A local TV personality, Bob Dale, passed away recently. Here's the note I sent to his daughter:
Linda,
I was very saddened to hear of your father’s passing. It seems like I almost knew him personally because he has been such a constant and warm presence on local TV for so many years.
I first got to know him as he hosted that great show Zoorama. My family and I were living in Tucson at the time, and we vacationed frequently in San Diego and loved the zoo. We seldom missed an episode of Zoorama which was great not only because it featured the best zoo in the world but because of Bob Dale’s wonderful, warm and honest personality. He helped us not only learn about the animals but we also learned a lot about the keepers and curators at the Zoo. Bob was a genuine “people-person”, who delighted in getting to know people and in turn share them with us, his TV audience. He had an easy, natural way of addressing the camera, and it always seemed like we were just have a conversation, and he was able to truly bond with us in the TV audience.
When we moved to San Diego, it was a pleasant surprise to find Bob on TV doing almost anything and everything. I actually enjoyed his stint as a weatherman on the news because he really worked to learn about and in turn share with us his knowledge of local weather and climate. He was a private pilot, and his sharing of his insights on local conditions was very informative. We learned about the “Catalina Eddy”, “Santana’s” versus “Santa Anna’s”, “June gloom”, “trough aloft”, and how the tide’s and phases of the moon determined the next grunion-run!! I also got a kick out of how he would sometime’s correct or slightly disagree with the “official” weather report and based on his great experience and knowledge give us his personal forecast. I think he got it right more often than the weather bureau did, but he was always very respectful of the weather bureau professionals, and even interviewed them on TV when we had something unusual, like “rain”, occur. Again, his love for and appreciation for people in general always showed through whatever it was he was doing on the “tube.”
The place, on TV, where I think I got to know and appreciate Bob Dale even more as a person, was when he hosted the afternoon showing of “golden oldie” movies. He was a true movie buff, and his love of cinema and the stars was very evident. He had collected, and people even gave him scrap books of clippings about movies and the stars, and he always had at least one scrap book and anecdote to share about the movie he was showing or the stars that were in it. I loved to hear about the history of Hollywood and the making of the great and not-so-great classics of the 30’s and 40’s. It was fun too, when he would track down some elderly and retired character actor or “B” movie star of yesteryear and interview them. Again, his love of people would make even the most obscure or minor actor very fascinating as he got them to share their stories and behind-the -scenes anecdotes. Bob was a “cornball” for sure, but he was an honest and sincere one, and I think he made anyone he interviewed on TV feel like they were the most interesting and fascinating people in the world, and in turn we would find out that they were indeed very fascinating!! The interviews soon grew to where he was hosting a full-fledged interview program with an in-studio audience every afternoon. I think I preferred him in the older format, because it just seemed to be more like we were again having a private and intimate conversation. I thought the studio audience got in the way of “our” conversation!!!
It was a pleasure to see him continue on local TV for many years, way past when most people retired, because his natural, honest, even homey style was a comfort in an increasingly disconnected world and broadcast media. Bob was “old-school” in the best sense of the word, and I’ll miss my “old friend” and his wonderful personality and presence on local TV.
God Bless you and your family,
Gerry Seifert.
