Back in front of a microphone

This photo of me in the summer of 1967 was taken on the news set at AFTV-22 at Spangdahlem AB.

I got my off-duty job at AFTV-22 at Spangdahlem Air Base the old fashioned way: I called the station and asked if they had any openings for part-time help. Nicole Zerbini, the dishy French receptionist, passed my call on to Tech Sgt. Ray Santangelo, the station manager.

He asked me about my experience, and after I told him he asked me to come in for an audition. I sat at the news desk and read some UPI copy for him. He gave me the job, working Saturdays and Sundays -- if I wasn't on call for the OR. I'd be anchoring newscasts, doing live station breaks, producing PSAs, manning the switcher for filmed programs, and generally doing whatever needed to be done. I think I might have been paid a couple of dollars an hour, but that wasn't the important thing. What was important was that I was honing my TV skills.

I still thought the airmen assigned to the station full time were an amateurish lot, but I kept my thoughts to myself. Over the course of the next few months, many of them rotated back to the states, their three-year tours of duty in Germany over. To my surprise, the first two full-time replacements were high-caliber broadcasters. Like me, they were young, but they brought skills that I wanted to absorb.

Two of the newcomers, Sergeants Les Jackson and Chuck Minx, were also in their early 20s. Les was excellent on camera, whether hosting a talk show or anchoring the news. Chuck's skills were in production and film. I soaked up what they had to teach me like a sponge. Both taught me more than they knew. And within weeks, they were dreaming up formats for new shows and improving the look of AFTV-22 by leaps and bounds. I supported them enthusiastically.

I also had to get used to being recognized. I was anchoring at least a couple of TV newscasts each weekend. Back home in Richmond, I had been a voice on the radio. Now I was a face on TV. The medics I lived with were full of questions about what working at AFTV was like. (They were also full of suggestions about programming, some on point and others far-fetched. I had to tell them that as a part-timer I didn't have much say in programming decisions.)

Soon, GIs at the NCO club began to recognize me from TV. Within a few months, I got used to being greeted as "the TV guy" all over both bases, and even when I'd go out to a local German restaurant or bar. I didn't let it go to my head much. If GIs were going to watch TV, they had only one choice. They were a captive audience.

And I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I liked being an OR medic and was getting good performance reviews. And I enjoyed the opportunity to work part-time at AFTV-22, where the station manager offered to use me as often as I could be available.