WMUR

[Doug Drown]

As I said the other day, there was an endearing small-city hokeyness to 
Uncle Gus's show, and it certainly is true that a lot of Masachusetts kids 
watched it.  I was one of them.  (FWIW, I was a big fan of Salty Brine on 
Providence's Channel 12, too.  Living in the hills of Worcester County with 
a roof antenna, it was like having the best of all possible worlds: TV from 
Boston, Providence, Manchester, Hartford, Mount Washington [a little snowy], 
and Albany [Mount Greylock].  When cable arrived, it was almost 
superfluous.)

I can remember moments when Gus would have to get a little firm with an 
unruly kid, but he was never unruffled and was never disrespectful toward 
the children.  He never talked down to them, either.  He always struck me as 
a nice man who liked kids.  Bob Emery did, too, which is why I always 
doubted the story about him.  Heck, he made a long career of interaction 
with children on both TV and radio.  How could one do that and dislike them?

Gus Bernier really WAS Channel 9 for decades.  IIRC, he did a lot at the 
station besides hosting the kiddie show.

-Doug


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>
To: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@verizon.net>; "Bud Yacomb" 
<outofthebusiness@gmail.com>; <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 1:56 PM
Subject: Re: WMUR


>
> --- Doug Drown <revdoug1@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> >I have often wondered whether Uncle Gus actually
>> hated kids or if parents
>> >who brought kids to be in the audience of a
>> low-budget TV show generally
>> raised brats.
>
> From what I saw from watching Channel 9 over the
> years, Gus Bernier seemed to be a very down-to-earth
> person, at least it seemed that way on the air.  He
> was an ICON in New Hampshire television.  Even down
> here in the Boston area, people knew about Channel 9
> and Uncle Gus.
>
> As for Bob "Big Brother" Emery, this was not the first
> time I've heard about him not really "big" on kids.
> I'm sure everybody has had a bad day with a bunch of
> kids (especially when they're really bratty).
>
> Who knows....  since both Bob Emery and Gus Bernier
> are now deceased, we'll never know.
>
>
>
>
>>
>> I don't know about Uncle Gus Bernier, but there is a
>> long-standing urban
>> legend (that has been going around Massachusetts for
>> at least 35 years) to
>> the effect that "Big Brother" Bob Emery on WBZ-TV
>> couldn't stand children
>> and was once heard to make an exceedingly nasty
>> remark about them one day
>> before his mike had been turned off.
>> I've never quite believed it; I was on the show once
>> I when I was a little
>> kid and he seemed like a heck of a nice guy.  A
>> friend of mine from my
>> college days, who was raised in Needham, swears it's
>> true and that he heard
>> Emery say it.
>>
>> . . . And then there's the story about Channel 5's
>> Bozo (Frank Avruch) and
>> the squirrel joke.  We won't get into that.
>>
>> (Donna, can you confirm or deny any of this ---?)
>>
>> -Doug
>>
>>
>
>
>
> 
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