First, many of you probably didn’t receive the message of the post on Monday about the Heimskringla 1983. That was the yearbook for Pittsford Mendon High School. It took me a couple of days to figure out why I had many emails bounce. It turned out that the mailbox on my Internet Service Provider (ISP) was full. I cleaned out many old emails and that fixed it. I didn’t need to keep them on their website as I have messages going back 10 years on my desktop computer.

I scanned the issue of Channel 21 from April 1972. It was the monthly program guide for WXXI TV. In this issue is a preview of their annual auction.

I can’t remember what years it was but I answered phones during two auctions. We were on large bleachers and would write down bids from people. Then we handed off those bids to a runner who took them down to someone who would sort the bids. The winner bidder would get a phone call where they would take their credit card number. In those days you could get some real bargains. Not so much any more.

One of the big auction items in 1972 was a 1972 Chevy Vega. I bought one that year. It was my first new car. The Vega had an aluminum engine that by 30,000 miles would be drinking oil like crazy. I had to buy oil by the case  and keep it handy. Mine had a vinyl top. It came loose and I had to glue it down a couple of times. I was on a trip and the top got loose again and was beating on the roof. I stopped at a rest stop and pulled the vinyl top off. The final straw for the Vega was the rear shocks pushed up through the floor board. At 42,000 miles, I traded it in on a used car and I think they junked the Vega.

One year in the 70s Channel 21 had open auditions for on-air readers of auction items. They had a few scripts that you could pick from and all had some complicated phraseology. I thought I did pretty good as this was just a few years after my college radio days. Not sure what they were looking for but I didn’t get the (non-paying) job.

Another thing that is in this issue of the guide is a concert by Chuck Mangione with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. This was the second concert that Chuck did with the Orchestra. This was not on just WXXI but on all PBS stations around the country.