Ernie Baur – 14x Emmy Award Winning Producer/Director

Our Town with host Andy Ockershausen - Homegrown History

The phrase “living legend” gets tossed around a lot but there is no better way to describe Ernie Baur, long-time D.C. news and sports director and producer. In this fun and story-filled interview, Andy O. and the 14-time Emmy winning reminisce about the go-go years of local television programming and the diverse personalities that made it so special. Ernie Baur - Emmy Award Winning Producer/Director Born and raised in a Bethesda that has long-since faded from memory among the concrete and steel buildings of today, Ernie attended our Lady of Lourdes until 8th grade. In 9th, grade Ernie attended Good Counsel (hitchhiking to and from the all-boys Catholic school), and ultimately graduated from the co-ed high school right behind his house, Bethesda Chevy Chase. Deciding that more school was not for him (“I went to Montgomery College for about an hour and a half”), Ernie Baur was grilling steaks at the local Bonanza when his first break in broadcasting came as a part time copy boy at Channel 9. His prowess on the football field playing with the station crew team in the local flag football beer league game earned him an invitation for a paid internship. This would be just the beginning of the important role football would play in his life and career. Among the news anchors that Ernie ran copy to in those early years at Channel 9 was Sam Donaldson, who would go on to fame as a dogged reporter covering the White House for ABC. “Donaldson, he was a heart attack waiting to happen. He did everything to the last minute . . . what a character. You know he auditioned once… at channel 7 and we didn't hire him. The opinion of the group was this guy's a jerk and yeah, I'm not gonna argue. He was high maintenance but a great broadcaster. He’d always come up to you and say ‘I'm surrounded by incompetents everyday’.” But it wasn’t just on the news broadcasts where Ernie learned his craft. As stage manager of the Saturday morning Ranger Hal show “I used to run the puppets, Hal did the voices. You get behind the screen and you put your hand up you’re Marvin Monkey, Dr. Fox, Oswald Rabbit.” And, of course, Ernie has a story or two about trying to do the show after a few late nights at The Dancing Crab. While brief, Ernie Baur got his first directing break at Channel 7, working with another DC broadcasting legend Ed Walker on AM Washington, pairing Walker with Ruth Hudgens. But Channel 9 wanted him back and they sent a very special envoy to recruit him. “Fortunately for me…the person that they hired to replace me was awful, so awful to the point that they came back to me and they had Gordon Peterson take me out and say we need to get him back. Jim Snyder was a news director Ben Schneider and John Baker was a producer they're the ones that said ‘Look we gotta get Ernie back okay and whatever it takes and so Gordon got me back.” And it was at Channel 9 the Ernie met Lucille, his wife of 43 years. Of course, one of Ernie Baur’s great contributions to DC broadcasting lore is his work with NFL football and creating “Redskins Sidelines.” But that is not the only “sidelines” Ernie worked – for 15 seasons (and including 6 Super Bowls) Ernie worked as the “glove man” – the sideline guy who wears big orange gloves and indicates timeouts on the field. “Yeah I did it for “The Catch” the famous play in 49er history by Dwight Clark (in the 1982 NFC Championship Game against the Cowboys). I was there for that.” Glenn Brenner, the quick-witted and beloved sportscaster started out as the “third-string” sports anchor on Channel 9 but within a year was the “guy.” And, the rest is history. As the “Warner Wolf Show” morphed into “Redskins Sidelines” once Wolf had left the station. Once Sonny Jurgensen joined “Sidelines”, the format was set and its popularity grew among Redskins fans. Many of the behind-the-scenes stories of “Redskins Sidelines” have passed into Washington broadcasting lore. Sobriety of the hosts and the guests could some...