Oregon Media Insiders

Boz was a fun and funny guy. He was one of the giants of local weather, back when Jim Bosley, Dr. John Walls, and Whoever Was On Channel Eight B-) ruled the airwaves.

I did have a problem with his rating sunny days over rainy days tho. Context! Context!

We move on, and so it goes.

Samuel John Klein, a/k/a ZehnKatzen
samuel.klein@gmail.com or zehnkatzen@gmail.com
graphically involved at http://zehnkatzen.blogspot.com

I rate this day a 0.

I never knew the guy, but enjoyed him from the time we got to Portland. His style reminded me very much of broadcast pros I'd worked with during my formative days in DC and Florida.

It also seems to me that he didn't have that long to enjoy his retirement. What was it? Around 2000 or 2001?

My best wishes to his family.

Truly an original.

Boz was always very solicitous and friendly towards me whenever I'd run into him. He was enthusiastic about whatever project was in front of him.

My clearest memory of him was doing the weather back around 1970. He was showing an approaching storm on the screen and motioning to it with his hand. His thumb was on the storm front and his index finger was on Portland:
"You can see the storm is about HERE, and we are HERE - a distance of ... about 5 inches!"

I nearly fell out of the couch laughing.

A nice guy and a lot of fun to work with. Sad day indeed

I had started at K2 in the weather department as an intern just a few weeks after Jim officially retired. He would show up every now and then and just chat with you and everyone else. He was always a kind gentlemen. It's a sad day in the TV and Weather world.

Somewhere out there, Boz and "Bob the Weather Cat" are hanging out.

(Hopefully Bob no longer has to wear silly hats and outfits.)

As a kid, I remember those black and white satellite pictures the Boz would use during his weather forecasts. With his oversized black marker, he would draw the location of weather fronts on the satellite photo. A very early television memory indeed.

RIP Boz.

The mid-late 70's are my earliest memories of Portland TV Weather. I would sit there just hoping the Boz would mention something about a big storm or arctic blast on the way in the winter and it was worth watching most of the newscast for. Of course Dr. John & Jim Little were on the viewing list of a 8 year old weather geek too.

When I was a kid growing up here, I rarely missed a weather report on the evening news. The Boz was a regular on our living room TV each evening at 5pm, as our family regularly watched KATU. I never personally met him.

In my opinion, Jim Bosley was a master at connecting with people through the TV. I recall how often he would relay viewers' first-hand weather reports on the air. Rarely would a day go by that he didn't reference a caller's weather story or comment. Instead of a slick, polished TV guy, the Boz acted as if he was our neighbor. He was very "real" and spontaneous on the air -- traits I associate with all of Portland's most popular broadcasters throughout time.

Understated, his passing is a great loss to our community. What is particularly sad to me is that we've lost a legend from local TV's finest era. History will note that the golden age of local TV news was from the 1970s through the 1980s -- and Jim Bosley was the gold standard in that golden era. Without cable or the internet, the Boz and his TV colleagues were very important to us. They were our connection to the world and all that was happening in it. But in our world today, people don't need broadcasters to get connected anymore. The computer and the internet work just fine.

When Jim Bosley and others like him pass on, I am sadly reminded that I don't work in the same TV business that I grew up watching. The era of local TV icons & legends has passed as well. There will never again be a local broadcaster as universally liked, recognized, and needed... as the Boz was during his time.

My thoughts are about him and his family tonight.

Drew Jackson
Good Day Oregon meteorologist
KPTV FOX 12

When I was a broadcast student at OSU (I didn't wind up in the industry, except tangentially), one of our classes came up to sit in the audience for AM Northwest.

After the main broadcast, they began taping promos for the next day. Boz was clearly not amused with the copy that had been written for him, and maybe he was showboating for our class, but he asked for our feedback (I'm sure the director and the producer and crew were ever-so-pleased that we spent time doing this, instead of wrapping up the taping on time, as I was sitting in the back of the control booth while this was going on...).

Someone came over the PA and said the promo was fine, and Boz (with a big smile on his face) said "I've got 20 broadcast students here who think it stinks!"

They did the promo as-written and as-hacked by the class. I didn't remember to watch that evening to see which version actually ran.

Whether or not the producer was pleased, our class was quite happy to get the attention and to be asked for input on writing a new impromptu promo.

Old school. What more can you say? Just another reminder of the Portland of my youth, long gone. RIP BOZ.

Class move by KOIN 6 to include his passing and some nice thoughts by Gianola in their newscast.

How many Bob the weathercats did we see? :)

My one biggest disappointment is not seeing Matt Zaffino in that tribute. I know contracts lock down a persons broadcast channel, but Matt was the guy behind Boz for so many years (9 to be exact). Matt was on vacation this week, and honestly maybe that was the best for him. If you are out there Matt, show yourself either here or on the kgw weather blog so we can hear your thoughts and insight.

I agree with Drew Jackson that we have lost a local Legend. The Boz shaped Portland TV for many years.

I am a long time AM/NW nerd (I've been watching since I was a kid), I'm really bummed out about this very sad news!

-Lilly

Jim Bosley was an amazing man. My grandfather was GM at KATU long ago and my dad was a TD... I grew up running around the station and Jim was one of the few people to indulge me! Every time I went to work with my dad, Jim made an effort to include me -- even though I was just a child. He even sent me a card when I graduated from high school. He was a class act... And now that I'm in the biz myself, I've come to realize it even more. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

May Gunsul
KTPV FOX 12

.....enough classic Boz video clips to create a decent sendoff page on FPO. Ah well.

Forget Charlton Heston---THIS is the guy the entirety of America should be mourning right now.

News to me, anyway...KGW took a run at luring Jim out of retirement, which he somehow managed to resist. Learned this on Dave Salesky's wx blog at kgw.com.

My wife and I were there, as were many other media folks, friends and family of the Boz. It was a Who's Who in Portland broadcasting. The speakers (Rob Marciano, Margie Boule', Jeff Gianola, Paul Linnman, Les Sarnoff, Bill Schonely, Mary Starrett were eloquent, the music (Michael Allen Harrison and Julianne Johnson) was amazing. Their treatment of "Amazing Grace" to end the service moved us all to a standing ovation. There were tears of sadness and tears of laughter. It was truly an emotional roller-coaster. After the service, it was wonderful shaking hands with and hugging everyone this man touched. Boz, you are truly missed but today is testimony to a legion of folks who love you. I'm sure the Boz enjoyed it too

Bob Miller