Tom Heald, RIP
In 1996 I got 179 pieces of email from Tom Heald. It would be years before we would have our only face-to-face in Rapid City, where he lived and died, but it was clear from the get-go that this was no ordinary reader of mine.
Tom passed away last week, not long after dialing 911 on himself. He was just 36. I don't know what the cause of death was, except that the obituary in the local newspaper suggested donations be made to the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.
The year we first started corresponding, he began posting stuff of his own to Usenet (we were all moving very slowly to the Web). I soon realized it was good quality and deserved wider readership. So I added a new feature to my weekly late-night-TV newsletter called "This Night in History," which Tom wrote:
Th 11/21: In 1987, frequent Letterman guest "Super Dave" Osborne
got his own program on Showtime.
Fr 11/22: In 1991, Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali was chosen to be
the next United Nations Secretary-General.
Mo 11/23: In 1982, the FCC drops limits on the duration and
frequency of TV ads, enabling Mike Levey, Ron Popeil and
Dionne Warwick to host their own late-night "shows."
(The old-timers will remember the Boutros Boutros-Ghali reference.)
And for the next decade or so, Tom contributed one thing or another to my various editorial ventures. He sent me piles of clippings for my use. He did fake late-night lineups (if you get our weekly newsletter, there will be a tribute fake list in this week's edition). He wrote a daily picks column for TV Barn for a while, then continued it on his own. He kept the conversation going on numerous discussion lists, especially this one. He specialized in taking intensely trivial items of television knowledge and packaging them in some absurd fashion that, more often than not, made me bust out laughing.
He did it all without compensation — other than the occasional goodie box of DVDs and swag I would mail him — and he was a constant correspondent, often sending me emails time-stamped 4 a.m.
And if it was 4 a.m. Tom was probably watching "World News Now." So it was only fitting that the ABC overnight news program (co-anchored by former Kansas City anchor Jeremy Hubbard) pay tribute to Tomalhe just before cueing Barry Mitchell and the "World News Polka."
Tom poured a lot of time and energy into helping me out, and I scarcely know where to begin expressing my gratitude. I know this: When my 15-year compilation of writings comes out this summer, it will be dedicated to him.
I told him thank you a lot and now, in hindsight, I'm glad I did.
