It’s that time of year for turkey, football, family, and a song, that many of us think we know.  It starts with “Over the river.”    I learned the proper verbiage for this tune thanks to my co-anchor Denise D’Ascenzo who learned it from the legendary voice of  Bob Steele of WTIC AM 1080 and Channel 3, shown here in  our studios in the 1960s.*

It was 1986, and Denise was anchoring her first day before Thanksgiving broadcast at Channel 3 after moving here from Cleveland.   She recalls writing and reading a script about holiday travel that went something like this:

     “By car, by train, by plane, people all over Connecticut are going over the river and through the woods”

As soon as the newscast was over Denise received an urgent call from a man she had never met.   When he said “Denise,” she said it sounded like the voice of God.