Lyrics

[INTRO]
A small town station
WSIL-TV3 in Harrisburg
Couldn’t keep up with its peers
But is a respectable number 3

[VERSE 1]
It all started with Cactus Pete, Jim Cox did the news and then there was Uncle Briggs and Funny Company
Then the Wheelers came along, took channel 3 from its glory days and made channel 3 something wholly their own
Steve and Bonnie Wheeler were quite the team
Steve was the boss and Bonnie was Mama News
Bonnie retained the services of a young sportscaster named Mark Kiesling
Channel 3 needed a weatherman and Jim Rasor did a fine job
Then everyone said goodbye to Harrisburg and set sails for Carterville
And NewsCenter 3 had a whole new name, News 3

[CHORUS]
It’s a small town station
Bare bones if that
It could never compete with 6 and 12
But there’s an audience for a respectable number 3

[VERSE 2]
The great Terry Caldwell came along and soon his sidekick Amy Van Patten joined
Together with Mark and Jim, News 3 continued to be Southern Illinois’s news source
Everyone loved Terry as if he was some legend, akin to Mike Shain of channel 12 and Tom Butler of channel 6
Terry had the it factor, swept the audience of their feet with his robust professionalism
Amy was his trusted sidekick, going out and reporting while Terry manned the desk
Then Amy took a job in Florida and Terry gained his wings
A new team came along

[CHORUS]
It’s a small town station
Bare bones if that
It could never compete with 6 and 12
But there’s an audience for a respectable number 3

[Verse 3]
Brad Schultz and Angie Wyatt didn’t last long, but sure made an impression
Edan Schultz rose up, rising to weekend anchor
Edan didn’t think he had it in him to anchor the news, but little did he expect he’d become the main anchor
Then Mark left and Barry was the new Sports Director, joining Edan, Angie and Jim on their misadventures
They had quite a team of reporters to go along with the set changes
Boom the ended got a makeover and boom everything was so different
Kevin came along and
Mark returned to the daily news grind as third anchor
Darren took over as Sports Director
And so News 3 was in its prime
A new batch of reporters, kids I should say
As Edan and Angie became news dad and news mom
Making sure all of their kids stayed in line
Everything changed when suddenly, what happened to Angie Wyatt?

[CHORUS]
It’s a small town station
Bare bones if that
It could never compete with 6 and 12
But there’s an audience for a respectable number 3

[VERSE 4]
More big changes
HD news, Edan leaves, everyone left, Wheelers retire, Quincy takes over, Allen takes over
And so the good old days are over, from the uproar what happened to Mark to no more local sports or weather
Channel 3 is just now a bottom of the Barrell number 3

[OUTRO]
It was quite a nostalgic ride
But all good things must come to an end
It’ll never go back to its good old days
At least I can this same old song about the same good old days