What goes up

July 16, 2017 6:48 AM

Jerry Foster and the birth of modern television news. A longread biography of the man who upended television news.
posted by pjern (10 comments total)

Jesus, what a life this guy has had. Some of the stunts that they describe him doing would come off as impossible CGI bullshit if you saw them in a movie.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:53 AM on July 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Great article. Readers should be aware that it contains some pretty brutally graphic descriptions, however.
posted by MrVisible at 8:04 AM on July 16, 2017

Great read, thanks for posting.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 1:32 PM on July 16, 2017

Very interesting, indeed. Thanks.
posted by MovableBookLady at 1:55 PM on July 16, 2017

This was fascinating, because the first occupation I remember I wanted to do when I was a little boy, was a helicopter pilot. Sadly, that did not happen, and sadly, I could not find any vids of Jerry Foster on the web...
posted by Laotic at 2:19 PM on July 16, 2017

Laotic

Here you go.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:43 PM on July 16, 2017

Grew up in Phoenix during the years he worked at KPNX. He was as much of a Valley institution as Wallace & Ladmo. Pretty sure he managed to visit every school with a field big enough to safely land his helicopter once a year. Definitely an outsized personality to go with the pilot gig.
posted by dantsea at 5:12 PM on July 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Good grief, what a great read.
posted by davidmsc at 10:24 PM on July 16, 2017

Fantastic. I've been a fan of Jack Hitt's writing for decades (ever since the days of Spy magazine), and this is just one more reason why.

Here are his contributions to This American Life, which include one of the funniest things I've ever heard, "Opening Night."
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:03 AM on July 17, 2017

Now I understand why Arnie Pye in the Sky was always trying to throw his shoe at things outside his helicopter.
posted by maxsparber at 11:28 AM on July 17, 2017