“Spider Monkey, call 859. Spider, 859, please.”
Blue, Sparky, Spider Monkey. Hilarity ensues when someone is paged at KTBS. Especially when the page is made by Mike Martindale, the voice of KTBS, who is also an actor. Gary Newell has paging talent as well. He’s a local deejay. There’s usually an accent or impersonation involved in the page, and when coupled with the nicknames, it can sure break newsroom stress and tension. Â
Sparky has several nicknames.  Nonetheless (one of my fav words), everyone knows who you’re talking about if you say Sparky, Sparks or Sprinkles. Â
Let’s hit favorite pages and nicknames. And while you’re at it, how those nicknames came to be.Â
March 27th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I just want to know if Mike Martindale is any relation to Wink Martindale, legendary host of “Gambit” and “The New Tic Tac Dough”, among others…..
March 27th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Yes, it’s his great-great-great-grand nephew. He looks just like him!!! And, BTW - I LOVED Tic Tac Dough!
March 27th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
George used to call me malignant melanoma but then I got cancer and it took all the fun out of it. I was also called “Bufe” in college and close friends and family call me M’lis which I love.
Mike, love you in the new Louisiana Two Step spot! Tell Wink I said hello.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Tim is also referred to as “Aka Sparks” or just “Aka” (pronounced “acka”). We sing many songs of the Aka Sparks, and have even located a village in Hungary named after him.
And yes, he has been paged as “Acka Sparkles, please call extension 829…”
March 27th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I remember showing a new female employee around the station and a certain male employee was very interested in meeting her. I started to introduce her to him, but could remember only his nickname. “Angela, this is …uh…um…T-Bone.”
Same thing happened when a woman approached me at a restaurant and said her son ran audio for us. Forgetting his real name, I excitedly said, “You’re Spider Monkey’s mom!”
March 27th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Well now that i am on front street I will explain how i got the name. It goes back to my very early childhood before I had teeth. My grandfather raised beef cattle needless to say I was eating steak before I even had teeth to chew it with. My grandfather called me T-Bone from there on out and it stuck!!!
March 27th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Didn’t know you’ve had that name for so long, T-Bone.
Thanks for the aka sparks details, Monkey999. I was wondering.
Please people, the original Sparks story…how the name came to be!
March 27th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Remember the episode of Seinfeld when George was trying to get the nickname T-Bone but they ended up calling him Koko instead? Good stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC4C_Gcp_dM
March 27th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
It all goes back to when I first started working here. Thats when we had “real” cameras that actually had to have people stand behind them and were not run by robots. One of the other camera guys was helping me change a light behind the old set that we had at the time. It was a light that was on the floor that shined light on the background. We also had this old time light board that looked like something from Ma Bell. You had to pull the connections in and out just like the telephone operators used to do. I asked him was the light disconnected and he said yes! I was taught that when you change a bulb not to touch it with your hands because the grease from your fingers would shorten the life of the bulb. So I used the plastic that the bulb came packaged in to hold it and put it in place. Well needless to say when both of the ends of the bulb made contact the 1000 watt bulb came on and the plastic went up in flames in a matter of milli-seconds. Liz Swaine, anchor at the time, came walking in and thought that the studio was on fire there was so much smoke! So from there on out I was known as Sparky! Any questions????
March 27th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Question: Whatever happened to Jennifer Zeppelin?
March 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Jennifer flew away.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Wow, bc317, you’ve been around a while. Jennifer first went to San Antonio. Mel used to share a house with her…where is she now, Mel?
March 27th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Sparky - the REAL question is….Why do you answer to that name????
March 27th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I went into a deep,deep depression when Jennifer Zeppelin departed KTBS.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Where is the world is Jennifer?
Denver of course!
http://cbs4denver.com/bios/Jennifer.Zeppelin.Meteorologist.9.567825.html
March 28th, 2008 at 12:19 am
After she left KTBS, I was hoping she would turn up on the Weather Channel. Sadly, it never happened.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:28 am
I had a similar incident while changing bulbs when I worked at a competing station. We had a 20-something foot ladder on wheels that probably was as old as the station. It was very creaky and was pretty frightening at the top because it would sway back and forth.
I didn’t use the plastic the bulb came in. Instead, I used a thick tissue that was used to clean glass and monitors and such. I was at the top of the ladder when I seated the bulb. As soon as it made contact, the light came on and the tissue immediately ignited in flames. Fortunately, I didn’t panic or I’m sure I would have fallen two stories to the floor.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Yes Sherri I have had the name for almost my whole life. I guess i could explain more about how people started calling me T-Bone at the station. I can blame it on the “TROG”. Somebody else will have to explain who that is. I had been working at the station for a few months and he would still call me new guy even after other people were hired and he knew there name. He claims he couldn’t remember my name so I told him T-Bone might be a little easier for his old brain to recall.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
a little late, but here are a few other nicknames…
Top Hat - alas, has moved away
Das Boot - probably the best dang producer EVAR!!11!!
“Hold It!” Holman - I know you’re out there!
Habriga - say it fast and repeat often
Golden Gare Bear - does a really good weather forecast
Whitebread - that’s all he eats, srlsy
March 28th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
oh and one more -
BAM BAM - it’s an acronym
March 28th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
monkey999 lets not forget: lil buddy and fuzzy
March 28th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Remember the old tootsie pop commercial? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? Now you figure it out
March 28th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
ok - 3 more
Jiffy-Pop -
Moss Back - these two, not sayin anything!
Big Sally - ask Fletch
Dirty Clip - see Golden Gare Bear
March 28th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
monkey999: count much?
March 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
OH MY GOD HOW COULDE WE FORGET
Butter and Peach Boy…oh yeah and silver back,
March 28th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Wow–Butter worked here many years ago! Thanks T-Bone.
And why is it that, over the years, I haven’t been able to get an answer to my question about how Peach Boy, aka Peaches, got his nickname?
March 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Peach Boy - has something to do with a pomade…
March 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Okay, I haven’t been gone that long. Did everyone forget Sassy?
March 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Viiiiiiiiiiiick!
Sassy FTW!!!111!!!
March 29th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hi Vicki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How’s Kevin doing? Any chance that you want to come back and produce!
March 29th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I miss you, Sassy! Please come back! And bring Peaches with you.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Peaches..as I understand it…was a derivitave of Dixie Peach…a pomade that young Kevin’s mother used to put on his hair! And surely somebody out there remember “Ghee…..” Hello Ed Duranczyck! I can’t remember the why to that one! Forgive my spelling.