Pet Peeves

[rogerkirk]

"Doug Drown" reminisced:

>I'm reminded of the late William Pearce, the announcer for WGBH who 
>was best known for hosting the BSO and Boston Pops broadcasts.  
>He had a wonderful distinguished Cantabrigian accent, but it was 
>actually derived from his upbringing in Hebron, Maine.  

I did not know that!  (And I come from the neighboring town of Mechanic Falls)

>His original aspiration was to become a Baptist minister.  I would 
>have loved to have heard him preach!

I was fortunate enough to have worked with William at WGBH while I ran Master Control during the day.  Among his many talents he was a talented restorer of frames for paintings.

<Nostalgia_Mode>
Along with being Booth Announcer for Channel 2, he also kept the official log (back in the day when it was a not-so-trivial legal document) - a duty performed by Master Control during the day, when the 21-Inch Classrom was in session and breaks were slides with background music.  I can still recall clearly that day when (at 4:55) he was about to go on duty in the booth and Traffic had not yet sent down the evening log.  He inquired as to its whereabouts and was told that it was "coming."  His response, half-glasses perched almost at nose's end, his voice un-raised, maintaining his calm demeanor and ever-mellifluous tone, was "So's #$%^ing Christmas!"  The log appeared promptly. 
</Nostalgia_Mode>