"What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger" - R. Hobbs
Item: ABC 33/40 Birmingham weekend anchor Roy Hobbs was arrested by Birmingham police over the weekend. Hobbs is a former WAGA evening anchor. Police say Hobbs had a crack pipe in the car.
Below are Roy Hobbs’ Top Ten Reasons he managed to get himself arrested in Birmingham with a crack pipe.
10. To effectively utilize the crack cocaine found in the same car by police.
9. Because that medium-market crack has a more authentic, Southern taste.
8. Because I can’t share crack with the prostitute police found with me earlier in the week, in the same location, without a top-notch crack pipe.
7. Staying awake for the late local weekend news isn’t something most homo sapiens can do unless they’ve got a little sump’n – sump’n.
6. Coz the genius who renamed my station, WCFT-TV, with the call letters “WBMA-LP,” was obviously using the same stuff.
5. It was an undercover assignment, but I mistakenly grabbed the crack pipe instead of the lipstick cam.
4. Crack use enhances my performance as an anchor / teleprompter operator
3. It was a can’t-miss career move, sure to get me elevated to the weeknight anchor slot. Or, so said my buddy Warren Savage.
2. I figured a crack arrest would give me better credibility with a middle-Alabama local TV news audience.
1. I was fresh out of meth.
For the record, I write this with nothing but affection for Roy Hobbs. He was a swell guy to work with, and he treated me great. If he has a substance abuse problem, I hope he gets it straightened out and can resume his career in good health.
Harsh but on point.
r.e. #6 on your list…
WBRC-TV is still, uhm, WBRC-TV. It’s just not ABC following the great New World/Fox affiliate swap of ’95(?).
The ABC affiliate and Hobbs’ (former?) employer is called 33/40 and broadcasts on former Anniston, AL. CBS affiliate WHMA/WJSU TV-40, former Tuscaloosa AL. CBS affiliate WCFT and in Birmingham on WBMA-LP.
In short (too late) no-one, cracked out or not, changed the calls of WBRC to WBMA-LP.
Goodness gracious. That was quite an error on my part. I’ve changed the text from “WBRC” to “WCFT,” which lacks the thorough accuracy of your correction, but is more accurate than my crack-addled original.
It’s no excuse, but at least part of the problem lies in the fact that the station’s website stubbornly won’t tell you the station’s call letters. Or at least nowhere I could find.
Thanks for sharing, Snozz. You too, Roy.
I couldn’t find the call letters myself so I just left it out and used the perplexing ABC 33/40 reference instead.
The station is duplexed together as “ABC 33/4o”, but the official call letters of the parent station is WBMA-LP (58), but the official call letters according to the station id promos are “WBMA-LP 58 Birmingham /WCFT-TV 33 Tuscaloosa /WJSU-TV 40 Anniston”
“There goes Roy Hobbs, the best that ever was.”
I thought it was just the station management that was on crack…
Yeah. Uh. So. Am I the only one who thinks you crossed a bit of a line here? I just think that you do quite a job tearing the guy down in the post but then use the ever-so-convenient “I write
this with nothing but affection” in your comments. Maybe it’s just me. I say stick to your excellent reporting and leave your standup routine at home. We all live in glass houses.
I know this happened last year, but I just read about Roy’s misfortune. This buffoonery is a low blow for a fine man who obviously was going through a very bad time. I’m so shocked that no one called for compassion, prayer or offered him their support. There, but for the grace of God, go I!! Pray you are never in his shoes. Love you Roy!