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My brother was in town this weekend and we were discussing a common topic, the weather. It was a pretty raw weekend here in Atlanta.

Anyway, the subject of Frank Deal came up. As kids, we always loved watching Frank Deal give his weather forecasts on WGHP Channel 8 (High Point). Frank Deal was an "Accu-Weather" man (vs. National Weather Service) and his forecasts were always delivered with energy and humor that was unique to its time. I could not wait until the six o' clock news to watch Frank Deal and to get a laugh, along with the forecast.

Anyway, I looked on line but could not find what he was up to these days. Is he still alive? If so, I know he must be pretty old by now.

Just wanted to see if anyone remembered him. He is an icon of my youth!

-EarlJam

According to this page, Deal was retired and living in a nursing home as of October 2008. The relevant text is about 2/3 of the way down the page.
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/inde ... _lled.html

And this item has some pictures of a visit he paid to the Fox Charlotte newsroom in September 2007. He looks better than the notion of nursing home residence might suggest.
http://community.foxcharlotte.com/blogs ... _FOX8_Sept

Thanks Wilson! This is awesome. Going to pass along to my brother for a continued trip down memory lane. Happy to hear that, at least as of last year, he's still around.

-EarlJam

I lived in Winston Salem for three years after graduation and I remember Frank Deal's weather forecasts. Didn't have cable back then - it wasn't available in the neighborhood yet, so channel 8 was about all we could get clearly.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Didn't have cable back then - it wasn't available in the neighborhood yet, so channel 8 was about all we could get clearly.

I bet your phone had a cord, too!

wilson wrote:

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Didn't have cable back then - it wasn't available in the neighborhood yet, so channel 8 was about all we could get clearly.

I bet your phone had a cord, too!

So many additional smart aleck comments, so little time...

Oh, wait: you mean they had electricity and television back then?

ArkieDukie wrote:

wilson wrote:

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Didn't have cable back then - it wasn't available in the neighborhood yet, so channel 8 was about all we could get clearly.

I bet your phone had a cord, too!

So many additional smart aleck comments, so little time...

Oh, wait: you mean they had electricity and television back then?

1977. Yeah, phones had cords, at least most of them, we had electricity, but it cost less than 8 cents/kwh, and televisions were really big when they were 25" (measured diagonally, of course). My TV was 19" - I bought the GE because it had the best color picture in the store (Miller Arrington in WS) but it didn't have a remote. Remotes were too costly an option.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

ArkieDukie wrote:So many additional smart aleck comments, so little time...

Oh, wait: you mean they had electricity and television back then?

1977. Yeah, phones had cords, at least most of them, we had electricity, but it cost less than 8 cents/kwh, and televisions were really big when they were 25" (measured diagonally, of course). My TV was 19" - I bought the GE because it had the best color picture in the store (Miller Arrington in WS) but it didn't have a remote. Remotes were too costly an option.

That was just after you traded your Model T, correct...

wilson wrote:

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Didn't have cable back then - it wasn't available in the neighborhood yet, so channel 8 was about all we could get clearly.

I bet your phone had a cord, too!

The phones were heavy too, with steel bottoms and plastic rotary dials (at least in our house). I remember this well because once during a fight, my brother beat the hell out of me with one of them one day. Jesus. It hurt.................a lot.

-EarlJam

Memba party lines? You answered according to how many rings you heard.

Our family doctor's phone number was #4. My father's business was #33. Can anybody top that?
Love, Ima

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:Memba party lines? You answered according to how many rings you heard.

Our family doctor's phone number was #4. My father's business was #33. Can anybody top that?
Love, Ima

Oh, yes. I remember them well. We had several neighbors who were known eavesdroppers. In fact, one of them showed my siblings and I how to pick up the phone so no one could tell you were there! How's that for quality babysitting?

ArkieDukie wrote:

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:Memba party lines? You answered according to how many rings you heard.

Our family doctor's phone number was #4. My father's business was #33. Can anybody top that?
Love, Ima

Oh, yes. I remember them well. We had several neighbors who were known eavesdroppers. In fact, one of them showed my siblings and I how to pick up the phone so no one could tell you were there! How's that for quality babysitting?

No, I've never had a phone on a party line. But when we moved to Smithfield in December, 1979, for almost two years, when making a call within Smithfield, we only had to dial 5 numbers, not 7. The exchange was (and is) 934. We only had to dial the "4" and the remaining 4 numbers. So for the Country Club of Johnston County, I could dial 44544, instead of 934-4544. It took some getting used to when people told you their number and said 5 digits. Won't be too long before we have to dial all 10 digits, including the area code. In many areas, like south Florida, you do that now.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Won't be too long before we have to dial all 10 digits, including the area code. In many areas, like south Florida, you do that now.

We've been doing that in Atlanta for almost 15 years now. I have precious little recollection of what it was like to dial only 7 digits.

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:Memba party lines? You answered according to how many rings you heard.

Our family doctor's phone number was #4. My father's business was #33. Can anybody top that?
Love, Ima

My dorm room phone was a party line. Sometimes you'd pick up the phone and you'd hear your party line talking.

One morning, senior year, there was a knock at my door. I looked through the peep hole and there was a campus cop standing outside my door. I answered it and he had an arrest warrant with my name on it. Turns out, my party line was making obscene telephone calls. When they traced the calls, the tracer identified my phone as the culprit's phone because I had the primary number for the party line. Since I wasn't a deep voice dude, they knew that I wasn't the one making the calls, so they didn't charge me.

They amended the warrant and charged my party line with making obscene phone calls.

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:Memba party lines? You answered according to how many rings you heard.

Our family doctor's phone number was #4. My father's business was #33. Can anybody top that?
Love, Ima

Yep, I liked to just pick up and listen! God forbid, I needed to make a phone call and that occurred a time or two! Please ... let me thru!

CathyCA wrote:

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:Memba party lines? You answered according to how many rings you heard.

Our family doctor's phone number was #4. My father's business was #33. Can anybody top that?
Love, Ima

My dorm room phone was a party line. Sometimes you'd pick up the phone and you'd hear your party line talking.

One morning, senior year, there was a knock at my door. I looked through the peep hole and there was a campus cop standing outside my door. I answered it and he had an arrest warrant with my name on it. Turns out, my party line was making obscene telephone calls. When they traced the calls, the tracer identified my phone as the culprit's phone because I had the primary number for the party line. Since I wasn't a deep voice dude, they knew that I wasn't the one making the calls, so they didn't charge me.

They amended the warrant and charged my party line with making obscene phone calls.

That's priceless,

For those of you who remember Frank Deal, he passed away early Sunday morning (January 24)at age 84. WHGP has some video of his broadcasts and a couple of blogs for sharing memories of him. http://www.myfox8.com/wghp-frank-deal-o ... 2061.story

Almost strange we were talking about him last week here. May he RIP.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Almost strange we were talking about him last week here. May he RIP.

This is weird. EarlJam...a true man of vision.