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My Television Career
Click on any video
• Bobby, Steve and Robert Leave KLTV
• Ken Bora Jury Selection - Robert Hilliard Photographer
• Robert Hilliard Outtakes
• Sailing - Robert Hilliard Reporting
• Stage Violence - Robert Hilliard Reporting
• Tie Spoof with KTBB
• Texas Cyclone - Robert Hilliard Reporting
• Weed Bust In Smith County - Robert Hilliard Reporting
From 1972 until 1984, I worked in the wonderful
world of Television.
The memories! The nights chasing fires and ambulances and the
days shooting and writing human interest stories. It all began
on a dark, stormy night in August of 1972...well, it wasn't
dark or stormy, but it was August of 1972...
I was just hired as a part-time studio camerman at Channel
7, KLTV-TV in Tyler, Texas. I was 17, still in high school
and looking for a life of excitement.  After
working for a local grocery chain for a year and a half, I asked
my vocational teacher at John Tyler High School,Tyler, Texas,
if there were any exciting jobs that he could refer me to. Low
and behold a couple of months later, I found myself manning
a camera the size of my bedroom in a studio located in a refurbished
airplane hanger. I performed just about every job there was
at KLTV...Cameraman, Technical Director, Newsman and Anchorman.
I loved every minute of it. Of course, at the time, I was in
my twenties. I harbor only fond memories of KLTV. I'll never
forget the human interest stories I was involved in. Such as
the documentary on the New London School
Disaster. Or meeting and photographing President Gerald
Ford when he visited Tyler and Ronald Reagan, who was campaigning
to become President.  I worked with a myriad of people, some
have gone on to bigger and better ground.
I shot stories with such local celebrities as Michael
and Sandra
Brown, Joan Hallmark, Bobby Perdue, Steve Lee, Barry Hanson
and a host of others whom I am glad I got to know. I wish them
all only the best.
I left KLTV in 1980 to form my own video production company
called LPH
Productions, Inc.. It was the first independently owned
production company in East Texas. The name 'LPH' came from Lee,
Perdue and Hilliard. Steve Lee, Bobby Perdue and myself, to
be exact. All three of us left good jobs at KLTV to persue a
dream of owning our own production company. I learned a lot
during my tenure at LPH. I was fortunate to see and videograph
a lot of exciting productions. Today, LPH is still in business.
I wish Bobby and Steve all the best the future holds in video
production.
In 1982, I sold my portion of ownership in LPH to Steve and Bobby and went to work for Texas Publishing Company in Tyler. They owned a low power television station in Cumby, Texas known as Channel 18.  Itching to get into the newest craze in television, I went to work in Cumby. Where is Cumby, you ask? Between Greenville and Sulphur Springs on Interstate 30. I began with the title of Production Manager, but later, found myself managing the station. Eventually, I was the last employee to report to work. It gets pretty lonely operating a television station by yourself. I did that for a month before I was transferred. There were several people I worked with that I still think about from time-to-time. Jeff Miller, the all-round good guy, Ray Campbell who kept things lively but in check and Donna Simmons, the News Director. Donna had enough energy to keep us all going. I worked with Jim, Terry, Mark, Karen, Chevy, Lisa, Christie and a host of others. Channel 18 went off the air in 1983 and the building now houses a funeral home. It's the only funeral home that I know of that has a 500 foot tower in back. Fitting.
 I then was transferred back to Tyler where I was put in charge of starting a LPTV station called Channel 2, The Rose Channel. Unfortunately, it never made it on the air. Lack of money kept us from completing the task. I really hated the fact that we couldn't finish getting that station on the air. It was the first time, I had been allowed to plan a TV station from the ground up and I was looking forward to getting it off and running. Channel 2 had the best of everything. Equipment and personnel. For some reason, the Gods of Television frowned on its fruition.
After having my fill of LPTV stations, I was offered a job as
Station Manager of a new full power TV station that was going
on the air in East Texas. KTRG, Channel 56 was to be the new
NBC affiliate for Tyler and Longview and showed a lot of promise.
I was hired by the owner, Thomas Robert Gilchrist, (hence the
TRG of KTRG) and for a short time, all seemed to be going well.
I traveled to New York and helped Thomas Robert negotiate a
contract with NBC and I made plans for buying equipment and
hiring personnel.  Well,
good things always come to an end and this one is no exception.
It appeared that Robert Gilchrist had filed for bankruptcy right
before he hired me. After a while, money ran out. The bankruptcy
court stepped in and took over. I was asked by the bankruptcy
court to oversee the operations of not only the TV station but
10 other small cable companies that Robert Gilchrist owned as
well. I looked after things until suitable buyers were found
to purchase the assets. Buyers did come along and the station
was eventually put on the air. You may know it today as KETK-TV,
Region 56.
Needless to say, after the Gilchrist bankruptcy, I decided I'd
had my fill of television...a career change was needed. It was
the Spring of 1984 and I decided to go back to college. I received
my bachelor's and master's degree from The University of Texas
at Tyler. While attending school, I quickly placed myself into
the wonderful world of computers and healthcare. Let's just
say that life is a little more stable now. As far as my career,
I'm a happy man. Don't get me wrong, the television profession
is a good one. There are thousands that work in and love this
profession and they are a credit to their craft. May the Angel
of the Airwaves be with them in their career journey. |
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