Bob Crane Interviews Regis Philbin, LA Broadcaster Michael Jackson [March 3, 1965] by Carol M. Ford

View the full blog post about this track here: https://vote4bobcrane.blogspot.com/2020/07/bob-crane-interviews-regis-philbin-la.html

On March 3, 1965, Bob Crane interviewed Regis Philbin and LA broadcasting legend Michael Jackson (note, this is NOT the "King of Pop" by the same name). This aircheck, which is over one hour in length also features Bob Crane at his finest before he became internationally famous for his role as Colonel Hogan on Hogan's Heroes. At the time this interview was aired, Bob was filming episodes for Season One of Hogan's Heroes, which had been picked up by CBS and slated for the Fall 1965 line up. But it was a frantic pace that he couldn't maintain. Although he signed the next one-year contract with KNX in May 1965, just a few weeks later, Bob announced that he would be leaving KNX to concentrate entirely on Hogan's Heroes and his acting career.

Bob's interview with Regis Philbin and Michael Jackson begin around the 51:00 mark.

I discovered this aircheck by chance. On November 8, 1969, Bob Crane had been a guest on Philbin's People (pictured in the screen placeholder). Upon hearing the sad news that Regis passed away on July 24, 2020, I began searching for a copy of that episode, wondering if it had become available. (I had looked for it before during the research process of Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography, but I had no luck in finding it.) I didn't find that, and I'm still looking for it! What I did find was THIS aircheck, which put me over the moon!

It is also not well known that Regis Philbin was the other contender for the role of Dr. Dave Kelsey on The Donna Reed Show, which ultimately went to Bob Crane.

Rest in peace, Regis. You will be missed.

For more information about Bob Crane all our work on his behalf, visit https://www.vote4bobcrane.org