Roger Radant, former Film Dept, Puppeteer

ROGER W. RADANT, 55 MACHESNEY PARK - Roger W. Radant, 55, ofMachesney Park passed away at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, May 1, 2008, in hishome. Born Dec. 6, 1952, in Rockford, the son of Kenneth W. and Mary(Wirtanen) Radant. Married Lisa Kirkpatrick on Sept. 16, 1991, inRockford. Employed by Barcol Door for 25 years. Roger was an avid Harleyenthusiast, Chicago Bears fan and loved spending time with his family athome. Survivors include wife, Lisa; daughter, Niki Wheat; mother, MaryRadant, all of Machesney Park; sisters, Diane (Jim) Thomas of Aurora andPat (Milt) Schwanke of Machesney Park; and brothers, Larry (Helen) ofRoscoe, Kenneth of Rockford and Doug (Judy) Radant of Lindenhurst.Predeceased by father.

From Dave A.

Paul Masquelier's Goodbye to WIFR

Kinda bittersweet, given he is no longer with us. He sure had a good time at WIFR, as I recall. I also recall a roomful of guys crowding into my Nap Room (also known as the announce booth) to record the "Happy Trails" whistling and horse clip-clops.

Pete's Near Miss

ALL I wanted to do was test out the new Ikegami HL-77 Camera the station had just bought. Unfortunately I chose to do so during a thunderstorm; I think I was trying to impress Sue!

The "NEW" Action News -1977?

I inherited this since it was before my time. It's in pretty poor shape, but you should enjoy.

I believe it marks Sue Mroz's first appearance on WIFR. I barely knew Kerry Donovan and Mark Ovenden (since I was weekend prompter op at that time) and never met Ken Staaf. I did enjoy Chuck Faber.

Rockford Commercials 1980

I stripped these out of a Rick Moore-anchored newscast from March of 1980. Mark DeSantis does the voice track for "Knight's Armor" (a men's clothing store); Sally Kolkmeyer hosts a Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet commercial, Bill Walters voices a commercial, and many other interesting tidbits are contained herein!

WIFR 1983 Christmas Show

For some reason someone sent this to me (Walt, probably, since his troubling mug is all over this show) and although I am not IN it, I hung onto it for 25 years! Enjoy! - Pete Barrett

October, 1980 Newscast

Snow got the lead...a thrilling school board story!

Christmas tape 1982

Yet another fine offering from Pete.

Lookin Good!

Another fun video. Look for perky Sally in the background...!

Blog Notes

I would like to encourage all partipants to post your own topics, and put up pictures and videos, as well as simply commenting on existing posts. It's easy to log on and create your own post. All you need is a google account (it's free) and the blog username and password...which I am happy to provide in case you haven't already received it.

If you are unsure how to create a post once you log on, there are tips and help buttons all along the way. If you're still confused, let me know and I'll be happy to help you through the process.
In the event you are hopelessly technically challenged, feel free to send me a post and any materials you have and I will put it up under your name.

Pictures should be well compressed and not too large. Videos must be under 100MB each and will be automatically re-formatted after they are uploaded. Videos can take some time to post so be prepared to wait several minutes or more depending on the size. There is a limit (maybe as low as 300MB) on how many total MB's we can use, so keep that in mind before you decide to post your entire collection of videos. The preferred method would be to "embed" videos (see "looking good" above) hosted on sites like youtube and vimeo with a simple copy and paste of HTML to your post...using this method, we can have unlimited video on this blog. Bottom line...upload your videos to youtube, and we can still see them on your post here.

If there's anyone out there with old WIFR graphic elements and a little knowlege of HTML that would care to design a more colorful and historically accurate banner for this site, go for it.
That kinda stuff is way over my head...

Christmas Tape 1978

Thanks to...well, you know who.

Gone, But not Forgotten...

Betty Anderson-Womens News

Chris Bowman-Reporter

Milt Taylor-Studio Czar

Bob Clark -Director

Earl Hickerson-Station Manager

Rod Grams, 23 Anchor in the early 80's.
Went on to be a Republican U.S. Congressman and then U.S. Senator from MN.
Died of colon cancer in 2013 at age 65. Nice guy.

Paul Masquelier (on right)-23 Reporter.
Died during the 80's AIDS epidemic.

Kim Fanning-Master Control Operator

Roger Radant-Film Dept, Puppeteer for Mr. Moustache












Clif Willis 2011














Bruce Lewis
(Mr. Moustache from "67-"82) died in 2009 from cancer
at age 67.




Anyone have any/more/better pictures of these folks?

WIFR Christmas Tape 1979

Thanks to Pete!

Where are they now?

Here's a list of WIFR staffers from the mid-80's and earlier. It is always a work in progress. If you find it's out of date, let us know! Thanks to all who have contributed. Now we need pictures of these people...




Dennis West-Station Manager
Williams Bay (Lake Geneva), Wisconsin. Publisher of a biweekly newspaper called The Beacon.

C. Eugene Angle-Station Manager

Darrell Burnett

Real Estate Developer

Paul Morel
Graphic artist WKRC-TV/Cincinnati

Mark DeSantis
VP/GM of WEEK-TV in Peoria

Chris Bartch
Video Honcho / Broward School District in Miami

Jill LaConto
Last heard of in Dallas

Joanna Robinson
Reporter

Joanne Williams
Camera













Patti Genko
Radio personality
Owner, Patti Genko Communications LLC

Josie Zamutto

Owner, Zamutto Consulting, Miami, Florida

Jim Zahrt
Cameraman

Dave Ross
The Patient Channel/Milwaukee

Barb Schobinger
Comcast Cable in the Chicago burbs

Sue Halverson
"Domestic Engineer"
Colorado Springs area

Terry Godfrey











Todd Powelson
WMAQ-TV NBC Chicago
"5 years to retirement...yahoooo"

Aaron Silberman
CBS4 Miami

Walter Naar
Turner Broadcasting/Atlanta

Paul Byckowski
Freelance director in Houston doing sports



Pete Barrett
Kansas City, MO
Owner/Peter Barrett Communications
Owner/InLobbyTV





Jack Keefe
Realtor/Bloomington, IL

Mary McCarthy
Public Relations Manager, Greenville SC Art Museum
http://www.greenvillemuseum.org/

Jim Ebaugh
Reporter

Kelly Daley
Plum Moving Media/Milwaukee

Snow Savich
Reporter/Anchor
Now a writer at WGN-TV Chicago


Gigi Lyons
Freelancer/Dallas, TX

Cece Rodgers
Freelancer Reporter/Chicago

Suzanne Bates
Bates Communications/Wellesley, MA

Judy Moen
Lives in the Atlanta area


Rich Schmig
Plum Moving Media/Milwaukee

Dave Abramson
Chief Engineer for the Phillies Baseball Club

Dave Coughlin




John Cummings
Cinematographer, Cleveland, OH




Sue Mroz
Popular 23 Weather Anchor, went on to working at the
Winnebago County Director of Economic Development.
Retired in 2013.

Ron Pelligrini

Mike Kipp

Rod Grams



Rick Price
KIRO-TV Seattle

Ed Crane
WCBS Radio






Carl Cherkin
VP Philadelphia Union Soccer Team

Clif Willis/Announcer
Passed away 7/15/11 in Colorado

John Bjoin
Tustin, CA. Golf pro shop owner

Tom LeTourneau
AV Manager for Elgin School System.

Mike Johnson
Camera op. Later owned Rockford Fence Co.

Mr. Mustache/Bruce Lewis
Commercial artist in Rockford

Mark Ovenden
Sportscaster for KDLT-TV in Sioux Falls, SD.

Greg Miller
Engineer now in charge of the Arkansas Public Television Network microwave system.

Bill Natale
Freelance Director in Chicago.

Mark Wolfson
Director now freelancing doing sports.

Gary Seymour
Production Manager WISN Milwaukee


1960's-1970's WCEE/WIFR

Chuck Faber - News Director/Anchor
Passed away in Florida in 2009
"Goodnight, Tiger"

Ken Staaf
Weather Announcer

Dean Turman - chief engineer

Jim Thomas - program director

Jerry Johnston - art department

Lorin Ostir - film photographer

John Anderson - engineer

Ben Pflederer - engineer

Mary Lou Manalli - reporter

Sherwin Williams - reporter

Bill Williams - film dept

Jerry Mayer - reporter
Owner, Hometown Productions, Baton Rouge, LA
www.hometownproductions.com

Larry ??? - director

Welcome to 23 Action News!

A place where 23 alums can hang out, share true stories and tell lies. Think of this as a little time machine where you can go back and re-live your early broadcast career when you weren't sure you really had one yet.

Remember fondly the time when you had no money, but had great friends and unlimited potential. So come on in, have a seat...relax, reconnect and reminisce with some old friends. Let us know what you've been up to. Tell us where we can find other people. We need photos, links, video, and most of all, stories. Have fun! This is your site...and it won't work without you.

Anyone who wants login rights to post directly and/or help manage this blog are welcome. Just ask.

John Cummings
blogmaster/23 class of '82

To comment: click comment
To post a new topic: email it to me and I will put it up