- We do have a few surprises for you that I think you'll enjoy watching.

- [Julia] KPBS has done a lot in 65 years, but one program from our history stands out as maybe the wildest.

- [Narrator] Our annual KPBS, open sesame auction.

(clown screams) - [Show Host] All kinds of goodies for you, all kinds of things bouncing off.

We got a custom build automobile.

We got trains, we got restaurant dinners, we got all kinds of great things.

- [Tom] The excitement was, it was live TV.

It was nothing like it.

I mean, the adrenaline flowed every night.

It was just this activity that never stopped.

- [Ken] It was wild west, it was not structured, it was all ad-libbed.

- Okay, welcome back to board B, all right.

- [Julia] In the 1970s and '80s, KPBS hosted an everything goes auction.

- [Narrator] Once a year, KPBS TV preempts its regular programs for nearly a week to become involved with the community in its most exciting fundraising event, the Open Sesame TV auction.

- [Julia] We talked to two of the people at KPBS who were most instrumental in putting them on.

- I'm Tom Karlo.

I started in 1973 as a student assistant and ended up working for KPBS for 47 years, retiring as the general manager.

- My name is Ken Kramer.

So for the first night at the KPBS auction, I'm Ken Kramer.

Thanks for being with us.

We will see you tomorrow afternoon at 4:30.

I spent a lot of time hosting fundraisers and the auction, which was the big celebration of community involvement in fundraising.

- The television auction started in 1974, and we did our last one in 1987.

And in those early days, we would go on for seven nights in prime time.

- [Julia] It sold custom cars, next to urologist appointments, next to books and restaurant gift certificates.

- [Narrator] A six foot long torpedo sandwich is a fantastic gastronomic surprise, it says here.

- [Announcer] Two nights on a waterbed at the 7-11 motel.

- [Ken] It might be anything.

It might be service on your car, followed by psychiatric sessions, followed by a one of a kind work of art.

And here it is.

- I want you to take a look at this old time radio.

- Carol Burnett donated this picture and the chromatic harmonica.

- One time, the first item on the board was a certificate for a vasectomy.

(Tom laughs) - Yes.

- And it happened to be that on that same board was a statue of David.

- And understand also that we aired the names of the winner.

So the vasectomy goes to Mr.

John Jones of Encinitas, you know, it's a gift from his wife.

- [Host] Dan Munns was the high bidder for the kosher ham.

And Dan do let us know how that turns out.

- One of the items that was donated was a part in a porno film.

- I never heard this.

- You never heard this one?

No.

- Well, we killed it.

- Yeah, wisely so I might say.

What part was it?

- I have no idea.

And it was a discussion and one of the managers really thought it would be a great item.

- Various members of the crew would do things in the final hours when we were trying to get over what we thought was the goal for the night.

- [Host] At 3:00 AM with the goal of a hundred thousand dollars, very close indeed.

Homer De La Rey, our auction chairman, sold the coat off his back - [Julia] On a different night as the clock ran out, a dinner date with Ken himself was put on the board.

- [Ken] I was approached and they said, look, you know, we're pretty close to the goal.

Would you consider putting yourself up for a night with, you know, whoever might bid for you?

And my immediate fear was, well, no one's gonna do that.

You know, people in this town have standards.

So, I went to my friend Maddie Krieger, who was one of the phone answers up there.

And I said, "Look, you know, you and I, we get along.

$40, okay?

Just put down $40."

And that will keep me from being mortally embarrassed.

And so, alright, we're running out of time.

It's almost midnight.

Look, we got a date with Ken Kramer here, and I look up at Maddie Krieger and she winks at me and, boop, $40 comes rundown and is put on the screen.

And then it went to 50.

And I looked at her and she's going, must be, I don't know.

So I... Okay, so we're just gonna ride this.

And it went up and it went over and it went.

And remember, this was a long time ago when a dollar was a dollar, but I think it came in at something like $120, and I was very gratified.

But we were doing that, you know.

We were doing whatever it took to get over the goal for the night.

- [Narrator] Most important of all, the money raised helps to assure the continued broadcasting of a wide variety of high quality non-commercial television and radio programs for us all.

- [Julia] The auctions were a big deal in their heyday, attracting San Diego's top stars.

- [Tom] We had, you know, mayors and politicians, and not only all the top anchors in town and all that.

They wanted to come out.

We had, you know, members of the Padres and the Chargers who came out.

We had Jerry Coleman, who was the longtime voice of the Padres.

He always came to the auction after a game.

So he would like finish out from 9:30 on and stuff, and he came almost every night.

- [Ken] We had Dick Van Dyke - [Tom] Dick Van Dyke came down.

That's right, yeah.

- [Ken] We had David Ogden Steyers who was Charles Winchester in the MASH series.

So we had fairly high octane stars from television and radio in those.

- [Julia] But the real MVPs were the hundreds of everyday people working behind the scenes.

- It took literally 500 volunteers each year to be involved because nothing was automated.

- [Narrator] Preparation actually begins many months before the auction.

The all important volunteer go-getters solicit and gather the thousands of items donated by generous and supportive business people in the many communities of San Diego County.

- [Ken] It was very chaotic television, but it was done with a certain kind of ballet, especially over the years that everybody got to know.

- [Host] But I'd never worked with a greater bunch of people in my whole life.

- [Julia] The live auctions were more than an effective fundraising tool.

They brought people together.

They were exhilarating and communal in a way that shopping online today certainly isn't.

- [Tom] What I would say is one of the funnest things we ever did in my history.

- [Ken] It made so much of an impression and created so much community in the community from people who were a part of that KPBS auction.

And I'm talking about the volunteers here.

And they just, to this day, speak to me of how much fun it was.

- [Narrator] A host of high-spirited and wonderful people joined together to help raise money for the operation of the KPBS stations, public television and radio in San Diego.

- Everyone watched it, - They really did.

and bid.

They did.

It was an event.

- It was quite an event.

- [Julia] Tom pulled the plug on the auctions in 1987.

They cost more than they brought in.

And with home shopping channels starting, live auction broadcasts made less sense.

But Ken, Tom, and everyone else who was around for the KPBS auctions fondly remembers a time when shopping from home was a little more fun.

- Our studio supervisor and curator of all hats.

(attendees cheering and applauding) And we served at a time when it was pretty wild out there, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

It had its challenges, but it also was really rewarding.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare the 1982 KPBS auction concluded.

We are done.