This is not the first time I have blogged, only the first time here.  It isn't something I do very often, but will.   So first things first.  Lets start with who I am and why this blog is called Then & Now.  I’m Mike George.  I was an anchor, reporter and Executive Producer here at KBTX 1986-1992.  Of course that was then.  This is now.  Now, I'm back in B-CS and KBTX as News Director.  Lots have changed since I  first worked here.  I don't even know where to start on how much the Twin Cities have grown and changed.   I will though in future  blogs. Plenty has changed here at

News 3.  In case you didn't know it, this is a state of the art facility in many ways.  Not quite what we had to work with back then.  Then, there were no fancy graphics, a news set that looked like it was homemade, (we did help build the set, but it was actually designed by a California set design company) and edit machines that went down every other day.  Oh yah, back then it was videotape those edit machines liked to chew up and spit out.  Now, we have moving graphics, a pretty sharp set that opens to the newsroom, (by the way we’re getting a new one and this one is so advanced it looks like something out of the Star Trek Enterprise) and there are no more videotapes.  It’s all digital.  Editing is non linear. Parents if you don’t know what that means, ask your kids.  They have versions of it on their laptops.  You probably have it on your desktops and have never really looked at it. These home versions can do some pretty incredible things that rival what many stations have in their edit bays. So some things have definitely changed.

Events of the day have me segueing to a story we’re covering now.  Which reminds me of a story we covered way back then (1990 I think). Todays  headline KBTX.COM  “ Bryan, College Station at Odds Over Landfill Operations”.  This  is so serious the city of Bryan is about to sue the city of College Station.  It’s a legal version of sibling rivalry.  I remember ( you’ll soon realize my memory isn’t what it used to be, so if you’re looking for facts, this isn’t a blog for you.) when there was talk and only talk of the two cities looking for opportunities to join forces, minimize expense and operations. Something almost like a “metro government”.  Back then the mayors were Larry Ringer - C.S. and Marvin Tate - Bryan.  They actually came together on a metro landfill.  It was the beginning of the Brazos Valley Sold Waste Management Agency or BVSMA.  It was a landmark agreement and the beginning of a short era of good will. These guys really seemed to like each other, on and off the field. Now, I can’t speak of the relationship between the two current mayors.  Although, Bryan Mayor Mark Conlee tells me he did give a courtesy call to College Station Mayor Ben White to let him know what could be coming. That sounds like goodwill. A suit on the other hand??? I understand desperate times require desperate measures.