SportsJanuary 27, 1996

What were you doing on Sunday, Jan. 21, 1979?

For sports fans in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley who had gathered before their TV sets to watch Super Bowl XIII, that day will live in infamy.

As is the case Sunday, the combatants 17 years ago were the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys . And like today, the Valley then was up to its neck in snow.

But who cared about the weather? Football fans were going to gather before their TV sets in the warmth of their homes, taverns and wherever else to watch pro football's greatest extravaganza.

It was Terry Bradshaw against Roger Staubach who could ask for anything more?

The NBC cameras were also there as they will be today.

It couldn't get any better, right?

But as most of you know, it didn't get any better.

In fact, as a childhood buddy of mine used to say in slang terms, it got worser.

First, there was a television failure caused by a Clearwater Power Co. outage atop Lewiston Hill that temporarily shut down Lewiston-based CBS affiliate KLEW-TV around noon.

However, Teleprompter, the only transmitter equipped with auxiliary power, switched to its propane powered generator and continued to broadcast.

Hardly anyone was aware of the switch, least of all the Super Bowl viewers watching a lot of pre-game hoopla. And anyway, CBS wasn't carrying the game.

Chuck Smith, a close friend of mine living in Genesee, was also preparing to watch the game with his wife Sharon.

As things turned out, the Smiths didn't miss a play as Bradshaw outdueled Staubach in a classic Super Bowl matchup eventually won by the Steelers 35-31.

But even though Genesee is a less than a half-hour drive from the Valley, it might as well have been a 1,000 miles away.

Because Lewiston-Clarkston residents that afternoon were treated to snow but not the white stuff that makes driving difficult and dangerous.

Instead, it was, as the late Tribune writer Sylvia Harrell described it that day TV screens exploding with snow.

As the Steelers and Cowboys were preparing to kick off, Valley residents were ready to kick in their TVs, which had gone blankety-blank.

Since TV sets can't talk back, angry viewers inundated KLEW-TV and the Teleprompter office with calls demanding that something anything be done.

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In all, 4,000 angry telephone calls were logged that day.

So up the mountain trudged William Raschka, Teleprompter's chief engineer, and another technician to find out what happened to the transmitter.

Unfortunately, the two found a broken propane valve stem, and Raschka immediately ordered another propane tank with the proper fittings.

By that time, the entire Teleprompter staff of seven were involved as four snowmobiles made their way up the hill in blizzard-like conditions with the 100-pound tank on one of the snowmobiles.

To make a long story short, the necessary hookups were made for the auxiliary power, and power was restored: A half hour after the game and all the expected partying had ended.

Naturally, the whole affair didn't sit very well with Valleyites, leading Clearwater Power Co. manager Clement Eaton to transfer the blame to the highest source:

"God is responsible, not me," he said of that snowy and quite forgettable day.

But the people living at 616 7th St. in Lewiston didn't see it that way and hoisted a banner above their house that read "We're going to cancel our subscription to cable TV for a year."

In Harrell's account, one person was so mad that was sure a "Communist plot" was at the root of the problem.

Chuck Walker of Lewiston, whose son Charlie plays for the Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team, would rather forget the day.

"There were 20 of us in a group that had gathered at Wayne Burton's house to watch the game," recalled Walker.

"As things turned out, that day turned out to be a real bummer," Walker said.

A number of fans, sitting before their snowy TV sets and hoping that the problem would be fixed before the game ended, turned in desperation to the next best source of information:

Their radios.

One woman later commented that "I had never listened to so much radio in my life."

But there was one positive moment during the game when the linemen battling the problem on the hill managed to get the power restored, and we all had a chance to see Staubach, the Dallas QB, loosening up his arm.

But that moment passed like a falling snowflake, and the TV snow was back.

Sunday is the 30th renewal of the NFL's title game, and again there's plenty of snow around for all of us Valleyites to view.

Hopefully, it won't again show up in our living rooms.

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