Viewpoint: Zany Tales Live On In Television

On Christmas Day, my family and our viewers watched the Kevin Lovell “Fruitcake Story.” It?s now a 21-year-old holiday tradition at KVIA to air this goofy little report that I produced with fellow photographers Brent Clarke and Jeff Howard back in 1990.

The story involves me receiving a holiday fruitcake from fictitious ?Aunt Edna.? I go to great lengths to avoid consumption of the fruitcake as it follows me everywhere I go. Finally, El Paso homemaker and fruitcake chef Terri Irvin ties me up. To the infamous scene in Alfred Hitchcock?s ?Psycho,? she forces feeds me fruitcake. It doesn?t taste so bad after all.

My tales of TV experiences are endless. When you work at a TV station, you often start out with weird hours at low pay under heavy stress. I?ve often said that ?nobody retires from a TV station.? I think we?ve had four in the 55-year history of KVIA. Somehow, I?ve survived more than a quarter century at KVIA.

Surprisingly, most of the craziest moments go back to my first three years in the business at then sister-station, KVII-TV in Amarillo.

One day, I was live in a newscast reading about a horrific flood in Palo Duro Canyon when a light exploded in the studio. It sounded like a shotgun went off! I looked down and the remnants of the explosion caused my script to catch fire! There was no teleprompter in those days and I couldn?t even read my copy.

One time, I did a story about a touring country music singer who stopped in Groom, Texas, to use the bathroom at a service station. He hadn?t bought gas and the attendant locked him in the bathroom as punishment. He used the toilet lid to bash his way out and fled on Interstate 40 and was arrested by a state trooper and forced to pay restitution.

Another time, a physician in Dumas was arrested at the hospital where he practiced for viewing the birth of his daughter. His offense: not attending required child birthing classes!

I also worked with the world?s most aggressive young reporter named George Patrick Casey. We were rivals and battled for the lead story every day. One Memorial Day we were assigned to do a story at the Amarillo Funfest — it was a nice picnic affair at a local amusement park. We walked together looking for a ?hard news? story, but I didn?t see one. People were frolicking and enjoying the festive family atmosphere.

Finally, Casey handed me the camera and told me to shoot an interview. I obliged and watched in amazement as he asked the event organizer the following: ?What about the grass??

She looked befuddled and said, ?What do you mean?? Casey continued, ?You are killing the grass!?

I privately chuckled until after the story aired when the woman?s husband, the president of the city?s biggest bank, called our station owner to complain.

Ah, such is the life at a TV station.