Tuesday, March 7, 2000

'Early Show's' homespun 'Story' carries on Kuralt tradition

Somewhere in McMullen County, northwest of Corpus Christi, a young CBS reporter named Steve Hartman is about to pick up a phone book. As he has more than a dozen times before, he'll open the directory at random, jab his finger at a page and call whatever number he lands on. If somebody answers, and all goes as planned, that person's story, whatever it is, will end up on the CBS "Early Show."
   In a segment called "Everybody Has a Story," Hartman travels around the United States like a junior Charles Kuralt, visiting offbeat spots and interviewing ordinary folks who never expected to be profiled on national TV. Hartman chooses where he goes next by tossing a dart at a huge map of the country.
   Last Friday on the "Early Show," Hartman's dart landed in McMullen County, a sparsely populated part of South Texas encompassing the communities of Cross, Calliham, Tilden and Loma Alta. It's Hartman's first visit to Texas for the feature, which has sent him twice to Montana and Florida, with stops in Wyoming, Nevada, Ohio, Arizona, Washington and states in the Deep South.
   Sometimes the stories he finds are dramatic, but often they're just touching glimpses into the lives of ordinary Americans.
   In tiny Llewellen, Neb., Hartman met a birdhouse maker named Robert Johnson who desperately wants to meet a nice woman and get married. But he's shy and the local population is decidedly short of single prospects. There's exactly one unmarried woman in town and she's not interested. So, he told Hartman, he's hoping that someday a nice lady will stop by his birdhouse shop and fall in love with him.
   A few weeks ago in Seminole County, Okla., Hartman landed on the name Lula Morton. Her story turned out to be her long struggle to help an adopted son overcome alcoholism. At age 86, Lula, a retired preacher, prays daily for her son, who admitted on-camera that he has tried and failed repeatedly to stay sober. Hartman's interview with Lola and the troubled man wasn't slick and didn't shoot for a happy ending. It was just a touching slice of reality.
   The morning talk shows these days often seem like little more than promotional vehicles for movies, diet books and beauty products. "Everybody Has a Story," one of the few bright spots on the "Early Show," carries on Kuralt's homespun brand of reporting and puts the focus, if only for a few minutes, on people whose stories, in their very ordinariness, touch us all.
   Local media notes
   On Monday country station KFTX-FM/94.7 scrambled to regain control of its website, www.kftx.com, after a hacker posted a fake opening page praising McDonald's, Burger King and radio station KRYS-FM/99.1 (K-99).
   KFTX is owned by Whataburger.
   Station manager Bruce Nelson-Stratton said "we know who's behind it" but wouldn't say much more about the incident.
   KRIS meteorologist Bill Elias enjoyed his recent parachute jump so much that he's signed up for advanced free-fall classes at Beeville's Sky's the Limit skydiving center. Elias said he'll chronicle his training and his subsequent solo jumps for a three-part series on the NBC station's newscasts during May sweeps.
   And doesn't this sound like an Aaron Spelling series in the making? KIII morning anchor Michele Silva, KRIS noon anchor Allison Smith and KZTV nighttime anchor Nicole Henrich are living under one roof as housemates out on the Island.
  
  
  

 
Index of Elaine's columns | Arts & Entertainment | Restaurant Reviews | Best Bets: Today - The Week | Columns | Home Page

---

  © 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.