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Forty-Seven Years Ago I Had An Interesting Experience That I Can't Forget
It was the beginning of a television era that lives on today
On October 11, 1975, an event shocked the world. Few people realized its impact; others thought it would be short-lived. Many were in disbelief with what they witnessed.
The event was the original broadcast of Saturday Night Live, known then as just NBC's Saturday Night. It is now one of the longest-running TV shows with 47 seasons on record. That's longer than Grey's Anatomy.
Nothing was more fun than watching a bizarre skit by a new actor named John Belushi followed by Chevy Chase announcing to the world, "Live from New York, It's Saturday Night." Both of these guys were unknowns, for which John died from an overdose in 1982, and Chevy Chase became a household name for his roles in Caddyshack, the National Lampoon Movies, and over 45 other movies.
I'm no stranger to watching first-season first-episode TV shows. I remember MASH, Cheers, Friends, Mork and Mindy, Frasier and Wings, plus many others. But with Saturday Night Live, the particular element of shock humor on live TV encoded itself in my brain.
At the time, I was a Video Engineer for an NBC affiliate in West Texas. We broadcasted local and network TV to a very…
