Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Alan Sloane dies at 84

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Alan Price Sloane
Born October 29, 1926 ~ Passed on January 20, 2011

Alan was born and raised in Oxford, Ohio. He served in the Merchant Marine at the age of 17 (with his parents approval) during the closing days of World War II. He returned to Oxford and completed his degree at Miami University graduating in 1948. He was drafted and served in the Army during the Korean War. His professional broadcasting career spanned an extraordinary 60 years beginning with his first job as a radio DJ in Cleveland hosting a late night format with romantic music. His talent took him from Cleveland radio to a position in Dallas with WFAA-TV Channel-8 as their first Weather Anchor, and co-host of a television cooking show, to WWL-TV in New Orleans where he hosted a noon talk show with a "live" in-house band led by trumpet virtuoso Al Hurt. His next move was to WAGA-TV in Atlanta where his humor and style was noticed by a Hollywood talent scout who selected him to host a bi-centennial celebration of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind. The event, staged at the Loews Grand Theater, the site of the film's original premier in 1939. Alan introduced and interviewed David O. Selznick, Olivia deHavilland and dozens of visiting celebrities including actors George Murphy and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Shortly after the event, he was offered an "on-air" position with KCOP-TV 13 in Los Angeles. During his tenure with KCOP he was the West Coast host of "The Advocate" and also hosted a variety of entertaining syndicated television shows produced by Bill Burrud Productions including the American West (featured in 102 markets nationally) and This Exciting World. In addition he hosted the original Los Angeles "Dialing For Dollars" show for KCOP for over 7 years. The highly poplar program (#2 in the market, just behind #1 "As The World Turns") was formatted as a daily one hour talk show from Noon to 1:00 p.m. featuring lively celebrity interviews with authors, actors, artists - a format that suited Alan's rapier wit and style. His busy schedule during those years also included hosting the annual "Holiday Lane Parade" coverage each Christmas, entertaining at VA hospitals and hundreds of personal appearances.
In 1969 Alan moved to KABC-TV 7 in Los Angeles where he was the weekday Weather Anchor for the 5, 6, and 11:00p.m. news broadcasts and also worked special assignments for ABC Sports. He served as Pit Announcer for the Can-Am auto race series - often flying the "red-eye" from L.A. to the East Coast, returning late Sunday nights in time for his Monday weather broadcasts.
Alan covered Track & Field events for ABC at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and the ill-fated 1972 Olympic in Munich. While at KABC-TV , he received two Emmy Nominations (1 award), and while at KCOP he was nominated three times and received 2 Emmys. He also made numerous appearances on the popular "Love Boat" television show and appeared in national commercials for Ford Thunderbird and Kraft Cheez Whiz.
After a management shakeup at KABC, Alan created a Business Travel Weather show concept. He was able to convince American Airlines of the show's merit. He then offered the complete package to the then fledgling national "Financial News Network" (now MSNBC). He went on-air at the Network in 1982 as National Weather Anchor with his daily early morning and mid-afternoon Business and Agricultural Weather shows which also included interviews with business newsmakers. After six years with the network, Alan decided to retire - for the first time - and relocated to Las Vegas in 1988. He had often covered Las Vegas news stories for KABC, including the infamous MGM fire. So, he was well acquainted with the area. Within less than a year of retiring, he was approached by the local NBC Affiliate, KVBC-TV 3 to work part-time as the station's Weekend Weather Anchor. A year later, the station's primary weekday Weather Anchor abruptly left and Alan took over the position, working full time for the next 7 years! He also hosted a half-hour weekend program titled "Action Seniors". He retired, again, in 1997, but continued to be active - developing and hosting a weekly radio show titled "FYI The Radio Show" in Las Vegas.
Alan relocated to Carmel Valley in September, 2008 and subsequently hosted a weekly television show "Choices" at Noon on the NBC affiliate KSBW-TV 8. The show was sponsored by Monterey based Choice Home Health Care.
From his 20's into his 80's, Alan continued to be an intuitive interviewer, charming and literate, always putting his guests at ease, and knowing instinctively how to draw them into a lively conversation for the audience.
These are only a few of the highlights of a life lived to the fullest.
Alan is survived by his wife Lynne, sister Ann Leech (Canton, Ohio)
sons Lance (Studio City, CA.), Devin (Bhusto Arsizio, Italy), David (Fort Worth, Texas) daughter Gail Munger (Indianapolis, Indiana) - Grandchildren; Ryder, Jack, Matteo, Marco and Leonardo Sloane, and Joshua and Rebekah Munger
Services are scheduled for January 29, 2011 at The Lakes Lutheran Church - 8200 W. Sahara, Las Vegas, Nevada. A Celebration of Life follows at Red Rock Country Club in Las Vegas.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alfred Price Sloane Scholarship at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The family is currently organizing the scholarship through the Alumni Association.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Fort Worth DWI No Refusal Weekend

New Year's Eve starts a "No Refusal" weekend in Dallas Fort Worth.

Law enforcement officials are saying for drivers, that means if a driver is pulled over on suspicion of DWI and they refuse the standard field sobriety test, officers will place them under arrest. Frankly, this more disinformation for the media because this has always been the case (being arrested when they refuse.) Drivers should continue to stand on the rights to refuse breath and blood test.

County and Municipal jails in the Dallas Fort Worth area had judges on site over the holiday to sign search warrants, as well as having a nurse available to draw blood for the purposes of determining if a driver is legally intoxicated. Some smaller police departments took those arrested directly to hospitals for blood samples after the warrant was signed.

Alcohol-related fatalities are the commonly stated reason behind the "No Refusal Law." However I have seen no evidence it makes a difference.