Who was your local TV station icon?

[kryptosmaster]

When I first moved to Arizona in '79 there was a morning show here called Wallace and Ladmo. The show ran from the 50's to the late 80's or early 90's.
These guys were insanely popular around here and still are remembered fondly.
My Grandmother hated when I would watch it. She said they were idiots. LOL
I'm sure there must be clips on youtube or something if you want to check it out. They even had (or maybe still have) an exhibit on the show at one of the museums here.
They were always dressing up like different recurring characters and had a multi-level type of humor where the adults would get things that would go over the kids heads.
Ladmo died but Wallace still does appearances.
Rich

WallaceWatchers.com:: Wallace and Ladmo Official Site

here's a clip. for some reason the first 3 minutes are the end of a Mighty Mouse cartonn, a Star Wars 12" commercial and some promo spots for reruns of Odd Couple, My 3 Sons and other shows.

YouTube - Wallace and Ladmo

[Monsterama2000]

Superhost was great his real name is Marty Sullivan and he now lives in Florida. He use to come to Ghoulardi fest but do to his health has not been able to make it the last few years. I have a few of his shows on dvd also have a skit dvd and his 20th Anniversary Special dvd not the greatest quality since they were recorded from a VHS tape from back in the day but still really cool and who here in NE Ohio does'nt like to hear "Hey! Gimmie dat shoe!!!!"

A clip from Superhost
YouTube - Superhost! Gimme Dat Shoe!!!

My brother and I watched Superhost almost every Saturday. He'd show some Three Stooges shorts and a couple of great old monster flicks.

Here's a YouTube channel devoted to Superhost --
Tribute to Superhost

Channel 43 also had Barnaby on every weekday morning. He talked to an invisible parrot and showed cartoons.

Here's a clip from his last show --
Barnaby

"If anybody calls, tell them Barnaby said hello."

[HardyGirl]

For radio station jock icons it was Harry Harrison, Dan Ingram and George Michael of NYC.
I think they were all on WABC-AM

I remember Harry Harrison on WABC!

[Wee67]

In Philadelphia it was Captain Noah and His Magical Ark on WPVI every morning. Yeah it wasn't as a cool as a spaceship, but he ran Gumby, Popeye and other cartoons along with his songs and sketches. His wife, on the show and in real life, played guitar and did puppets. He would have you send in your drawn pictures and he would show them. I can still sing the hoaky song he played while they aired.

Here's a very bad segment recorded off another source-
YouTube - Send Your Pictures To dear old Capt. Noah

The cool thing about WPVI (I know because I worked there) it that they let these people stay with the station loooong past the time when most had been replaced by syndicated programs. Yeah, their times slots became worse and less frequent, but they still had work.

Saturday afternoons were for Dr. Shock's Horror Theater on WPHL. This is where i got my taste for 50's and 50's B Sci Fi and Horror.
YouTube - Dr Shock's Weekly Greetings

[BendyZaius]

I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the 70s, every Friday night it was Uncle Ted's Ghoul School. Bad B-level horror films intercut with Uncle Ted doing Bad magic at the breaks. Great memories!

[johnnystorm]

I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the 70s, every Friday night it was Uncle Ted's Ghoul School. Bad B-level horror films intercut with Uncle Ted doing Bad magic at the breaks. Great memories!

I remember Uncle Ted from when I used to visit my grandparents up there. My cousin thought he was the greatest!

[Hulk]

Bob McCalister of wonderama on channel 5 new york

Wacka-doo Wacka Doo!

[starsky]

Well, I know that Bozo was around when I was a kid, but I didn't pay much attention to that. On Sundays it was Wonderama w/ Bob McCallister, (I was on that once). Here in the Bay Area for awhile it was Captain Cosmic (Gary Burghoff), but I was a teenager then. On Ch. 44 (KBHK) here in Nor. Cal was Dr. Don who was also the top DJ on KFRC. On Ch. 2 (KTVU) it was Tom & Jerry and TV POWWWWWW! (those in the NYC area it was TV PIXXXXX) w/ the host taking calls from kids who would "play" a video game (shooting a little dot by yelling POWWWW). In my teen years on Saturday nights it was Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

hey hardy girl, looks like we watched the same shows!! i think captain cosmic was bob wilkins though. i was able to watch all those great japanese live action programs because of his show!

Captain Cosmic

[Hector]

hey hardy girl, looks like we watched the same shows!! i think captain cosmic was bob wilkins though. i was able to watch all those great japanese live action programs because of his show!

Captain Cosmic

Yes, Bob Wilkins was indeed Captain Cosmic.

[Hector]

Here in the Bay Area for awhile it was Captain Cosmic (Gary Burghoff)

Perhaps in an alternate universe.




YouTube - Bob Wilkins / Captain Cosmic

[hobub]

We had a few. Before cable, we had just a few stations. Steubenville, Wheeling and Pittsbugh. The ones that stand out are...

Red Donnely in Steubenville and in Pittsburgh, pioneer icons were Paul Long/anchor, Joe Denardo/weather, and Myron Cope/sports. We also had a guy on PBS named Fred Rogers who got to be pretty well known.

Steubenville and Pittsburgh that when Red Donnely passed away, the Pittsburgh news stations did a tribute to him. All were pioneers in TV in the local area.

Dino Crocetti got discovered because Pittsburgh had "blue law" which closed the establishments on Sudays. To get around it, they'd all scoot down to Steubenville since Ohio didn't recognize the law. Benefits of living in a tri-state area.

I remember getting up in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays and watching the vertical bars until the stations would come on the air. I also remember hating it when that Nixon guy would get on the TV and interupt all 6 channels. (WSTV, KDKA, WIIC, WTAE and WTRF and WQED) WSTV Steubenville was closest to us but they were all local to the viewing area.

[hobub]

We had Chilly Billy Cardille doing Chiller Theatre back in Pittsburgh Channel 11on Saturday Nights. Bill you may know from Night of the Living Dead.
Here's a link to an old opening, it's kinda jumpy, but you not only get to see Chilly Billy, but also his sidekicks, the gorgeous Georgette the Fudge Maker (no, I don't know why she was called that, make your own dirty joke) & Terminal Stare, who drove us teenage boys just crazy (and you'll see why!). At the beginning there's some old promo spots including a great Star Wars public service announcement:

YouTube - WIIC TV 11 promos Chiller Theater 1981


We also had Adventuretime with Paul Shannon everyday after school on Channel 4 from Pittsburgh.Paul had the usual kids in the audience, and showed a lot of cartoons, I mostly remember watching Kimba the White Lion. Paul was one of those responsible for bringing the Three Stooges back in the '60S and they were on his show many times. I also fondly remember him collecting mail to Santa Claus and sending it in a rocket to the North Pole at Christmas.

Also Joe Negri, a fantastic guitarist was on that show a lot, Joe was on Mr. Rogers too as HandyMan Negri. Wish I could find a clip from AdventureTime, but I've never come across one. Anyone ever seen anything from this great old kid's show?

Awesome, I remember Chilly Billy and Joe Negri! I was just mentioning the news casters (other than Rogers) This is a great thread. Remember Norman? He was pretty creepy. I do also remember Joe Negri hosting a kid's show on Saturdays that introduced cartoons but the specifics are a bit vague. Very cool.

[johnnystorm]

Awesome, I remember Chilly Billy and Joe Negri! I was just mentioning the news casters (other than Rogers) This is a great thread. Remember Norman? He was pretty creepy. I do also remember Joe Negri hosting a kid's show on Saturdays that introduced cartoons but the specifics are a bit vague. Very cool.

Norman the Caretaker & Stefan the Castle prankster!

Chilly Billy works at a radio station in Pittsburgh these days. Awhile back I sent him a letter asking about Chiller Theatre returning, and he sent me a nice short letter back telling me how much he appreciated my liking the show. He also sent me a signed photo of the chiller cast which was great.
Here's a link to his bio page at WJAS:

1320 WJAS - Pittsburgh's Original Hits Station



Wish I could find some Paul Shannon clips, I'd like to see those. Paul is in the Stooges movie The OUTLAWS IS COMIN'! playing Black Bart I believe. All the villains in that movie were played by children's TV hosts who had helped promote the Stooges career revival in the 1960s.

I don't remember Joe Negri having his own show, but I'm sure he must have he used to be all over Pittsburgh media. I saw him once at a concert series, he's a very talented guitar player.

And my God, thanks for mentioning Myron Cope, creator of the Steelers' Terrible Towel! Yinz fellas with normal ex-jock sports announcers can only wish yinz had somebody like Myron Cope supporting your team!
Humm-hah! Double yoicks!

[Goblin19]

Didn't realize there were so many Cleveland guys here. Superhost was classic. During the week, don't forget Barnaby. He was on for decades.

[shyndman]

Dick Dyszel

Over in Classic Toys with Rich and Brian talking about Commander Tom in Buffalo, got me thinking there must have been dozens of these guys all over 70's television introducing cartoons, shows, contests. Who were yours? These were who I watched in Washington and Baltimore:

Captain 20 host on WDCA - TV, Channel 20 in Washington, DC

YouTube - CAPTAIN CHESAPEAKE

Stu Kerr - BaltoCo

How can you mention Captain 20 without mentioning one of Dick Dyszel's other great alter egos? Count Gore De Vol and his Creature Feature Show! Great, cheesy stuff, and great cheesy horror movies. He's all over YOUTUBE but also has his own site: Vampire Horror Host Count Gore De Vol Creature Feature