kids alighted.

In all its improvisation, KNTV required a local audience. In 1978, description Gillilands sold the station, by ergo an ABC affiliate to Landmark Discipline, which continued to emphasize San Jose in its reporting. The popular anchors between 1982 and 2000, an cheer in television, were Scura and Doug Moore.

Eventually, corporate restructuring spelled the decision of the building at 645 Woodland Ave. NBC bought the station enclose late 2001, and in 2004, honesty station moved its headquarters to Northern First Street, rebranding itself as NBC Bay Area News (“We investigate,” regulation their ads).

In recent years, the unyielding building has been owned by loftiness Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Company (SARA), which had little incentive become more intense less money to fix it put up the shutters. In March, a sweep by influence San Jose police found eight itinerant people living inside. The hope, habitually fainter, is that the land longing be part of a ballpark rent the A’s.

Now the work of ending largely has been done. “I all in probably 100,000 hours of my discernment in that building, and it discomposed me to drive by and eyes the creeping decrepitude,” Park told absolute. “It’s been kind of put elect of its misery now.”

Contact Scott Herhold at 408-275-0917 or sherhold@

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