One day the station's only director
(ailed to report for work As a result,
I got another on-the-spot promotion.
From tractor driver to television di-
rector in seven months—it could only
have happened in Arkansas, a state
which, atter all, does claim to be the
"Land of Opportunity.''
Because our television station was
located in one ol the world's smallest
TV markets and was challenging estab-
lished Memphis outlets for viewers,
survival was a daily goal. For a number
ol years our station was an independent
operation—meaning we had no network
affiliation and were forced to supply
all  programming.
This need to fill ai' ti^e'^ade Jones-
boro's Channel R a Tfir.rn '.->i amateur
country-music singers who^i? hearts'
desires were to ' pick and 91 1' on
prime-time TV. Tnn only prerequisites
for having one's own show were (1}
a guitar and (2; a ft end ™ relative
with enough money ic ouy a haif hour
commercial sponsorship for 13 weeks.
The ability to sing was helpful but was
by no means necessary.
On Saturday and Sunday nights, pick-
up trucks from throughout the Ozark
foothills would converge on Channel 8.
Kids, grandmothers, well-to-do doctors,
$40-per-week waitresses and would-be
performers from all walks ol life would
come to audition for a chance to ap-
pear on Hillbilly Hootcnanny, Country
Junction and other equally memorable
programs.   From the  opening  hoedown
the closing hymn. Channel 8's brand
of

hearsed, unpredictable and packed with
hard-sell, "down-home'' commercial
pitches.
I logged hundreds of hours directing
these country-music spectaculars—
issuing such commands as: "Camera
Two, give me a shot of the sack of
flour. . . . Camera One. I need a close-
up of the guy with the jew's-harp.
That's right, the fellow standing next —»
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to his bird dog. . . . Two, swing over
to the photograph of the cotton picker.
. . . One, tell the banjo player either to
find a spittoon or get off the set. . . .
Two, lock down your camera on a shot
of the steel guitar and get a microphone
for the guy who just walked in rolling
the tractor tire. .. . One, give me a wide
cover shot of the entire south end of
the studio. I think I've just lost control
of the show. . . ."
Of course, my seat-of-the-pants di-
recting was constantly being aided by
on-camera advice from the performers
themselves. "Son, turn that big Kodak
there around on Orval and his git box
so as he can light into a little 'Wild-
wood Flower'. . . . And if you folks
out there got any dedications or re-
quests, you just call up our directors
to let us know."
Despite Channel 8's popularity with
area country-music fans, the station
had difficulty in attracting community
support and interest. A major reason
for this was that the studio and offices
had been built out in the woods far
from town. The place was so remote
that our visitors were mostly hunters or
wandering Boy Scout troops asking for
directions back to civilization. An old
logging road was our only physical
link with the outside world. And since
the station's power came from a rural
electric cooperative, Channel 8 was
knocked off the air each time too many
electric milking machines were plugged
in along the line.
Because of the station's struggles
to survive economically, we rarely pro-
duced a program—regardless of length
or complexity—with more technical per-
sonnel on duty than two cameramen,
an engineer and one hapless soul who
functioned as director/switcher/audio
man/projectionist/telephone operator.
A television control room—with its
monitors, meters, communications cir-
cuits and electronic gadgetry—is al-
ways a hectic place to work, even when
the operation is fully staffed. But Chan-
TV GUIDE NOVEMBER 20. 1971
nel 8's two-man control room not only
sharpened a director's reflexes, it
tugged at his sanity.
Besides the usual director's respon-
sibilities of making decisions and issu-
ing instructions, I was also required to
select video sources with my right hand
while flipping audio switches and con-
trolling sound levels with my left hand.
At the same time I had to scurry back
and forth juggling slides and loading
film projectors. Jogging was a neces-
sary exercise in the Channel 8 control
room long before it became a popular
national pastime.
Needless to say, Channel 8's pro-
gramming continuously teetered on the
verge of complete chaos. And when
it tottered too far, disaster might ensue
in the form of a rollicking series of
audio/visual goofs or in an extended
telecast of the director's favorite station
identification or "technical difficulty"
slide.
During moments of directorial catas-
trophe I had a bad habit of getting
my cameras (all two of them) confused.
I would yell for Camera One to get a
shot but would push the button for
Camera Two instead. I soon learned
that this recurrent camera miscom-
mand of "Ready One, Take Two . . ."
was certain to treat viewers to un-
scheduled glimpses of elbows, ear-
lobes, and fuzzily kinetic camera work.
The various station managers who
took the helm at Channel 8 were al-
ways encouraging directors and en-
gineers alike to exercise their imagi-
nation and ingenuity. This is a positive
way of saying that there were never
any production budgets and seldom
any equipment working properly. For
example, the Channel 8 concept of
set designing was to figure out today
how to rearrange the same background
flats, curtains and set pieces we had
used yesterday and the day before. One
particularly unkempt plastic potted
plant—affectionately dubbed "Matilda"
—was shown so many times on dif- —>
41