Out with the Old on Channel 12

I was shopping in Target when my cell phone went off and it was my son in a state of alarm because Ben Hamlin had been cut from channel 12. “He’s been on TV since I was little.” I did the math in my head, and my son was 9 when Ben Hamlin went on the air here. I guess so.

Later on, the office speculation was Hamlin had probably taken an early retirement buyout because 28 years is 28 years. Wow, that’s a long time in local television. Most of the time, it seems to be a revolving door with youngsters passing through to bigger markets, kids that have no idea what the history of Richmond is when they frame their stories. Without the old journalists, we are without “context.” It’s a risk the print media is taking, too.

Channel 12, in my memory, is even creakier, as the team I recall was Charles Fishburne, Sailor Bob, and Jim Granger. Sailor Bob was a holdover from a local children’s show, back when the local stations actually did their own programs (cooking, public affairs, kid shows). Channel 6 had their own Bozo show, and I have this memory that just won’t fade of driving down Thompson Street and here comes a VW bug with Bozo at the wheel, in full makeup and costume, going to work at channel 6.

Sailor Bob was replaced by Spencer Christian, who went on to national exposure on “Good Morning, America.” Charles Fishburne hung in for a long time, his hair going higher and higher in an atomic mushroom shape, held in place with industrial strength hairspray. He should still be doing the news at 12. He was as smooth and Richmondy as Tim Timberlake was on WRVA, the calm morning voice of radio, (trained by Alden Aaroe as heir apparent).

When Clear Channel took over WRVA, that was another unceremonious and unnecessary housecleaning of all the familiar voices, and for years we had to endure a cacophony of loud, abrasive Northerners, although they finally have an afternoon drive guy who is not a loudmouth idiot, and I’ve gotten used to the morning guy. Lou Dean is now the voice of Henrico County’s telephone system.

I’ve finally been in Richmond long enough now to adapt to the culture of not appreciating change for change’s sake. How many Richmonders does it take to change a lightbulb?