Thirty years ago, Houston Chronicle and Post photographers went out to the Westheimer Art Festival, a barge fire at the port, a celebration marking Jones Hall's 20th and a fire at the Londale Hotel. But what many of us will remember is when the Astros' remarkable season came to a close on Oct. 15, known either as one of the best games in baseball history or one of the worst days in Houston sports.

* Five women DJs dropped by the Chronicle studio for a photoshoot for a story on the changing face of Houston's disc jockeys.

From Bruce Westbrook's Nov. 8 article:

The days of deep-voiced male disc jockeys are over.

These days, women are finding it easier to break into the business of radio. Many of the city's 44 FM and AM stations have women announcers, and they're generally an ambitious, lively lot.

They aren't men; they aren't expected to be; they don't try to be.

"I think everybody on radio sounds more like themselves today, men and women," said Betsy Ballard of KLTR-FM.

Having grown up during those deep-voiced days of radio, what drew women to the business?

"I enjoy it because it's kind of a free-wheeling environment," Ballard said. "You can let your hair down a little and be yourself and not be restricted by that corporate demeanor that so many people have to fit into.

"I also like to perform, and I like to contribute something to people's lives. The worst part is, I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. and be in bed by 8:30 or 9 at night. That's not too glamorous."

KLOL-FM's Dayna Steele, a fourth-generation Houstonian, said she likes radio "because there's something different every day. And I love music and meeting music people."

And since announcers are heard and not seen, radio DJs needn't worry about their looks - a factor which can affect people in other work places, even if it shouldn't.

[...]

But some traditions are tougher to break than others. Just ask Hannah Storm, sports director for KKHT (formerly KSRR).

"I'm a woman in a man's world," Storm said. "You constantly have to prove to people you know what you're doing. In sports, you either know it or you don't, and people look for something to criticize in a woman sports announcer. But I don't think men mind it as long as you know what you're talking about."

* The Chronicle studio remained busy as actors Les Lye and Alasdair Gillis dropped in to promote Nickelodeon's "You Can't Do That On Television."

You remember that show, right? Think "Laugh-In," but for the under-16 crowd. Whenever a cast member would utter the phrase, "I don't know," a bucket full of green slime would fall upon them.

Hey, to this 10-year-old, it was funny.

From Carole Keeney's Oct. 12 article:

Producer/writer Roger Price had a long string of British hits for children before launching his popular show in Ottawa in 1979.

Nickelodeon picked it up in 1982. Price rejected the "Father Knows Best," preachy kind of educational fare in favor of an irreverent slapstick put-down of parents.

And with parents like Dad and dimwitted Val, who always wears rubber gloves (even with formal clothes), childhood anxieties quickly disappear. Who could be afraid of parents who adopt a kid so they'll have someone to take out the garbage? Or worry about sibling rivalry when a mother vacantly says she doesn't much care for any of her kids after her son complains that his brother is her favorite.

"It really is so different from all the other kid shows," Lye said. "He (Price) is doing what the other shows don't do - fun, pure entertainment. The show does have some messages, but that's not the main point."

The main point is to poke fun and give kids a break.

The sketches are fast-moving and set in familiar situations - classrooms, fast-food hangouts, camps. They show youngsters that life at home really isn't so bad if they know the score.

And knowing the score is understanding adults are hiding their faults, but not too well.

Gillis and Lye were also in town that day to promote Green Slime shampoo and soap.

* Traffic reporting is not an easy job. You see a lot from up above, none of it pretty. Then there's the danger involved. The Chronicle's Bob Grace checked in with those that take to the city's skies to keep motorists up-to-date on traffic conditions here.

Houston's airborne traffic reporters face the daily challenge of recounting the good, the bad and the ugly of the city's spaghetti-bowl system of thoroughfares. It's a job that has little good to report - but always has an abundance of details about overturned 18-wheelers, stalled cars in the left-hand lane, rear-end collisions and bottlenecked overpasses.

Metro Traffic and Traffic Central are the two traffic services providing area radio stations with airborne reports as well as reports from mobile units on the freeways. But only a few of the city's stations pay to supplement their traffic news with the airborne reports - and those that do use it mainly for prestige and (no pun intended) a high-profile vehicle for the station.

In this business of prestige by association, each radio station may have its own special name for the same plane, helicopter or reporter used in the airborne reports. Traffic Central uses an airplane with two traffic reporters aboard. John Greer does his reports for KPRC aboard "Skyspy" and KIKK's Captain Eddie files his updates from the "KIKK Traffic Tracker."

Metro Traffic uses both a plane and a helicopter for its airborne reports. Lance Locker, who has been flying with Metro for two years, can be heard as Captain Lance aboard "Blue Thunder" on KKBQ, as Lance Locker aboard "Skywatch Helicopter II" for KTRH and aboard "Skyborn II" for KILT, KFRD, KMUV in Conroe and KBUK in Baytown. Its airplane is alternately called "Skywatch I" on KTRH and "Skyborn I" on the other stations.

And although they are above the daily fender benders of the freeways, there is always the very real danger of a crash. Last month, WNBC's traffic helicopter in New York plunged into the Hudson River, killing the female reporter and critically injuring the pilot. It was the second time that station's traffic helicopter crashed this year.

Houston also has had its share of airborne traffic reporter accidents. KODA's traffic helicopter exploded in the air and crashed in 1964, killing the traffic reporter and the pilot. In 1974, a traffic reporter with KULF (now KKBQ) was killed when his plane flew low over a railroad tank car fire and then crashed.

Metro Traffic pilot Bob Hayes had to make an emergency landing on April 2 in T.C. Jester Park, just east of White Oak Bayou, hitting one utility line and going under a second line. Hayes' Grumman American Cheetah began losing power and altitude, and the park was the closest landing possibility. Everyone aboard the plane walked away uninjured.

* Well, let's get to it. Game 6. NLCS.

The Mets held a 3-2 series lead over the Astros when 45,000 crowded inside the Astrodome for Game 6 on Oct. 15.

Hey, things got off to a good start when the Astros put up three runs in the first. What followed next was a pitchers' duel between the Astros' Bob Knepper and the Mets' Bob Ojeda. Both gave up no ground until the ninth inning, when the baseball world saw a game with more ups and downs than the Texas Cyclone across the street.

Three outs away from making their first World Series appearance, Knepper and reliever Dave Smith gave up three runs to send the game into extra innings. The Mets put up one run in the 14th, but the Astros didn't give up: Billy Hatcher launched a pitch off Jesse Orosco into left field, right off the foul pole to tie the game 4-4. It wasn't over yet.

The Mets put up three more runs in the 16th. Again, the Astros weren't about to quit, putting up two runs in the bottom of that inning. Could they get the runs they needed to force a Game 7 and put N.L. Cy Young winner Mike Scott back on the mound?

Nah. Maybe in Alternate Houston it happened. Maybe in that reality the Rockets beat the Celtics that year in the NBA Finals, too.

Outfielder Kevin Bass struck out that inning and the Mets would go on to face Roger Clemens and the Red Sox, and Bill Buckner's life would be forever changed.

Memories of the 1980 NLCS against the Phillies still fresh in their minds, both fans and players were stung.

From Fran Blinebury's writeup:

This was a game for the ages. One that deserved to be dipped in bronze and sent off straight to Cooperstown or flash-frozen and stored in a time capsule.

It was a long day's journey into night that nobody wanted to see come to an end. ABC television could forget about the Boston Red Sox and California Angels, a pair of perennial losers, and let this pair of heavyweights slug it out until somebody dropped.

"It was a great game and tremendous series," said [Astros catcher Alan] Ashby. "I remember one time just saying to Keith Hernandez, 'Can you believe this?' And he said, 'I've never experienced anything like it.' "

But some of them had. At least seven Astros.

"Time washes away a lot of the memories," said Craig Reynolds.

"That was a different series and a different club."

But one thing was the same.

"Yeah," said Reynolds, "the pain."