A WRAL-TV fixture will close up shop on Friday, May 18, 2018, after 38 years with the Big 5. His face may not be known to viewers, but Producer Kevin Shand spent decades behind the scenes creating everything from newscasts to Brain Game.
Pam Parris Allen formerly worked as a newscast producer/director at WRAL-TV decades ago. She returned several years ago as a researcher and producer on the CBC History Project and retired at the end of 2017. Parish worked closely with Shand during her news tenure at the Big 5. So for today we thought it appropriate to bring back her CBC Throwback Thursday series, which she wrote weekly during her time archiving CBCs history, to share a story of memories she wrote in honor of Shands retirement.
Kevin Shand, Just like his ol' man Kevin Shand grew up in a television station! When school was dismissed at the end of the day, most kids went home to play with their neighborhood pals. Kevin went to the station where his father, John Shand, was vice president and general manager of WTVR in Richmond, Virginia. There daycare came in the form of a studio to romp around in, or he could hang out in the newsroom. Kevin inherited his comedic timing from his father who was also known for his wit and on-stage presence. He is a chip off his old man, a term of affection that he called his father.
I met Kevin shortly after I arrived at WRAL as a director/producer in 1981. Kevin was working in the traffic department and was in charge of broadcast standards and practices. Prior to WRAL, he worked for JDS (Jefferson Data Systems). He traveled around the country overseeing the installation of information technology equipment in television stations. When he arrived at WRAL, he was the go to computer guru.
The first time I saw Kevin, he reminded me of comedian David Steinberg with a beard and glasses crossed with a pleasant werewolf! Kevin was hairy! After I heard him tell a joke, I had to add comedian Steve Landesberg to the mix. This Kevin guy is funny! Toss in the fact that he drove a Porsche and could play the bass guitar made him very cool.
A few years later, Kevin and I got to work together on a new project called Live at Noon. It premiered April 29, 1985. Kevin was the producer and I was the director. The concept was to deliver news during the first segment and the rest of the program offered interesting features and entertainment. Live at Noon started with Denece Boyer and Tom McNamara. After Tom's departure to Arizona, John Hudson joined Denece. Their chemistry was perfect and full of mischief. It was not unusual for them to break into giggling fits during the show. That played right into Kevin's penchant for jocularity and his creative ability to set-up situations to showcase the anchors' personalities. Kevin knew what resonated with the viewers. Live at Noon was a tremendous hit that left the competition in the dust.
Kevin's breaking news sensibility was just as acute and his comedic timing. On the morning of January 28, 1986 Kevin and I were standing in the control room watching the ABC news feed prior to and including the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Preproduction had just been completed and we were about 20 minutes away from the noon newscast. I had the large monitors filled with the live feed. We were thrilled to watch the launch and then came the command to go with throttle up. Kevin and I instantly saw that something catastrophic had happened. We looked at each other and said that's not normal. We zipped into action. Kevin zoomed to the newsroom and I gathered up the studio crew. Denece raced to the news set while Kevin banged out copy. Amanda Danchi, News PA, stopped the recording of the news feed, cued it up and ran it to the feed station. We raced back upstairs to the control and broke into ABC network programming. None of the networks had issued a Special Report yet. We broke the news before the networks did! All of us earned a well deserved attaboy.
I left WRAL in 1987 and returned in 2013 to work with John Harris on the CBC History project. When it came time to select to a cubicle, I looked no further than the one across from Kevin.
Kevin's cubicle reflects his personality and his life journey. There are posters of his favorite TV show The Simpsons. There are pictures of his father and mother, pictures of Kevin as a kid at WTVR, old boxes full of one inch video tapes, an old colored light bulb that was used as a Christmas light on the old tower behind WRAL, American flags, pictures of his wife, Barbara, who worked as a projectionist at WRAL back-in-the-day AND was a comedian and joke writer, pictures of his granddaughter, Sam, who has been heavily influenced by Kevin's wit! His cubicle is a mini-broadcast museum and a family album!
WRAL-TV's Kevin Shand and Pam Allen at their final CBC Long Term Employee Luncheon in December 2017.
For Kevin, the first order of the business day starts with a quick scan through websites tailored for broadcasters. He can tell you about FCC decisions, television stations bought and sold, change in network affiliations, change in call-letters, change in ownership, who was fired and who was hired, etc. When I would arrived at 8:30 AM, I would say Good Morning Mr. Shand! Wassup? He would tell me about his hounds going crazy in the middle of the night, or what he and Barb had planned for the upcoming weekend. Then he would punctuate the discussion with a joke, which would then lead to remember the episode of M*A*S*H when the Korean villagers learned to say Frank Burns eats worms', followed by a recitation of one lingers from M*A*S*H which would often lead into a discussion about the old TV show TAXI, or Barney Miller, or movies produced by Mel Brooks. By then, it was time to work.
In all my years of working in television in North
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
23/10/2025
Series three of the award winning, hit comedy entertainment series The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In is back on your screens, celebrating the very best of all t...
23/10/2025
Performances by Michael Flatley, Andy Irvine, Cuckoo's Nest, Foster and Allen and more
Friday 24 October, 8pm on RT One and RT Player
Fleadh Cheoil re...
23/10/2025
The nights grow longer and the shadows get bolder with Vampire The Masquerade: B...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
A WRAL-TV fixture will close up shop on Friday, May 18, 2018, after 38 years with the Big 5. His face may not be known to viewers, but Producer Kevin Shand spent decades behind the scenes creating everything from newscasts to Brain Game.
