Dish-Houston

RARE 1973 PHONE CHAT GIVES INCITE INTO THE BIRTH OF STAR TREK

Former Houston radio and television personality Scott Arthur was spring cleaning recently when he came across a telephone interview he did with the “Father” of Star Trek in 1973.

“It’s 40 years ago almost to the day.”Scott said. “I was a young DJ at WARM radio in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Mr. Roddenberry was scheduled to speak at a local college and I got his phone number and set up an interview to promote the event in advance.” said the Texas Radio Hall of Famer.

To put this in context, the original Star Trek series (Star Trek TOS) ran 79 episodes on NBC from 1966-1969 and then was canceled. The interview took place about the time determined “Trekkies” began a nationwide campaign petitioning the network to bring the series back to TV. It seems the show began to build a cult following after it aired in prime time and was banished to “re-run land”. The network chiefs felt the series and the concept had no future … that was 12 feature films and 5 separate TV series ago. This multi-million dollar franchise also includes Star Trek comics, merchandise, novels and even games.

“Before I began rolling tape ….he told me that the TV set was going to be the center of our lives. He said, your TV will have a typewriter in front of it – and open up the world to you. Just a glimpse of his genius and vision.” said Scott. “With all the hype of the new Trek Movie – this is fun to listen to. He shares how they invented the Spock character and was told to hide him, what the woman’s lib movement forced him to do  … and what inspired the Transporter.”

Listen to the entire interview here: