April 23, 1969 — CJ SKREEN TV NOTES (Seattle Times) Marilyn Hill, also known as TV’s Miss Late Date, is altar-bound…KIRO-TV’s revamp of it’s nightly newscast, with Clif Kirk, former Los Angeles newsman as anchorman, has been postponed a week. Eyewitness News, the new tag for Channel 7’s local News Alert, will move up effective May 5 to 6 p.m., where it will lock horns with network newscasts on both Channels 4 and 5 — a gesture that can only be described as suicidal…Further society note: Victor Stredicke, The Times radio columnist, is looking for a wedding ring…Don Courtney, former Seattle disc jockey and more recently advertising agency man, will become manager of KTVW-TV (Channel 13) May 1st.
Lou Robbins — Admin/Editor | Airchecks
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I had the pleasure of working at KIRO during my undergrad years in the early 70’s and often had coffee with Cliff Kirk in the cafeteria. He was a level headed man, and not star struck like typical TV anchors. He gave me tips on my KIRO and KIRO-FM news casts. I appreciated him.
Cliff Kirk seemed to be a laid-back kind of guy. A good news anchor.
Now did Sandy Hill came at the same time with Clif Kirk?
Sandy Hill hosted the afternoon movie and Dialing For Dollars contest prior to joining the evening news program.
Clif Kirk died in 1979.
Jason…Courtenay was earlier in the sixties I think..up to about 1964. That very distinctive voice …”This is KJR serving the PNW from Seattle” and variations of…from about 1965 into the 70s was a mystery voice even to Gary Burleigh. I contacted Pat and cleared it up…..it was his buddy Joe Long out of KLIF Dallas…who was actually the newsman and maybe the first guy to know of JFK’s death. That video I did of KJR Golden Years ’65 to ’69ish is all Joe Long IDs with one by Lan…not sounding at all like himself.
Cliff Kirk reminded me of “Ted Baxter” with his Voice of Doom delivery
The Joe Long IDs are the ones I remember best. This was the peak period for me, as a listener. Great music and great personalities on KJR.
I wonder if that is a misspelling of Courtenay, as Don Courtenay was the huge voice behind KJR in mid-1960s, Check the KJR Audio here: https://qzvx.com/sounds/