Tyson Romero and Craig Wirth
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Before full-time network programming made its way to the airwaves here in Salt Lake City, our station relied on other means to fill the day for viewers — namely “Trash Sports” films.
Gone but not forgotten are the days of these Trash Sports films — bringing a wide variety of rip-roaring, and sometimes rather haphazard, entertainment to locals tuned in on their home televisions.
Often referred to as “Thrill Makers,” these films could be seen on our station throughout the day in place of the daily sporting events we’ve grown accustomed to today.
The films involved all kinds of amusing pastimes from daring balancing acts hundreds of feet about a city skyline, to choreographed race cars, snow canoes, and even the earliest ages of motorcycle stunt daredevils.
Our voice for all the best Trash Sports those days was the late announcer Allan Moll, who spoke about the broadcast anomaly in an interview saying, “It was fascinating. Just one after another… And of course, these sports all got coverage because TV was looking for opportunities to fill up the time.”
Not always with safety as a top priority, these Trash Sports films were a fantastic form of entertainment for viewers tuning in outside of our daily news coverage and were certainly a spectacle of the ages.
