Mark Sutton

Hi, I came upon your web blog while re/searching Punky Caldwell. (I have read all of your blogs now, and seen a bit of America that I wish I'd known myself - though it probably looks better, looking back! My Dad grew up "Up North" - Marshall and Fayette, Missouri - in the 20's and 30's). Most interesting, very entertaining, too. Tom has written well on a variety of subjects, quite a nice read! Now I have to stay late at work, so I can finish that which I was supposed to have done after my dinner break, which is when I logged on. Ah, well.
So, "Punky Caldwell": As a younger man, between 1973 and 1977, I lived and worked in Yakima, Washington. Pretty central in Washington State, Yakima, and home to "Tree Top Apple Juice". I worked at KIMA Television, where I had the wonderful opportunity to get some of the history of Broadcasting as experienced by a couple of guys who'd been through it, from start 'til then. (By the way, Tom, I really enjoyed your stories of early radio!). While there, I worked a bit for KYVE, the "Yakima Valley Educational" TV station. All volunteer because they had almost no budget. The station had a 1954-vintage transmitter (which was actually 2 years younger than KIMA's, but it wasn't as good a unit...we had a General Electric "klystron" transmitter, they had an RCA "Tetrode" transmitter, which was kind of a throwback.). They had one paid engineer who kept trying to retire but was too good-hearted to leave them without so he kept working. Our station had donated most of the startup equipment: the transmitter was from a "satellite" (as in "distant", it was built before Sputnik!) station in Moses Lake that fizzled, they had one of our original, tube-type Ampex Videotape (that's trademarked!) recorders...of course, in 1973, tubes were still common enough, but on their way out. Their transmitter / Master Control was in a building adjacent to and connected to our transmitter / MCR, so if "Old Hugh" didn't feel like coming up the hill, one of us would do what we could to help out. We knew their engineers pretty well, maybe it was because we had the only toilet and coffeepot on "the hill". (I guess the other stations just "watered the sagebrush". But they were all remotely controlled and unattended).
\n\n Oh, yeah, back to Punky: About 1975, KYVE held one of their first fundraisers over the air. I went down to give a hand at the studios, and one of the items being auctioned was an audio tape, being recorded right there as they played, of the "Punky Caldwell Trio". They were having fun, I was having fun, so I made the winning bid for the tape. I think it was $20 or $25. \n\n I was transferring a tape to a CD for a friend of a friend tonight (another reason I didn\'t finish my work tonight. But it was of his parent\'s wedding, and their 50th anniversary is coming next month, so it\'s a good thing!) and got to thinking about my tape and decided to look up "Punky Caldwell" on the web. Is he, do we think, "your" Punky Caldwell? Does anybody know what ever became of him?\n\n Now that I\'ve been looking this information up, I\'ll have to go find that tape. I\'m pretty sure I still have it. If I find it, anybody want a CD of it?\n\n Thanks, y\'all! Mark Sutton KATU Television, Engineering Department, Portland, Oregon msutton@katu.com\n\n\n\n",0]
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Oh, yeah, back to Punky: About 1975, KYVE held one of their first fundraisers over the air. I went down to give a hand at the studios, and one of the items being auctioned was an audio tape, being recorded right there as they played, of the "Punky Caldwell Trio". They were having fun, I was having fun, so I made the winning bid for the tape. I think it was $20 or $25.
I was transferring a tape to a CD for a friend of a friend tonight (another reason I didn't finish my work tonight. But it was of his parent's wedding, and their 50th anniversary is coming next month, so it's a good thing!) and got to thinking about my tape and decided to look up "Punky Caldwell" on the web. Is he, do we think, "your" Punky Caldwell? Does anybody know what ever became of him?
Now that I've been looking this information up, I'll have to go find that tape. I'm pretty sure I still have it. If I find it, anybody want a CD of it?
Thanks, y'all! Mark Sutton KATU Television, Engineering Department, Portland, Oregon msutton@katu.com