FBI sketches of the mysterious 1971 hijacking suspect D.B. Cooper.
A friend from NBC called yesterday to tell me I was up on the NBC web page. Me and David Brinkley. Me and David Brinkley and D.B. Cooper. In a report filed in (ahem) 1976, Robin (then a reporter at KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon) was on NBC Nightly News, reporting on the status of the D.C. Cooper case, on the fifth anniversary of his 1971 hijacking and parachute jump (with the $200,000 ransom).
With a (possible) break in the case this week, NBC was digging through its archives and produced my report. It is nice to be archival.
I think you might have to watch at 23 second commercial, but here goes:
My sister complained that there was no "stand up," that I did not "appear" in the piece. That's because the report was written for my own station and the sign off "Robin Chapman for KGW-TV" had to be cut, so I signed off without a stand up. Sorry about that.
Anyway, it has been fun to have a little flurry of activity surrounding both D.B. Cooper and your correspondent. The idea that he actually got away and went on to live his life and die a peaceful death is really intriguing.
I look forward to reading ... the rest of the story.
Subscribe to Robin Chapman News
10 comments:
You'll never be archival to me, Robin.
We all have a history. Sometimes it is nice to see evidence that one--even when a callow youth--acquitted one's self honorably.
You did not appear to come across as being "callow', even if you were at the time. It was a good piece, and you did it well. As both of us know, sometimes it is the callow one who takes the anchor desk from the seasoned pro. But alas, that was a management issue.
"Callow"; you send me to the lexicon more than most anyone that I know. ;)
Its amazing when I look back. I was only a two year veteran of the business at that point. So I think inexperienced is a good description!
It was very unfortunate that they did not show you in that story. You were very attractive back then - and still are!!
I know what you mean. My first Schizophrenic scared the hell out of me. What do you tell a guy who believes that he is the Anti-Christ, and who offers to baptize you in the bathtub? That was a long time ago.
Thanks Dave for saying such nice things. And Perry's comments just prove, we all have to start somewhere! Anyway, it was fun to see the piece for me too. I have saved some of my work but nothing from that far back.
Hey, Robin. Like Dave, I was a member of the Robin Chapman fan club too (surprise). I looked forward to each "Evening" program and your exchanges with Dick Klinger and Craig Walker, paired with the newscasts alongside Ralph Wenge. When you started your blog, I was dumbfounded that you had been verbally knocked down so much at home, and met with emotional distance, and that you had such a negative self-image, when to me, from 75 to 78, the "evening" lit up. You always came across as full of light and life. Your newscast presentation never came across as a miscast unprofessional type chosen for her appearance. As for the news aspect, you commented on an AM Northwest 'Portland Anchorwomen' segment that anchors always had to keep samples of their work, because by the nature of the TV news business, you never knew - any more than today - if you'd have a job the next day. I always imagined you'd kept a selection of your program segments. While I share Dave's disappointment that you're not captured in the clip, I'm happy to be able to keep in touch with the 2011 model! As for the DB Cooper story, that was a natural for a segment on Evening; I bet there was one, maybe narrated by Ellen Dorfman, she being all about the wilderness and such. With a little focus, I can hear her breathy excited account of the dramatic theft and escape.
robin,
did you see the olbermann coutdown piece about cooper, guess it was a week ago? there was speculation that cooper may have lived 25 years after he jumped from the plane.
about a day later, i read an associated press piece that some woman believes he was her uncle.
btw, a longtime fan since your days in orlando. i boycotted WESH after they demoted you to weekends! :-)
I read about the FBI's latest and the woman who thinks her uncle was Cooper. That's what prompted NBC to put up my old piece. Thanks for being a long time fan. I had such a wonderful career and I was lucky to avoid the bad stuff for so long, that I can only say WESH must have been going through some serious dysfunction at the time. It gave me the chance to move on to new adventures!
Post a Comment