Sportsman's Friend swaps stories with Nevadans

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Nevadan's received a treat Saturday as Harold Ensley, the Sportsman's Friend, signed copies of his book, "Winds of Chance" for fans. Ensley, who will be 91 in November, had a fishing show that started out on the radio in the late 1940s but moved to television in 1953. In his book Ensley recounts the story of a Nevada contractor who flew to Alaska and got into a bad situation when the plane he was in was forced to make an emergency landing and then broke through the ice and was lost. Ensley doesn't give the name of the contractor but Daily Mail publisher Carl Simpson remembered the incident. "I remember George Bauman. Ben Weir was publisher then and he was going to stop the presses and put out an amended edition, but he didn't. Then he said he was going to put an insert into the paper with the story, but he didn't. After that he said he would run a special edition. In the end he talked himself out of that and we didn't do anything special." Ensley, accompanied by his son Smokey, was on hand to greet fans and sign copies of his book. As he sat, warmly greeting passers-by with a smile and a warm greeting, people would come up and recount their stories of how his show gave them pleasurable memories. Comments such as "I've been watching your show since I was a little kid." and "You had the best outdoor show around." were heard more than once. Ensley credits chance, and divine providence, for his career. Ensley was a salesman at a radio station in Joplin and attempted to sell spots for a radio show. He was turned down by the prospective customer who said he would consider sponsoring a fishing show. Ensley took the initiative and put together a radio show that featured information from area reporters giving fishermen the activity at various lakes in the area. The show's popularity soon grew and Ensley had a new job, one that was part-time as he still sold advertising. In 1953 Ensley went to KCMO channel 5 in Kansas City where he signed on for one 30-minute show, 52 weeks a year. His show soon involved his whole family with his wife and children frequent helpers and fishing companions. Early television was crude by today's standards but Ensley recalled that with limited competition ratings were high. "I used to have a 22 to 25 rating now 3 or 4 is normal because of all the different channels available." Ensley did the show from KCMO for more than two decades before going into national syndication and moving the show to Wichita. "They had the syndication expertise I needed. They were already doing a religious show on 160 stations and I thought it best to go with someone who knew the business." Ensley says he's thankful that he's had the chance to experience as much of the world as he has. "I've fished on four continents and every ocean but the Antarctic and I've been blessed with the chance to meet a lot of wonderful people and see a lot of God's world."

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