San Antonio Express Newsby Jeanne Jakle
I'm 45, for gosh sake, so what's with this sudden attraction to KABB's youth-oriented, MTV-paced, tattoo-and-piercing-mad "News at Nine"?
Midlife crisis?
More like mid-news crackup. The guy cracking me up is Johnathan Walton, who looks nothing like your typical blow-dried TV newsperson. You could describe him as a Gerber baby with facial hair. But his devilish brows and wicked humor make me think more of that kid from "The Omen."
His nightly spins on a San Antonio happening or oddity have to be the freshest example of local TV production to come along in a while.
"Walton's Window" is the name, likable irreverence is his game. A bonus: The viewer learns something new along the way.
Tonight, he takes on hot-air ballooning near Castroville. It'll be interesting to see how he handles being stranded in the middle of an empty field for more than an hour. The feature usually airs at the half-hour mark of the hourlong newscast right before weather. It's preceded by a clever piece of animation from KABB's graphic maestro Bobee Padilla that consists of a cartoonish image of Walton charging through a glass window.
In the past, Walton has spoofed S.A. jobs such as Wal-Mart's perennially cheerful "people greeters," hobbies such as "bouldering" (climbing indoors without the aid of harnesses, ropes or gloves), the Texas cable TV convention downtown, a hearse used for daily transportation and spooky legends such as that age-old yarn about the ghosts of schoolchildren helping cars over railroad tracks on the South Side.
He tosses in British accents, snide remarks and, occasionally, a movie scene that's comically out of place. He pokes fun at others, but in the end, makes sure he's the primary butt of the joke.
Walton is a mere lad of 27, but looks quite a bit older. "I get 40s all the time," he says, "probably because I started going bald when I was 17."
His job has reaped many an injury. He's been bucked by a steer, fallen on ice, been body-slammed by wrestlers and had his forehead dented by a suction fan.
None of this has stopped the driven Walton, however, from returning every day to his five-day-a-week gig on San Antonio's Fox affiliate.
Amazingly, the KABB job, which he's held since last summer, is his first on-air position. The Kingston, Jamaica, native was working behind-the-scenes as a producer of news for a Miami station when he got the idea for his feature. He sent out a demo tape, and one of the bites he got was in San Antonio. KABB General Manager John Seabers said the station had revamped the news for a younger audience earlier in the year and felt Walton would be a perfect fit.
"Our product runs longer than the other newscasts, and we wanted a feature that would be upbeat and informative," says Seabers. "After all, we run a lot of local stories, and the news of the day may not include much that is very uplifting."
Enter Walton. He brings a new perspective to events and qualities that make San Antonio such a unique and diverse city.
"He's creative and funny and stands out," adds Seabers. "He's one of the most recognizable faces on our news."
Walton particularly enjoys giving autographs to teen-agers and other young viewers; often, they'll ask him to sign their face, arms or legs.
Although he was hired to appeal to KABB's target demographic - viewers 18 to 34 - Seabers believes Walton crosses all age barriers.
As a 45-year-old who's grown addicted to this talented character's strange brand of fun, I heartily concur.
