Howard Eskin credits Jim O'Brien for his start in TV

SO WHO WAS responsible for turning radio's Howard Eskin into TV's Howard Eskin?

The folks at KYW-TV who, in 1982, gave him his first television sports-anchoring gig, certainly played a role. But there is someone else Eskin credits as much, if not more.

That would be the late, great Jim O'Brien, whom Eskin met when he was just starting out in broadcasting in the 1970s, when working behind the scenes at Top 40 powerhouse WFIL-AM. At the time, O'Brien was already a beloved personality, doing double duty at both 'FIL and its then-corporate sibling, Channel 6.

Eskin recalled that in 1981, a year before he was hired at Channel 3, "Jim O'Brien said, 'You should be on television.' " Then the Channel 3 offer came, and, remembered Eskin, "He was the first guy I called. I said, 'Jim, I'm not ready.' He said, 'Let me tell you something: If you don't take this job, I am gonna kick your . . . butt.'

The rest, as they say, is history.

- Chuck Darrow