KCBD anchors share memories of Avenue A studio

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Two months after celebrating its 69th birthday, KCBD TV has said farewell to its longtime home at 5600 Avenue A to move to a newly renovated building at 9800 University Avenue.

“We never thought we would leave that building,” Abner Euresti said with his colleague of 42 years, Karin McCay. “It has changed so much. Ownership has changed. News directors have changed, general managers, all in that building. We thought that we would end our career at that building and things happen. We’ve come to a new place and it’s new and shiny.”

The Avenue A studio has welcomed stars such as Bob Hope and Ronald Reagan, but many feel the folks who worked the countless broadcasts are what made it so historic.

“We think about all the people we’ve seen coming through the station and not just the people who appeared there as guests, but all the people we’ve worked for,” Euresti said. “We’ve worked with great people...hundreds and hundreds of people over 42 years, and they’ve gone to all different parts of the country, doing different things, living their lives other places, but we still stay in touch with a lot of them. That’s what I’m going to remember about that place.”

Many of life’s moments connect KCBD’s longtime news staff with the Avenue A studio and made it difficult to leave.

“When I left that morning after Daybreak Today, that’s when it really hit me,” Sharon Maines said. “I left and I really got emotional. So much of my life, I had two boys, I raised my kids, they got married, they had grandkids, so when you think of how that factors into your life, and how many life changes I went through while I worked the overnight news is pretty, pretty emotional.”

Maines and fellow Daybreak Today colleague, Steve Divine, both said the morning of September 11th is one of the moments in their career at Avenue A they’ll never forget.

“Over the years, all the events that have occurred there, all the stories that we’ve covered, all the weather that we’ve covered, makes it more than just a building,” Divine said. “I’m not really sad to leave the building, maybe a little melancholy about leaving the building, but we have this great new building and facility that we’ve moved into. So, that makes it much, much easier.”

Weather events have also created lasting memories. Maines recalls staying overnight at the studio as the closest employee to the station who could make it to work.

Chief Meteorologist John Robison also remembers a blizzard in his 39 years at KCBD he will never forget involving KCBD’s news director Skip Watson.

“One Sunday I came out of church with my wife and I knew it was going to snow, and I knew we might get some pretty good amounts, but it was already snowing, heavy,” Robison said. “I thought, I got to get to the station. I call Skip from the church and he met me up at the station. The station was kind of an army green inside color. It was real dark and damp, even with the lights on. He and I went in there and we set up. We got some production folks in there and spent literally most of the afternoon into the evening, because the snowfall was so heavy, doing cut ins. He was such a good guy.”

The KCBD family has grown with the addition of KJTV, which called the new facility home for many years. Family is a big theme in the history of KCBD and its dedication to providing Coverage You Can Count On.

“Aren’t we lucky to have this opportunity to go into the next era,” McCay asked. “What a great opportunity for us and for the newsroom too.”

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