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ANNIVERSARY OF ����vlog ON THE AIR, AND OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS, WE’RE REMEMBERING SOME OF THE MOST MAGICAL MOMENTS. THAT INCLUDES A SPECIAL VISIT FROM POPE JOHN PAUL THE SECOND, WHO CAME TO IOWA BACK IN 1979. ����vlog ERIK HANSEN SHOWS US HOW THE STATION PREPARED FOR THE PONTIFF’S VISIT. 20 YEARS AFTER CHANNEL EIGHT WENT ON THE AIR, THE CALL LETTERS HAD CHANGED TO ����vlog. EVERYTHING WAS IN COLOR AND LOCAL PERSONALITIES WERE STILL KEY. GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME. WHAT A SHOW WE HAVE FOR YOU TODAY. MARY BRUBAKER’S RUN ON DAYTIME TV CONTINUED SHOWCASING MUSICIANS AND LIFESTYLE TRENDS. SO DID CHANNEL EIGHT’S COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT THROUGH THE JERRY LEWIS LABOR DAY TELETHON AND OPERATION SANTA CLAUS. HERE AT TV EIGHT, IT’S BEEN A PROUD TRADITION AT CHRISTMAS TIME FOR 25 YEARS. WON’T YOU HELP US AGAIN THIS YEAR AND BRING A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO HUNDREDS OF NEEDY FAMILIES? AND THE NEWS DEPARTMENT HAD GROWN WITH MORE JOURNALISTS AT TYPEWRITERS AND CARRYING BIG CAMERAS. BUT THE FAMOUS FACES STILL DOMINATED. CANFIELD. AND THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. NEXT NEWS TONIGHT AT TEN. BE WITH US AND RUSS PAUL RHOADS AT SIX AND RUSS VAN -- AT TEN. FOR 25 YEARS, I DON’T THINK THERE’S PROBABLY ANOTHER STATION IN THE COUNTRY THAT’S HAD TWO OF THEIR MAJOR NEWSCASTS, ANCHORED BY THE SAME PEOPLE SINCE THE TIME THEY WENT ON THE AIR. BUT IN 1979, A STORY OF GLOBAL PROPORTIONS CAME TO TOWN. KEVIN COONEY REMEMBERS THE ANNOUNCEMENT. AND IT WAS JUST LIKE, WHAT THE POPE. THE POPE IS COMING TO, NOT JUST AMERICA. HE’S COMING TO IOWA. IT WAS A MASSIVE WORLDWIDE STORY. IOWA HAD SIX WEEKS TO GET READY FOR AN INCREDIBLY RARE PAPAL VISIT. POPES DIDN’T TRAVEL. THEY DIDN’T FLY AROUND. THEY HUNG OUT IN THE VATICAN. THE FIRST THING I ASKED EVERYBODY TO DO WAS PRAY, BECAUSE I SAID, WE NEED THE LORD’S HELP. IF FOR IF FOR NOTHING ELSE, IT’S GOING TO BE OUTSIDE. AND WE DON’T NEED RAIN. BUT IN 1979, JUST REPORTING LIVE FROM THE AIRPORT WAS UNHEARD OF. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING THINGS THAT WE EVER DID. I THINK IN TERMS OF THE EQUIPMENT AND THE ABILITIES THAT WE HAD AT THAT TIME, AN ALL OUT EFFORT TO BRING IOWANS LIVE VIDEO FROM THE POPE’S THREE STOPS. SO EVERYTHING HAD TO BE ON A JURY RIGGED TOGETHER WITH BALING WIRE AND SCOTCH TAPE. ON OCTOBER 4TH, 1979, THE POPE’S HELICOPTER LANDED AT A TINY PARISH SOUTH OF DES MOINES. PERHAPS THE POPE’S MOST PEACEFUL STOP ON THIS TRIP CAME AT SAINT PATRICK’S CHURCH NEAR. COMING TO GET MY VOICE OUT OF THERE, WE HAD TO TAKE A TWO WAY RADIO OUT OF A CAR. AND THIS IS LIKE THE THING FROM THE POLICE THING, YOU KNOW, TEN FOUR. AND WE HAD WE I HAD TO STICK THE ANTENNA UP ON SOME METAL FENCE POST. WE HAD TO PUT A RECEIVER IN THE CHIEF ENGINEER’S HOUSE A COUPLE OF MILES AWAY. AND I STOOD THERE LITERALLY TALKING OVER THE PICTURES WHEN THE POPE’S HELICOPTER LANDED, HE GOT OUT OF THAT HELICOPTER AND WALKED OVER AND SAW THOSE FARMERS. HE WAS HUGGING PEOPLE AND HUGGING GRANDMAS AND HUGGING, PICKING UP LITTLE BABIES AND KISSING THEM. AND HE WALKED AS CLOSE TO ME AS YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, ERIC, AND LOOKED AT US. AND I’LL NEVER FORGET THIS. IN THAT HEAVILY POLISH ACCENT, HE SAID, HOW DID YOU FIND THIS PLACE? LIKE, YOU KNOW, JEEZ, I’M SURPRISED YOU GUYS ARE OUT HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. AND I SAID, WELL, YOU KNOW YOUR PONTIFF, WE’VE BEEN OUT HERE FOR ABOUT EIGHT HOURS FREEZING, WAITING FOR YOUR HELICOPTER. WE ALL WAITED IN THE CHURCH AND EVERYONE WAS SO EXCITED WITH THE ANTICIPATION. AND THEN JUST THE MOMENT THE POPE WALKED IN, YOU JUST FELT HIS PRESENCE. IT WAS REALLY WONDERFUL. AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED. HE WAS JUST AS HAPPY TO BE HERE THAT DAY AS WE WAS TO HAVE HIM. THEN. ANGEL ONE, HIS HELICOPTER TOOK THE POPE TO LIVING HISTORY FARMS. RUSS VAN -- ANCHORED OUR COVERAGE FROM LIVING HISTORY FARMS. PAUL ROSE WAS BACK AT THE STATION WITH A LOCAL PRIEST WHO WAS ALSO DESCRIBING WHAT WAS GOING ON. 350,000 PEOPLE WERE THERE FOR MASS. HOW PRIVILEGED YOU ARE. THAT IN SUCH A SETTING YOU CAN WORSHIP GOD TOGETHER, BUT A CROWD TWICE THE SIZE OF THE METRO MADE COVERING IT HARD SIMPLY BECAUSE IT WAS THE MOST MASSIVE INVOLVED. EVERYBODY AT THE STATION, NOT JUST THE NEWS DEPARTMENT, BUT WE HAD THE SALES DEPARTMENT, EVEN THE GENERAL MANAGER. EVERYBODY WAS INVOLVED BECAUSE WE HAD TO BE AT SO MANY DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AND THEN HAD THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS OF GETTING THE FILM BACK TO THE STATION AND EVERYTHING WAS SHUT DOWN. THEY BLOCKED OFF THE INTERSTATE FROM THE EAST, MIXMASTER TO THE WEST, MIXMASTER TO ACCOMMODATE THE PARKING. THE SOLUTION CAME FROM THE BOSS. OUR SOON TO BE GENERAL MANAGER, PAUL FREDERICKSON WAS A MARATHON RUNNER, AND SO HE WOULD GRAB A TAPE. HE’D RUN UP THE HILL TO 86, AND HICKMAN HAND IT OFF TO SOMEBODY WHO WOULD DRIVE IT DOWN TO THE STATION, AND HE WOULD RUN BACK AND GET MORE TAPES. SO BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND FORTH, DELIVERING EVERY PAPAL WORD. CONSERVE THE LAND. WELL, BY RUNNING THE FILM TWO MILES, TURNING AROUND AND DOING IT AGAIN. BRAINARD IT WORKED FOR SO LONG. AND THEN IT WAS OVER WITH SO QUICK THAT IT IS A DREAM. AND IN MANY WAYS, AND IT’S STILL HARD TO BELIEVE THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY HERE AN AN INDESCRIBABLE PEACE JUST FELL OVER THE METRO AREA AS PEOPLE OF ALL FAITHS CAME TOGETHER TO HONOR SOMEBODY WITH A SPECIAL CONNECTION THAT WE CAN ONLY DREAM OF OURSELVES. IT WAS HUGE. IT WAS JUST A JUST AN AMAZING DAY. OCTOBER 4TH, 1979. IN THE 80S, WAS JUST AROUND THE CORNER WITH A NEW CHAPTER FOR CHANNEL EIGHT ERIC HANSON, ����vlog