By Rick Bird
Post staff reporter

Where have you gone Ruth Lyons and Uncle Al?

After leafing through a new picture book on the history of Cincinnati
television, one thought is - why is there hardly any local entertainment
programming these days? Why can't that golden age of local TV at least attempt
to be rekindled?

The 127-page "Cincinnati Television" was put together by Jim Friedman, a
Cincinnati native who has produced news and programming for virtually every
Cincinnati TV station during his 30-year career, winning 56 regional Emmys. He
now does independent production through his Blind Squirrels Production Group in
North College Hill.

"I wrote a book about when the TV stations were owned by essentially local
owners," Friedman said. "They were all Cincinnati people doing television shows
for Cincinnati people."

That corporate environment has, of course, changed. Programmers still talk
localism, but that means news, not entertainment. While we can bemoan the lack
of any present-day innovative local production creating new entertainment talent
these days, it still is fun to reminisce with Friedman's book.