KIRO-TV curmudgeon Lou Guzzo passed away June 29th......

[Bongwater]

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021315561_guzzoobitxml.html

Lou's unwavering support of Anti-Teen Dance Ordinances in Seattle during the '80s after a mini-riot outside a Seattle show featuring The Circle Jerks and Bellingham punk band The Dehumanizers prompted The Dehumanizers to record their 1986 track "Kill Lou Guzzo", which sampled his KIRO-TV anti-punk rants. KIRO and Lou Guzzo sued, but the publicity of the suit only made the song a bigger local underground punk hit and I think it was dropped or settled. I heard KIRO and Lou realized this could potentially backfire and gain even more unwanted attention to KIRO, Guzzo and his family (the song also explicitly mentioned Lou's daughter and wife.) To say nothing of The Dehumanizers themselves.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7NJsW74zSE

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

He was a part-time staff member at UW School of Communications when I went there. At that point he was mostly out of P/I and working on Dixy Lee Ray campaign. He taught writing...and wasn't amused with those of us who wrote broadcast teases as would-be newspaper headlines. I found it very ironic that just a couple years later he found himself on-air at KIRO-TV having to write that exact style of copy! In recent years he lived not too far from me at a retirement center in Newcastle. Sometimes it was hard to find...but he DID have a good sense of humor!

 

[Bongwater]

He was a part-time staff member at UW School of Communications when I went there. At that point he was mostly out of P/I and working on Dixy Lee Ray campaign. He taught writing...and wasn't amused with those of us who wrote broadcast teases as would-be newspaper headlines. I found it very ironic that just a couple years later he found himself on-air at KIRO-TV having to write that exact style of copy! In recent years he lived not too far from me at a retirement center in Newcastle. Sometimes it was hard to find...but he DID have a good sense of humor!

I never met him. I'm sure he was probably a nice, well meaning guy underneath his crustiness. But he just came across to me from watching him on KIRO as a old grouch (as he likely did to most other teenagers at that time.) It was pretty much hearing the punk rockers at my high school talk about this song and the KIRO/Guzzo legal action making waves in The Rocket and Maximumrocknroll that I still remember Lou Guzzo. The whole thing lasted for about a year and quietly disappeared.......

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

We've lost many P/I legends in recent years, as well as veteran reporters from the Times. Sad ... because that journalism was so much more authentic. They actually FACT CHECKED stuff, more concerned about credibility than hair spray. Contrast that to Boston coverage by CNN ... where they were literally blurting out every rumor that came across live on national TV; or WORSE ... compare that to the Fox/MSNBC coverage that is designed to instill a specific point of view in the audience.

At first I was sad to see newspapers withering away ... then sad to see radio stations glumped together into corporate pods ... now sad to see the same thing happening to TV ownership (THREE major upheavals in this market ownership just this year with Fisher/Sinclair, Belo/Gannett, Tribune/Everything).

 

[qzvx]

Guzzo's disdain for teen dances goes back long before the 1980s.... http://www.seatacmedia.com/?s=guzzo

 

[searadiofreak]

Lou thrived in the 80's on KIRO-TV with his commentary. He was gruff, but personable, serious, but with a sense of humor, a good tv performer though that was not his chosen profession. I rememember him with Gary Justice, and even with Aaron Brown in later years. It was a nice combo. R.I.P., Lou, you made a mark.