SEATTLE — This year, KOMO TV is celebrating 70 years of newsgathering. For 24 of those years, Northwest Afternoon was must-watch television for interviews with celebrities, authors and cultural icons.
We interviewed Elisa Jaffe inside her home. A wall of written word boasts a collection of books any bibliophile or pop culture connoisseur would envy.
“From Caroline Kennedy to Ethan Hawke to Drew Cary,” said Jaffe as she thumbed through book titles. “Mariel Hemingway and Lorna Luft and Dolly Parton. Dolly was great.”
You’ll forgive Jaffe for dropping names – who wouldn’t?
Each book, a souvenir from more than a decade of interviews on Northwest Afternoon.
From 1984 to 2008, viewers had a standing 3 p.m. weekday date with Dick Foley and Dana Middleton and later, Jaffe, Kent Phillips and always, Cindi Rinehart.
The Queen of Soaps herself stopped by KOMO News to explore what used to the the Northwest Afternoon studio.
Rinehart has suffered a series of health issues, but she still commands a room.
“One minute you’re a minute and a half at the end of a show and the next minute you’re the first 15 minutes of the show,” said KOMO News anchor Eric Johnson to Rinehart during her visit.
When Rinehart took the reigns of Northwest Afternoon, the show adopted its familiar format.
Soap Opera news followed by interviews with celebrities, musicians, newsmakers and more.
“Oprah wanted our guests. The Today Show was fighting for our guests and Good Morning America,” said Jaffe, who served as host and executive producer of Northwest Afternoon for 14 years. “I felt like I did more news sometimes on Northwest Afternoon than I got a chance to do reporting because we got the big stories.”
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Kent Phillips joined the show in 1996. His job, as he’d describe it, stand back and hold on.
“What they needed was a guy was was generic in the middle,” said Phillips. “You’ve met Cindi and Elisa, you just stay out of the way and have a good time.”
The show ran the gamut from interviews with President Jimmy Carter to Peter Jennings, then Sen. Barack Obama, Dolly Parton and more.
“Elisa was getting an apple in her mouth chain sawed – carving an apple,” said Phillips. “I had a python around my neck and I’m thinking – what is going on here?”
As happens with all good things, Northwest Afternoon came to an end in 2008.
These days Jaffe is an artist, exploring her creativity, among various other ventures such as voice over work. Phillips is the owner and manager of a business and government research firm and owns radio stations in Washington and Montana.
ALSO SEE: Reunited: A [NW] Afternoon with Elisa Jaffe, Kent Phillips & Cindi Rinehart
Rinehart lives in Manchester, Washington and is battling several health issues. She was recently diagnosed with throat cancer, had a stroke, aphasia and heart failure, but said she’s thankful to the medical experts at Saint Michael Medical Center in Silverdale for keeping her alive.
Reaching the right words are hard for Rinehart, but they flow the easiest when she speaks from the heart.
“It’s hard because I love people so much,” said Rinehart. “I do like soaps. I love soaps, but it’s the people who love the soaps.”
Watch special stories dedicated to KOMO TV’s 70th Anniversary every Thursday at 6 p.m. now through Dec. 10, 2023. See them all online here.