Pioneers of Television - Local Kids' TV

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The regular Bozo show was rescheduled into oblivion 7 or so years back. I think at the end it was only on once a week early Saturday mornings. It couldn't last not being a 30 minute stilted "animation" Hasbro commercial interrupted with commercials.

 

They actually have run the "Bozo, Gar, and Ray" special. I'm sure it helps that WGN owns all the content outright, so there aren't any rights issues involved with also putting it on WGN America.

 

We were on the Boston Bozo show in around 63. Big chance at tv immortality.

 

That would be Bob McAllister.

 

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BTW, not exactly on topic, but upon noticing that there were only reruns of S1 episodes upcoming, I searched.. These 4 episodes were the only ones they made for season 2.

I was actually surprised they made a season 2 at all (and am glad I kept my auto recording wish list around).. I had thought they were out of topics.

 

They still could do soaps, theater, news, maybe a look at other forms of local programming.

 

Oh, I know it's all in the Tribune family, but I just doubted they were running Bozo in any form in recent years. (Though I could see Randy doing it when he was around..)

 

I think the Bozo show was simulcast on the superstation version of WGN all the way until the very end (about 10 years ago, if I recall correctly).

What I wish I could find online is the jingle I remember WGN using as commercial bumper music on their kids' programming in the late '70s/early '80s, when I was watching from my grandparents' place in Iowa: "Kids in Chicago, having a good time, they're all watching (slide whistle) Channel 9."

 

How about Big Brother Bob Emery and Major Mudd.

So long small fry, it's time to say goodbye, come back again, tomorrow night and then, we'll have some fun, there's some for everyone, so don't forget we have a date, tomorrow night and don't be late, so small fry, so long.

 

Up in Seattle we had JP Patches. Every weekday morning before school. I remember he would look through a crooked telescope to call out birthday names and crawl through his TV and end up at the North Pole at Christmas.

 

I remember Sally Starr, Pixanne and Gene London from when I was a kid in Philadelphia. Those are the earliest tv shows I remember, other than Jack Benny reruns.

 

I recorded the show but haven't watched it yet.

Was hoping they'd feature the old BJ and Dirty Dragon show.

That was my favorite. They even featured one of my drawings on the show, and it was a design - not a character from the show.

 

There was an extended version sung by Lou Rawls.

Found it! http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/index.php?c=884

(Oh yeah. Barney Miller and the other syndicated reruns are so very Chicago.)

 

I dunno why didn't realize he was doing all the voices in real time. We were naive about the camera always going off of him when the other characters talked.

 

Was Wonderama a "local" show? I remember seeing it as a kid in San Francisco (although, presumably, it was taped in New York).
(That brings back memories - not so much of Wonderama, but of the old Metromedia-owned TV station; its license went to the local PBS station for use as its "#2 station".)

Speaking of San Francisco:
Romper Room? Yes.
Bozo? No.

Anybody else remember a show called something like TV POW! ?
Somebody developed a method of syncing up the old Fairchild Channel F video game system (the first one to use cartridges and have color) to a phone line so that when somebody said "Pow!", it would trigger a joystick button press. (Apparently, at some point, Fairchild systems were replaced by Intellivision, which allowed two players to play simultaneously.) I remember seeing both San Francisco and Sacramento versions, so I assume this was franchised.

-- Don

 

They didn't have it in my market, but I've heard of it from others -- everyone I know who's about my age and grew up in the New York area remembers it being on WPIX (and they had the kids say "Pix!" instead of "Pow!"), and I had a co-worker who told me she competed and won on the version on Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio.

 

Catching up with local children's TV legend Bill Jackson
October 01, 2009|By Mark Caro, TRIBUNE REPORTER

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...0909300671_1_blob-museum-benefit-bill-jackson

 

Are you sure about that? I tried to find an obit and didn't find one.

My cousin Brian didn't mention it, and he provided graphics for the website at:
http://www.dirtydragon.com/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Jackson_(television_personality)

 

Oops. I thought I saw that in the searches I did. I guess my memory is because he was on WGN Morning news last year.

 

Yeah, it was franchised, though I only saw the SF version (KTVU, with Pat McCormick, IIRC).

Microphone into a Schmidt trigger would seem to be the hand-wavy way of doing that.. I remember them playing (mostly? always?) the game where the spaceships fly around and you shoot when they go into the middle, where the shot crosshairs go to.

Some kids were too dumb and just kept yelling POWPOWPOWPOWPOW, not realizing that there needed to be a bit of a break before it would fire again.