Up & Down The Broadcast Trail

rjheim10
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Exploring the personalities and backstories in a decades-long broadcasting career, including local TV and Radio Stations, the twists of fate, and why it was necessary to move on to the next chapters!

  1. Aug 14

    Here’s what you’ll see on S1 E5 of ”Up & Down The Broadcast Trail: WHP-TV Harrisburg”

    This is the teaser promo for "Up & Down The Broadcast Trail", the ongoing video podcast chronicling my adventures on the 'TV News Merry-Go-Round'! In this installment, when you watch the full episode (also on my YouTube page or on "TV Through the Tunnel of Time" TVTTTOT.com), you'll catch the behind the scenes impressions of those of us who were there, when I arrived at WHP-TV 21 in Harrisburg, PA, in the autumn of 1990, after 5 1/2 years in Miami at WCIX-TV.

  2. Aug 1

    ”UP & DOWN THE BROADCAST TRAIL: WHP-TV HARRISBURG” S1 E5

    Now, on TV Through the Tunnel of Time, let's go from Miami -- to Harrisburg?! That's right! For five-and-a-half years, I was part-time at WCIX-TV Miami, after a broken promise of being full-time if I worked that first year weekend's only! I learned my lesson, and took a step back, to the Medium Markets, sending out tapes all across the country. But it was my home high school year's area that called me back. Signed contract in hand, I became the weekend weatherman and 3 day-per-week feature/environmental reporter, at WHP-TV 21, starting in the Autumn of 1990, until I left for WJAR-TV Providence in March of 1993. Within 2 weeks of my arrival at WHP, the trap door opened up on that place too! The once proud last family owned AM/FM/TV combination properties in the country went bankrupt, just as me and dozens of others were hired to help take the decade-long perennial number 3 ranked station in the Harrisburg/York/Lancaster/Lebanon TV Market from the basement to tackle at least the number 2 station in the market, WHTM-TV, that was right across the street, both of us UHF stations, both in the shadow of the dominant and only VHF station in the market, WGAL-TV Channel 8 in Lancaster. Sit back and take it all in, the adventure, the highlights, the lowlights, the struggles, the betrayals, and successes too, in Season 1 Episode Five of "Up & Down the Broadcast Trail"!

  3. 09/12/2025

    “UP & DOWN THE BROADCAST TRAIL: WCIX-TV MIAMI (PART TWO)” S1 E4

    This is the second part of the two part video podcast at WCIX-TV Miami on "TV Through The Tunnel of Time", Season 1 Episode 4. Join me and Producer Jeff Lemlich (www.youtube.com/@Jeffers67), Director Pete McCoy, and Reporter Mark Tudino for the discussion and back-stories as to what it was like being at the station that went from a sleepy Independent station with a 10 O'Clock Newscast, to becoming the first Fox Affiliate in the country in the 1980s, to a full-blown CBS Owned & Operated station, then finally migrating from the Channel 6 to Channel 4 broadcast tower, improving coverage across the entire Miami/Ft. Lauderdale TV market. Along with all those changes, the on-air talent changes to boot, the politics of employment, the escape, some planned, others "to pursue other interests", and the toll that some of the stories took on those working to create those newscasts, including the tragic 1996 ValuJet Flight 592 crash in the Everglades. This episode also features some great bloopers culled through the years at WCIX-TV! Some of the "on the air" people discussed include John Roberts FOX NEWS, aka J.D. Roberts, Barbara Sloan, Giselle Fernandez, Beverly Counts-Rodriguez, John Hambrick, Jim Dyer, R.J. Heim, Gail Anderson, and Ed Berliner. Sit back and enjoy!

  4. 06/18/2025

    ”UP & DOWN THE BROADCAST TRAIL: WCIX-TV MIAMI (PART ONE)” S1 E3

    This 3rd installment in the series takes us to the crazy days in Miami, from the mid-1980s to the early '90s! I was hired as the part-time Weekend Weatherman, my third job in television, on the condition that if I worked every weekend for a full year, I would be hired full-time at that Independent WCIX Channel 6, that at the time was a steadfast but signal-challenged station. I was still working Monday through Friday as a Weatherman & Reporter at Palmer Cablevision's NewsWatch9 in Naples, FL (check Season 1 Episode 2 for THAT story!), but I was in my 20s and thought it would be doable! Seven days a week wouldn't last forever...or would it? In this episode, we'll explore the twists of fate, the challenges, the hopes --often dashed-- the dreams, the back-stories, the fun, the music, the changing faces, management, the hurricane threat, the work-arounds, all during the "Cocaine Cowboy" days in the Magic City Miami! Join me along with Producer Jeff Lemlich, Reporter Mark Tudino, and Director Pete McCoy, as we give insight and reminisce "Up & Down The Broadcast Trail"!

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About

Exploring the personalities and backstories in a decades-long broadcasting career, including local TV and Radio Stations, the twists of fate, and why it was necessary to move on to the next chapters!

Information

  • Creator
    rjheim10
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Up & Down The Broadcast Trail