"…IT'S CHANGED MORE IN THE LAST SEVEN YEARS THAN THE LAST FORTY…" 


Jim in the hallway of FOX13

As the 21st century dawned WTVT was still on top but not complacent about maintaining a lead in the market.  On-air talent was unusually stable for a major-market station with long-serving anchors and reporters popular with viewers.  Behind the scenes, Jim and production kept pace with the digital revolution.  "It's probably changed more in the last seven years than the last forty.  Year after year we got new equipment like the Thompson switcher.  I wouldn't dare try to get on it anymore because it's highly technical but we have great people who do.  Our Quantel graphics with transition elements and sounds, new digital audio board…things are going really, really quickly.  Mike House, Jim Wahl, and the graphics people, give us a great look and there's no standing still.  In 2007, a few months before I left, we got a new set that's consistent with other Fox O & Os."


BIG 13 webmaster Mike Clark on the new FOX13 news set (2007)

"General Manager Bob Linger, News Director Phil Metlin, VP Creative services Mike House and Design Director Jim Wahl worked tirelessly to adapt the new Fox set with our needs," states Jim.  "Chief Engineer Mike Howey and the engineering techs made sure the studio was wired and ready when the new set arrived. There were bumps in the road but these managers gave it their all and all the advanced planning paid off."

"We've got between twelve to fifteen plasmas on the news set along with plasma trees and plasmas behind the anchors.  We have a Rosco black floor, lots of color on the walls, and a hot new weather center that's tandem with Roy's original weather office allowing the weathermen to stay out in the studio and operate their show from there.  It's a Fox look, a lot of bells and whistles, and it's really a beautiful effect.  And to think how we used to shoot through a window in the wall of Studio A into the newsroom where Tom Wright was sitting." 


No job too small for Peaker!

During periodic times when production personnel were on vacation and Jim came up short-handed, he would to return to his TV roots and get back behind the camera.  "I ran camera to give some of our people time off, and I practiced on the jib and it's very different…you can boom, tilt, zoom, and focus at the same time and it takes all your senses.  We've got people who do all that AND move the tripod the jib sits on.  We thought we were good back in the day but these kids are really good." 
 

"…THE REUNION WAS ONE OF TWO OR THREE BEST EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE…"


On-air promo graphic for WTVT's 50th Anniversary (2005)

On Friday, April 1, 2005, WTVT celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a day-long retrospect of the station's history.  Jim appeared on-camera (a rarity for him!) to talk about the station's technical achievements.  A series of promotional spots played throughout April reminding viewers that WTVT had a glorious past with lots more to come. 

 

Saturday, April 2nd, was Jim's day off but there he was at the station!  This time Jim wasn't working; he was being a tour guide to scores of former WTVT colleagues who were attending the BIG 13/WTVT 50th Anniversary Celebration.  "I led the tours through the new studio as some of the alumni came through and to see the look on their faces when they saw the changes.  It was great.  Later at the evening reunion event, I was on 'sensory overload' and every time I looked around I saw someone I haven't seen in thirty years.  I saw John Shirley, Fred Hoedt, some of the news and weather guys and it was great.  The number of people there was amazing…around 250 people.  It was an absolutely great night.  The reunion was one of the two or three best experiences of my life." 


 The 2005 WTVT Employee Reunion

 
The reunion's master of ceremonies, Ray Blush, commented upon Jim's eternally young looks.  "I'd say Jim has some of what Dick Clark (known as 'America's Oldest Teenager') has in him."  Everyone in the room agreed.   

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