I’ll never forget the first time I met him. I was 21, about to
graduate from San Francisco State, and one of the many lost souls
looking for a job.
I’ll never forget the first time I met him. I was 21, about to graduate from San Francisco State, and one of the many lost souls looking for a job.
A job in my field would be nice, but I would settle for rent money at this point.
Lo and behold, I was hired at this tiny public access station on Highway One in Pacifica.
While I was in the process of getting my feet wet as their new operations coordinator, the general manager introduced me to the godfather of the TV station, Bruce Latimer.
He waltzed in the front door, carrying a lantern and wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I didn’t quite know what to make of him yet.
“Mr. Latimer does his show on Wednesday nights,” my boss explained. “You’ll have to stick around and watch it sometime.”
I was intrigued, and anxious to learn more about this veteran producer.
Mr. Latimer is a public access institution. The Bruce Latimer Show has been airing live on Wednesday nights on Pacifica’s Channel 26 almost continuously since 1989.
He’s done more than 500 episodes and featured more than 3,700 Bay Area musicians, artists, poets, and personalities.
There’s no budget, and all of the crew people are volunteers. His wife brings treats for the cast and crew to munch on during set up.
His set consists of a cheap painting of a sunset, some fake plants, and an antique table with toys adorning it.
While waiting for artists to leave the performance area and get miked on the interview set, Bruce reaches into his “Can Of Consciousness” and offers the viewing audience some words of wisdom. He also reminds viewers as he tips his lantern towards the cameras that The Bruce Latimer Show is there to “offer light” to Pacificans, week after week.
Over the six years I worked at the station, I was able to see guests like Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Sam Andrews, jazz virtuosos Tuck & Patti, and Bay Area music legends from all walks of life.
What a treat it was to witness the magic week after week.
Through his program, Bruce brought a sense of community to the station as a whole, as well as viewers.
Through the volunteer program, hundreds of mostly San Francisco State broadcasting interns learned the nuts and bolts of live TV.
I’m happy to announce that CMAP is airing The Bruce Latimer Show on Public Access Channel 20 on Wednesday nights at 11 p.m.
Mind you it isn’t live, but hey, neither is Letterman.
You still get the “live vibe” from every episode, as the occasional quirky camera movement or minor audio flub reminds viewers that the program isn’t edited. What you see is what you get.
On Wednesday, May 12, at 11 p.m., you can catch Johnny Nitro and the Doorslammers on Latimer.
While Bruce usually features a variety of guests, The Doorslammers rock the studio for most of the program with material off their recent CD. Blues fans, mark your calendars, ’cause this band is hot.
I particularly appreciated the female sax player, who not only wails on the horn, but belts out several numbers as well.
Johnny covers the usual catchy blues riffs and offers the audience a little showmanship by playing his guitar behind his head at one point.
Tune into CMAP and catch some of that “light” from The Bruce Latimer Show!
Suzanne St. John-Crane is the director of CMAP. She writes a regular column for publication in The Dispatch highlighting the news from our local television station. She can be reached at 846-4983. CMAP is on the Web at www.mycmap.org
