Video Vault: Merv, the Number and Newsreel

CLEVELAND - Finding an Eyewitness Newsreel from a ‘show tape’ is a rare find in our archives.

The date is June 7, 1982.

I’ve added the WEWS show open including a billboard for the next day’s Merv Griffin Show.

The Merv Griffin Show was an afternoon staple here on 5.

Jeff Maynor is joined by Paul Meincke at the anchor desk. Meincke was filling in for Ted Henry. Meincke went on to WLS in Chicago as a reporter and remains there today.

Just before Newsreel we get to see the lottery number for the day and how stocks did.

The market closed at 804, a few thousand points lower than the 12,000 or so levels of today.

Newsreel looks back 10 years at a radar installation in Cleveland. Bob Woods, the voice of Newsreel, makes mention of the then-recent dismissal of the striking PATCO air traffic controllers.

Next, we get a look at the Lake Eric College’s karate Olympics. Those board-breakers are in their 30s and 40s today.

A free wedding with thousands of guests is next. Susan Mays and Larry Parks were married in front of 3,500 guests as part of a Belden Village Mall contest.

Finally, Woods has some fun with some WEWS names. (Fred) Griffith, (Joel) Rose and Grimm (not quite Crimm of Jenny Crimm) are on headstones in a Cleveland cemetery.

Enjoy.