Joe's Vault: The sentimental side of Ken Schram
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As KOMO viewers and listeners know, for the first time in 35 years, we are not hearing the voice of Ken Schram.
He said so many things over those 3½ decades. He reported news events of all kinds, from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens to house fires to human interest stories to Neo-Nazis and so much more.
He spoke on behalf of the management of KOMO for nearly 20 years. He covered a tremendous range of topics on the long-running Town Meeting. He produced documentaries. He readily gave his opinion on TV and Radio for the last 15 years. And he had an opinion on everything and happily voiced it.
He didn’t pick a subject for his commentary and run off at the mouth. He was up early, poring through newspapers, magazines, websites. He would research his subject, call people, ask questions. He told me about his regimen recently:
"I never assume that people have read/watched the story in question, so I generally start the commentary off relating the facts as they are known. I build on that until I believe people have at least a rudimentary understanding of the issue.
I then go into the opinion part of the piece, letting people know what I think and why.
Sometimes I may use humor or sarcasm as tools in that regard."
That he did. His commentaries were often biting and very pointed. The "Schrammie" became a Wednesday fixture. By the way, the Schrammie was not his idea, and he hated doing it at first, but I believe he came to embrace it.
That was the public face of Ken Schram. Privately, he's a thoughtful man that deeply loves his family and his friends. When the beautiful Kathi Goertzen passed away this past summer, I was at home and felt like staying there with my own thoughts. Ken called me at home to see if I was doing okay. I will be forever grateful to him for making that call.
I first worked with Ken in 1979. He was actually one of the first to greet me when I was hired to work in the newsroom. He greeted me with words I can't print here and said something to the effect of, "Get used to it! That's the way we talk here!"
I loved the man right away. There was no pretense, or show. You knew where you stood. You knew what kind of man he was.
It's been a rough year here at KOMO, especially for those of us that have been around a while. Bob Throndsen, long-time anchor, reporter, then a manager in TV and Radio News, retired earlier this year. We lost Kathi after her epic battle with brain tumors. Bryan Johnson had the audacity to retire a few weeks ago, taking his 58 years in news and broadcasting with him. What an amazing man.
And now Kenny.
Today's selection from the Video Vault is something that may surprise those of you that have seen Ken Schram only in his role as commentator these last 15 years or so.
It's one of the first things he did after leaving News and headed upstairs to Special Projects. It's a Christmas special called "Through the Eyes of Children."
It's from that sentimental side of Ken. Those children he spoke to over 30 years ago are nearly 40 now and have children of their own. I'd love to know if any of you were in this special or know of someone who was.
Many thanks to my friend Ken Schram for all the laughs, and insults, and hugs. And Merry Christmas to all of you.
He said so many things over those 3½ decades. He reported news events of all kinds, from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens to house fires to human interest stories to Neo-Nazis and so much more.
He spoke on behalf of the management of KOMO for nearly 20 years. He covered a tremendous range of topics on the long-running Town Meeting. He produced documentaries. He readily gave his opinion on TV and Radio for the last 15 years. And he had an opinion on everything and happily voiced it.
He didn’t pick a subject for his commentary and run off at the mouth. He was up early, poring through newspapers, magazines, websites. He would research his subject, call people, ask questions. He told me about his regimen recently:
"I never assume that people have read/watched the story in question, so I generally start the commentary off relating the facts as they are known. I build on that until I believe people have at least a rudimentary understanding of the issue.
I then go into the opinion part of the piece, letting people know what I think and why.
Sometimes I may use humor or sarcasm as tools in that regard."
That he did. His commentaries were often biting and very pointed. The "Schrammie" became a Wednesday fixture. By the way, the Schrammie was not his idea, and he hated doing it at first, but I believe he came to embrace it.
That was the public face of Ken Schram. Privately, he's a thoughtful man that deeply loves his family and his friends. When the beautiful Kathi Goertzen passed away this past summer, I was at home and felt like staying there with my own thoughts. Ken called me at home to see if I was doing okay. I will be forever grateful to him for making that call.
I first worked with Ken in 1979. He was actually one of the first to greet me when I was hired to work in the newsroom. He greeted me with words I can't print here and said something to the effect of, "Get used to it! That's the way we talk here!"
I loved the man right away. There was no pretense, or show. You knew where you stood. You knew what kind of man he was.
It's been a rough year here at KOMO, especially for those of us that have been around a while. Bob Throndsen, long-time anchor, reporter, then a manager in TV and Radio News, retired earlier this year. We lost Kathi after her epic battle with brain tumors. Bryan Johnson had the audacity to retire a few weeks ago, taking his 58 years in news and broadcasting with him. What an amazing man.
And now Kenny.
Today's selection from the Video Vault is something that may surprise those of you that have seen Ken Schram only in his role as commentator these last 15 years or so.
It's one of the first things he did after leaving News and headed upstairs to Special Projects. It's a Christmas special called "Through the Eyes of Children."
It's from that sentimental side of Ken. Those children he spoke to over 30 years ago are nearly 40 now and have children of their own. I'd love to know if any of you were in this special or know of someone who was.
Many thanks to my friend Ken Schram for all the laughs, and insults, and hugs. And Merry Christmas to all of you.
I'd say Ken fueled much of the social interaction and productive audience conversation on KOMO - from people who wanted to rip him a new one to those defending him.
Who said Ken was always grumpy? ;)
That was fun to watch. Â Kind of sad to hear Karen Carpenter singing, as she died shortly after that. Â Did you see everyone paid in cash? Â What a concept! Â Kids are so great, their answers are awesome. Â "I earn 35 cents a week and I save it all up until I have a lot." Â "My wish for the world is to get a race track and give it to poor people so they have something to play with." Â They thought that the wise men, all the apostles AND the little drummer boy were in that stable - how crowded would that be? Â The Jewish family was wonderful, the kid yawning at 17:40 was a nice touch. Â And that song at the end was touching. Â I saw how long it is and almost didn't watch it, but it is so worth it.
Ken, I miss you.
Love him or hate him and everything in between. I respect him for voicing his thoughts and enjoyed him for his passion and drive.
I was in the choir during the filming of this. I remember Ken coming in and guiding us on the cameras. As a young kid I thought the TV and lights were the coolest thing. Good memories of a time in Seattle that was slow and peaceful especially as a 10 year old.
 @snowman It sounded like you all were shouting on those last verses.  Very cute!
Thank you for such a nice tribute to Ken.
I miss him, and I suspect most of your listeners do as well whether they agreed with him or not.
I'm looking forward to the day I will find him again somewhere in the media, giving his opinions.
I don't want to hear what others think about Ken Schram... I want him back!!
So disappointed that KOMO decided to take this step. You were the reason I listened to the radio.
WOW I missed something here ..  I didn't realize he was fired .. Big Mistake .. :(
Joe, don't forget Eric Slocum as well.
KOMO was stupid for firing him.
 @The WA Mama Did he get fired or did he retire? The article implies he retired like Bryan Johnson, but I don't recall Ken ever saying he was retiring.
@Dredd57 @The WA Mama
Fired. See article here: http://mynorthwest.com/11/2150112/The-ax-falls-on-Ken-Schrams-35-year-run
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Features a radio interview by Ken Schram telling the story of how the firing went down.