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We had but four channels, the first three each broadcasting from Sioux City — KCAU Channel 9 ABC, KTIV Channel 4 NBC, and KMEG Channel 14 CBS, as well as Vermillion KUSD Channel 2 PBS. In terms of children’s programming, KUSD PBS actually went off the air during the afternoon and only came back on say at 4:30 or 5 p.m. leaving us kids to have to incredulously choose between watching the soaps or even the then ongoing Watergate hearings.
Reception and sound quality were also far from good or consistent. All Storm Lakers knew the sound (not of silence) but of static and we were all skilled at twisting and turning our TV’s rabbit ears again and again trying to bring and keep a better, clearer picture.
If you were an NFL fan, with no YouTube, no ESPN and no sports bars — if your favorite team was not shown during any given Sunday afternoon, your only hope of getting to see at least a sliver of the game was if Howard Cosell would include the high points during his wildly popular but all too fleeting and quick Monday Night Football “Halftime Highlights.”
In this background and context, with its crystal-clear picture appearing one magical fall day in 1974 (I was in third grade and was mad to hopefully get to watch more Green Bay Packers games, as all KMEG Channel 14 ever showed was the much more successful in those years four-time Super Bowl qualifying Minnesota Vikings), the coming of cable television to Storm Lake and going from four to 14 channels in one giant swoop and leap seemed like nothing less than a miracle!
Suddenly, we had three to four ABC affiliates, NBC affiliates and CBS affiliates coming, in addition (to Sioux City) from Des Moines and Omaha. And then in 1978, WTCG Atlanta the “Super Station” was added with Storm Lake Cable further strengthened by adding WGN Chicago right before Christmas 1979. Believe me, as a child I never watched another afternoon soap opera or congressional hearing or sat in front of the TV in the late afternoon endlessly waiting for PBS to come back on the air.
And the miracle-worker who made this happen was a warm, witty, finely spoken and highly presentable man named Dick Gaffney. And in bringing Cable TV to Storm Lake, Mr. Gaffney also set up a local cable access channel — “Storm Lake Cable” which also had a weather channel. It was not exactly the Weather Channel we now know today in terms of graphics but still a place where you could readily check the temperature and if you were a school pupil regularly check the forecast as part of praying for snow and school to be cancelled or late the next day.
Storm Lake Cable featured a variety of programming, but by far its signatory and most popular show was “Storm Lake Plays Bingo,” featuring Mr. Gaffney emceeing assisted by his daughter Roxy with both being simply excellent in their roles. Their easy conversation and the playful, light-hearted banter between them was a key part of the success of the show. Despite being shown live in the same Tuesday evening time slot as ABC’s monster hit “Happy Days,” hundreds of Storm Lake families (including mine) chose to watch “Storm Lake Plays Bingo” even over Richie and Fonzie. And although we never quite did, always just lacking to cover a single box or two, each member of my family dreamed of one of us winning in Bingo!
And in those pre-gadget days especially during the long, cold arctic winters Storm Lake suffered in the 1970s, bowling was at the top of the heap as far as entertainment went in Storm Lake. Bowling was so popular that my own mother who was not much into sports (she just never had much exposure as a young girl in rural Iowa in the 1940s and 1950s) nevertheless bowled. Mom even had her own bowling ball! And Storm Lake Cable responded to this highly popular mass Storm Lake recreational activity by organizing and showing each Sunday afternoon with maybe a three-hour taped delay, “Let’s Go Bowling” with Mr. Gaffney serving as the announcer with expert commentary provided by Phil Stough (himself a fantastic and accomplished bowler).
My family then lived in a house on Highview Drive right across the railroad tracks and West Milwaukee Avenue from Melody Lanes. The venerable Storm Lake bowling alley which burned to the ground after being struck by lightning in the early summer of 1977 — a tragedy for all of us who lived in the neighborhood and for the entire city as we collectively lost our bowling alley. It was not replaced for two long years until Storm Lake Bowl on North Lake Avenue finally opened in the fall of 1979.
With myself being a candy fiend as a child, Melody Lanes was the closest place in Storm Lake from our house where I could buy sweets. It also had incredible pinball. I especially remember the Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon pinball machine, it was awesome. And to top it off, Melody Lanes had great food from burgers and french fries to pizza.
Likely as a result of our proximity to Melody Lanes, I was a proud and active member of the Bantam Bowling League, bowling two games each Saturday afternoon (overall cost was 90 cents with shoes free). We had right after the great blizzard of January 1975, a Bantam league-wide designated qualifying day (best two games total score got to be on TV) which worked out well for me as I think I bowled like a 114 and 124 or so (pretty good for my age), meaning eight days later I got to be one of two contestants on “Let’s Go Bowling” — bowling actually against one of my best friends, Matt Oatman, also a West Schooler.
Both of us being terribly nervous, I lost to Matt I think 89-84 with each of us bowling very poorly. Mr. Gaffney and Mr. Stough, with their insightful analytical skills ,were much too kind with their supportive comments as they could have ripped each of us for awful bowling as we each bowled like 30 to 40 pins below our qualifying scores. My lame excuse over the years was always that my mother had made me wear fancy church clothes to bowl since I was going to be on Storm Lake-wide TV, whereas Matt got to wear sporting clothes.
Matt though, to his great credit, came through in the clutch as I can still remember Mr. Stough dramatically framing the situation in the 10th frame commenting that “Matt Oatman has to mark in the 10th frame to beat Kregg Halstead.” Which Matt did, getting a spare and then winning the match on the extra after his spare 10th frame ball.
Despite losing, it was great fun and incredibly exciting to be on TV, and my prize for qualifying for the televised final was an all-family gift certificate to eat at the Ken-A-Bob. My parents liked that and it for sure was great eats!
I indeed used to live for Saturday afternoon Bantam Bowling League and 50 years later, still miss Melody Lanes. A couple of years ago I was delighted to reconnect by chance with Mr. Stough on Facebook as he was always so polite and kind to me as himself a Melody Lanes employee waiting again and again on me as a little West Schooler buying candy. Who says children don’t remember acts of kindness from adults.
And Storm Lake never had a finer citizen than Dick Gaffney, a visionary in forever bringing Cable TV to The City Beautiful. His positive and enduring legacy continues every time any Storm Laker from East and West Fifth to Bel Air Beach to Emerald Park turns on the TV and enjoys 24/7 news, choice programming, a variety of movies, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA games, etc., as prior to Mr. Gaffney such opportunities were extremely difficult and limited. He was our very own Ted Turner.
Kregg Halstead graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1984. He enjoys sharing his cherished childhood memories of life in Storm Lake during the 1970s and 80s.
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