Ch. 4 special about Boomtown

[Mark Springer]

> 
>    1. Ch. 4 special about Boomtown on Sat. (Bob Nelson)

> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@gmail.com>
> To: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org, raccoonradio@gmail.com
> Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:05:20 -0400
> Subject: Ch. 4 special about Boomtown on Sat.
> Saw in one of the Boston papers that WBZ-TV 4 will pay tribute to Rex
> Trailer's  BOOMTOWN  this Sat., June 18, from 1 to 2 pm
> 
> from cbs4boston.com:
> 1:00PM - 2:00PM Rex Trailer's Boomtown Special [TV G]
> 
> http://www.rextrailer.com/the_show.html
> 


Well talk about "Taking Me back," as the Cheap Trick song goes.
Boomtown was a Saturday and Sunday staple at MY house alright. Later
in the morning, of course it was Rocky and Bullwinkle!
I actually was on Boomtown...it's quite a story.
The "tickets" to be on the show was actually a letter...we got up
really early one Saturday morning to drive from Manomet to Soldiers
Field Road... and my Mom couldn't find the letter. Now if memory
serves, we had waited quite a while to get it so it was a real bumme
for me and my bro and sis.
Well, Mom wrote a letter back explaining what had happened and lo and
behold very quickly there came a new aticket to the show! My Mom was
very impressed that they actually read the letters they got :)
Anyway, a couple of weeks or so later we saddled up, picked up my
brother's friend (we had 4 slots, I guess) and headed off to WBZ.
The lobby was full of kids and parents, of course.
Someone herded (no pun intended lol) us into the studio. We got to see
a lot of the technical spaces and sets on the way in. The Boomtown set
was pretty big, obviously.
Now, being the observant young man that I was, I noticed a member of
the production staff discretely taking a kid off into the sunset. I
wasn't sure why, but my observation paid off later.
In a few minutes another staffer told us that if we were asked our
names, we should speak up in a good clear voice. Not being
particularly shy, I took that advice to heart.
So... Pretty soon I was asked my name, and I replied in a good clear
voice... and found myself Sheriff of Boomtown!
Loyal viewers will remember that all the kids would parade through the
door of the Sheriff's office while the Sheriff and Deputy compared
their faces to the Wanted Poster fo that day's villain.
Guess where that kid was going...Yup, my dilligent police work paid
off as we nabbed him right away!
I still have my Boomtown Sheriff badge :)
Rex Trailer and Pablo were also tireles suppoters of the Muscular
Dystrophy Association, and they encouraged kids to put on fundraising
"Carnival's for Muscular Dystrophy." My family and our neighborhood
friends did that for several years. The reward, apart from helping out
a very worthy charity and the lessons it taught us young people, was
an end of summer event at Pleasure island hosted by WBZ, et al. That
was always a lot of fun, especially seeing Rex do western work with
plenty of space (I was never brave enought to let him doa bullwhip
trick on me lol).
It was very sad when Pablo (Dick Kilbride) passed away, and,
appropriately, an MDA Summer Camp was named in his honor.

73's
Mark (WL7BCT) in Bethel, Alaska