WTVT Channel 13 - Pulse Featuring Jim Ruddle (Part 4, 1964)

Here's Part 4 of a rare edition of the nightly Pulse newscast from WTVT Channel 13 in Tampa / St. Petersburg, Florida, transferred from the original 2" quad videotape. This was notable in featuring future Chicago TV legend Jim Ruddle anchoring out of St. Petersburg at various points. This part features him, Tampa-based Hugh Smith, and news director Ray Dantzler in the Pulse newsroom. Includes:

Jim reports on a parliamentary maneuver in Pinellas County to block discussion on a dredge-and-fill extension for Tierra Verde until January; with pertinent film footage, Jim explains how Commissioner Lewis Homer tried to convene a meeting with the water authority, and Commissioner A.L. Anderson's objection on the grounds the committee's agenda is already full, thus Homer's push was defeated, but another hearing scheduled for next month; attorney Baya Harrison provided evidence relating to the proposed dredges

Hugh reports on Tampa City Council's proposal for trees, only to find that they were already ordered for the city's Convention Center; Councilman Conrad Johnson advocated citrus trees to be planted at the center, but Councilman Manuel Fernandez told Park Superintendent Herman Massey about the suggestion; Massey had ordered the trees two months before, and their estimated worth is $60,000 (film of the area around the proposed Convention Center, and landscapers moving materials with which to plant the trees, is shown)

With this, Hugh and Jim identify themselves, thus ending their respective segments

Sponsor billboard (voiceover by ??) and brief commercial for Greyhound Buses

In the Pulse newsroom, Ray Dantzler reports on the following:

- Anheuser-Busch's 10-millionth barrel of beer for 1964, celebrated at the Busch Gardens Hospitality House (with pertinent film); plant manager Paul von Gontard welcomes civic leaders to the Tampa plant, to commemorate the first time a brewery rolled out such huge quantities of beer barrels in one year; one million bottles were produced at the Tampa plant alone in this year; Ray estimates that the 10 million barrels would float 20 ships the size of the Queen Mary; a gold bottle was handed to Commission Chairman Ellsworth Simmons, and WTVT's sports director "Salty Sol" Fleischman also received a commemorative bottle, as he will relate later on

- A 17-year-old boy from Milledgeville, GA, identified as William C. Lee, is in critical condition at a Sarasota hospital after his car smashes into a bridge on US 41, north of Port Charlotte; a fellow Milledgevillian, James Barnard(?), Jr., told authorities both he and Lee were driving south at the time, and he saw Lee's car crash into the bridge

Ray then previews the upcoming sports report with a tease on the upcoming Teachers Golf Tournament

Pulse / station ID graphic

Commercial: Kodak Instamatic Camera - less than $18 - "Open Me First for Lasting Pleasure" (voiceover by ??)

Brief commercial for greyhound racing at Tampa Greyhound Track - 11 races nightly, matinees on Saturday and holidays, and daily doubles on the first and second races - no minors allowed (voiceover by ??)

This aired on local Tampa / St. Petersburg TV on Tuesday, December 15th 1964 during the 6pm to 6:30pm timeframe.

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