KPFK Radio Host Mike Hodel's 1983 Lost Video Promo for Hour 25 SFTV Found

December 2, 2016
Los Angeles
1983 Mike Hodel Hour 25 SFTV Video Promo Found
(click photo to view 2-minute video)

mike-hodel-hour-25-photo

I was recently contacted by email from a reader “Gothling 1955” who provided me with a link to a promo video “Hour 25 SFTV” that was made back in 1983. It featured my brother KFPK radio host of the popular radio show- Hour 25.   Below is Gothling55’s description of how and when the promo came into being.
Gothling 1955
Published on Dec 1, 2016
Here’s a real Throwback Thursday item for your kind consideration… A vintage promo clip for a Sci-Fi oriented talk show (what amounted to a mini-series of sorts), entitled “Hour 25: SFTV”. The project featured quite an amazing progression of special guests (as you’ll no doubt notice), and was produced for and exhibited at EZTV — which was a West Hollywood Video Gallery, where a handful of us (once upon a time) entered into several highly intriguing creative projects together, circa 1983.
Clearly, it was a trail-blazing endeavor for its time, having been the shared brain-child of old friend and budding filmmaker, Mark Shepard, in an indispensable partnership with respected Los Angeles public radio personality, Mike Hodel (who had created and hosted the long-running KPFK radio program, likewise entitled “Hour 25”).
In the case of this project, I was asked to design several logos for the series, including a whimsical illustration of a peculiar little TV critter, which evolved into a series mascot, ultimately portrayed on-camera by a tiny “Walking TV” wind-up toy of a strikingly similar appearance to my two dimensional concept — as seen during the course of the trailer.
While I’m here, shamelessly blowing my own horn, I also designed a series of one-of-a-kind stained glass art pieces, formally rendered by my sweet / vastly talented artisan friends, Catherine Riley & Tina Burnight, predicated upon various Sci-Fi & Horror visual themes… Ray Bradbury’s episode featured a design (Catherine’s handywork) inspired by “The Martian Chronicles”, which showed a rocketship nearing the planet Mars… Robert Bloch’s episode featured a design (Tina’s handywork), inspired by Poe, which showed a raven standing proudly atop a skull — a piece which Mr. Bloch jokingly referred to as: “One of my old baby pictures!”, and so on. (Given the actual trajectory of Bloch’s own formative history, I now see that it should’ve been something inspired by Lovecraft. “Duh, Steve!” But back then, I was just a young fool.)
Production assistance (for “Hour 25” & “Beastie”) was provided by the eminently resourceful Patricia Miller, and the music was composed / performed by our fine friend (and resident Wagner fanatic), G.F. Watkins.
Please forgive the somewhat dodgy video quality, but it’s something of a miracle that this piece of ancient video still exists in any viable state.
https://www.youtube.com/user/gothling1955
 Mucho Gras to Gothling55 for locating and passing this on to us. Very cool to have some “on air” visual video footage of my brother and his beloved pipe to compliment the hundreds of hours of KPFK HOUR 25 radio programs he shared with the Sci-Fi community of yesteryear. (Brother Mike died in 1986, at the young age of 47, from brain cancer, just three short years after this video was made.)
 

2 Comments

  1. Steve Hoffman on January 7, 2017 at 11:11 pm

    I stumbled on this while doing a search for your brother Mike. We worked closely together at KPFK for many years. It was nice seeing his face again and hearing his great voice. Much appreciated!

    Steve Hoffman

    • Steve Hodel on January 10, 2017 at 10:22 am

      Hi, Steve H: Thanks. Yes, brother Mike is greatly missed. Wish he could be here now to see “what a world, what a world.” He would have loved reporting on the politics of today. Best, Steve H

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