1998-03-01 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA -- Take me back, all the way back, to the golden age of television ... to the days when the small screen was innocent ... the days when the word "pregnant" was taboo, not to mention the phrase "presidential sex scandal" ... to a time when sports like Roller Derby and wrestling could compete with baseball ... a time that allowed unattractive people who weren't funny to have their own shows.

It was a simpler time and, if you believed what you saw on TV, a better time.

Bay Area broadcasters contributed to this era with their own locally produced shows, from children's programming to late night talk shows. Many were forgettable, but some are etched forever in the minds of the first generation raised in front of the tube.

Sports were different then<

Sports have always been a mainstay of the entertainment diet. In the Bay Area it was the first item served. On Dec. 22, 1948, KPIX transmitted a hockey game, live, from Winterland Auditorium. That was followed slightly more than a week later by the Shriners' annual East-West New Year's Day football game.

But it wasn't the major sports that kept people tuned to local stations in those early years. In the 1950s, professional wrestling was a staple. Villains like Ray Stevens, Professor Roy Shire and Kenji Shibuya went headlock to headlock with good guys Pepper Gomez and Ray Stern as KTVU announcer Walt Harris tried to make it all sound believable. Harris also worked the mike for one of the Bay Area's favorite sports: roller derby.

How popular was roller derby in the Bay Area? In the early '60s, it outdrew both local pro football teams and pro basketball and was barely eclipsed by the Giants. The legendary Charlie O'Connell ruled the banked track, while Joanie Weston and Ann Calvello punched, shoved and clotheslined opponents into submission. Now that's entertainment.

Viva variety<

Just about every kind of national show had its counterpart in the Bay Area, including variety shows like "The Les Molloy Show" (KGO) and "The Dell Courtney Show" (KPIX). While both featured local and national celebrities, Molloy featured more talk while Courtney was focused more on musical acts.

"Those were shows that people talked about," said Bob Foster, former television and radio critic for The San Mateo Times, "People would always call me with questions about them."

"Success Story," hosted by Bob Day, was another carry-over from a national show - "Industry on Parade." Produced in the early '50s by KRON, it showed viewers the intricate workings of a local business. "Success Story" was notable for the fact that it was both live and shot on location with some of the earliest television equipment.

"There would be a couple of camera teams who would set up shots in different parts of a factory," remembers Bob Mitchell, a KGO veteran. "But since it was live, they would have to hopscotch from one area to another. While one was shooting, the other team would be running to set up the next one."

At the same time Dick Clark (looking exactly as he does today) was setting up "American Bandstand" in Philadelphia, Dick Stewart hit the scene in The City with

"KPIX Dance Party."

This 90-minute live show, broadcast six days a week, quickly became a hot item among teenagers. It also became one that they remembered, so much so that KPIX hosted a reunion show last July.

Perhaps the most enjoyable and interesting for baby boomers to remember are the children's shows, which were the big money makers for local stations.

"The news lost money in those days," said Leslie Donaldson, special projects producer at KTVU. "It was the kids' shows with the toy and cereal sponsors that made money."

"Captain Satellite" (KTVU) was one such show. Each afternoon, the captain and his crew of eager little kids would blast off in a spaceship called the Starfinder II. As the original program schedule reads: "One hour of fun, with cartoons, games and audience participation contests - all taking place in Captain Satellite's fabulous rocket ship."

Another favorite was "Brother Buzz," a 15-minute marionette show, initially with KPIX in the early '50s and later with KGO in the '60s. The show was about an elf who had been transformed into a bee so that he could learn about the natural world.

"Charlie and Humphrey" was another puppet classic, with Pat McCormick (also involved with "Buzz" ) as the puppeteer. McCormick was a prolific television personality: puppeteer, "Dialing for Dollars" host, and weatherman for KTVU.

The blockbuster kids' show was "Romper Room." The show was actually a franchise. KTVU would receive a format suggesting what topics to cover each day, but the show was produced locally until it went national many years later. Nancy Besst was the first local Miss Nancy, but there were five others in the ensuing years.

"In the old days of "Romper Room,' it was live, so they had to just keep rolling," said KTVU's Donaldson. "Kids would be puking or falling off the set, and all (the camera crew) could do was zoom in on Miss Nancy's face."

Sadly, those moments were not recorded and are gone forever. Most local shows were transmitted live and then forgotten as work began on the next episode. Copies of others were trashed later when stations ran low on space.

A large part of our local television history has vanished, but there is material that survived and those who work to preserve it. Helene Whitson, special collections librarian / archivist at S.F. State, has saved millions of feet of film from local stations. However, resources to archive the material are scarce.

The San Francisco Bay Area Television News Film Archives is a collection of local news, selected documentaries and programs. Core collections include 1.2 million feet of 16mm film footage from KQED between 1967 and 1980, and 5 million to 7 million feet of 16mm footage from KPIX, from the early 1950s to 1980.

The archiving of local television began in the '80s and receives little funding from the university or local stations.

"Television is an industry for today," said Whitson.

"They don't care about posterity, and they sure don't want to pay for it." <