The Stars of ZDTV

Sumi Das's last day was Thursday. She's heading to a reporting job at MSNBC. That leaves Adam Sessler and me as the last original show hosts from the very first days of ZDTV. (Michaela joined the channel after only a month or so due to visa difficulties.) I'm beginning to feel like Kurt Loder. Hey it could be worse, I could be Mark Goodman. (How many of the original MTV VJs can you name?). The good news is that everyone who has left the channel has moved on to bigger and better things. Here are the original, and now dearly departed, hosts of ZDTV on May 11, 1998 as best as I can remember.

• Jim Louderback and Sumi Das, Fresh Gear
• Lauren Fielder, Gamespot TV
• Scott Herriott, Ed Marques (The Surf Guru) and SuChin Pak, Internet Tonight
• Carmine Gallo, Money Machine
• Kate Botello, The Screen Savers and Tilde
• John C. Dvorak, Silicon Spin
• Victoria Recaño, ZDTV News

Am I missing anybody? There were hundreds of other people behind the scenes, of course, many of whom have also left. About a dozen or so of us old timers are still around, although no one has been around as long as I have. Today begins my 10th year with ZDTV/TechTV. That's the longest I've ever worked for anybody. I helped hire many of the people who started the channel. All of them are gone but I'm still standing. I can't figure out if I'm a survivor or just too lazy to move on. I guess Adam and I will just have to head out and raise a glass to the original stars of ZDTV.