Atlanta Version
An earlier "Popeye Club" series, hosted by "Officer Don" (actually local radio announcer and actor Don Kennedy) had a long run of more than ten years on local television in Atlanta, Georgia, beginning in the late 1950s. It was telecast on WSB-TV (WPXI's sister station), at that time the local NBC affiliate, on weekdays from 5:00 to 6:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. In addition to showing "Popeye" cartoons (both old and new), it featured interviews with celebrities promoting family films, such as Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers talking about their newly released film Born Free , and children's games such as "Untie the Knot", musical chairs, and most famously, "Ooey-Gooey". This was a game which featured four grocery bags which rotated on a platform. Three of them contained groceries, but the fourth always contained a gooey mixture of egg yolk and other items. The contestant (always a child, although Officer Don occasionally played) would be blindfolded, the platform would be turned, and then the contestant was required to stick his/her hand into one of the grocery bags, not knowing if they would clutch a grocery item or the gooey mixture.
Donald Kennedy is a radio, TV personality and voice talent whose career began in the late 1940s with a radio announcer spot on PA station WPIC.
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial terrestrial television network that is a flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, with additional major offices near Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. The network is one of the Big Three television networks. NBC is sometimes referred to as the "Peacock Network", in reference to its stylized peacock logo, introduced in 1956 to promote the company's innovations in early color broadcasting. It became the network's official emblem in 1979.
Virginia Anne McKenna, OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films A Town Like Alice (1958), Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), Born Free (1966), and Ring of Bright Water (1969) and for her long collaboration with husband Bill Travers.
The WSB-TV version not only showed the old Popeye cartoons but also those created especially for the TV series Popeye the Sailor . However, in Pittsburgh, ABC affiliate WTAE-TV also aired a Popeye related program that featured the 1960-62 TV series while WIIC had the theatrical versions. (The TV version were owned by King Features Syndicate, whose parent company Hearst Corporation also owned WTAE).
WTAE-TV, virtual channel 4, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of Hearst Communications since the station's inception, making this one of two stations that have been built and signed on by Hearst. WTAE's studios are located on Ardmore Boulevard in the suburb of Wilkinsburg, and its transmitter is located in Buena Vista, Pennsylvania. On cable, WTAE is carried on Comcast Xfinity channel 8 and Verizon FiOS channel 4.
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate is a unit of Hearst Holdings, Inc., which combines the Hearst Corporation's cable-network partnerships, television programming and distribution activities, and syndication companies. King Features' affiliate syndicates are North America Syndicate and Cowles Syndicate. Each week, Reed Brennan Media Associates, a unit of Hearst, edits and distributes more than 200 features for King Features.
WPNT, virtual channel 22, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, as part of a duopoly with Fox affiliate WPGH-TV. The two stations share studios and transmitter facilities on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill section. WPNT carries programming from the Stadium syndication package and Ring of Honor Wrestling, both owned by Sinclair.
KDKA-TV, virtual channel 2, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the CBS Television Stations subsidiary of CBS Corporation, as part of a duopoly with Jeannette-licensed CW owned-and-operated station WPCW. The two stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh; KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh. On cable, the station is carried on Comcast Xfinity channel 6, and Verizon FiOS channel 2.
WPGH-TV, virtual channel 53, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, as part of a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WPNT. The two stations share studios and transmitter facilities on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill section. On cable, WPGH is carried on Comcast Xfinity channel 7, and on Verizon FiOS channel 7.
Captain Chesapeake was a morning and afternoon children's show on WBFF in Baltimore, Maryland hosted by George A. Lewis who portrayed "Captain Chesapeake". The show aired from April 1971 until 1990. Lewis hosted a similar show, Captain Pitt on WPTT in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lewis began his career as the children's host of the Steamboat Bill and Mr. Cartoon shows on WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, from 1957 until 1970. Lewis also acted as "Ghost Host" on WBFF's late night horror movie show, and did news on WBFF prior to 1988.
Adventure Time was a local children's television show on WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1959 to 1975. It was hosted by Paul Shannon, with guitarist Joe Negri and puppeteer Jim Martin. Martin later became a puppeteer for Sesame Street.
The Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC) is a 24-hour regional cable news television channel serving the Western Pennsylvania area. Owned by Cox Enterprises, the station is aired on Comcast channel 35 and on Verizon FiOS channel 9 in Western Pennsylvania.
Paul Vincent Shannon was a veteran Pittsburgh radio announcer in the days before commercial television. He worked for years at KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and hosted his own show as the Dream Weaver, reading romantic poetry to electric organ accompaniment in the style of Peter Grant on the famous Cincinnati radio program Moon River over WLW. He also hosted the syndicated science-focused program Adventures in Research with Thomas Phillips.
Ricki & Copper (1959–1969) was a popular local children's program that ran weekday mornings on WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was one of two locally produced children's shows that aired on WTAE, the other being Paul Shannon's Adventure Time, which aired in the afternoon. The show was originally an offshoot of another local program, The Comedy Show which ran from 1958 to 1959.
Tom Hatten was an American radio, film and television personality, known as the long-time host of The Popeye Show and Family Film Festival on KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles in the 1960s through the '80s. Hatten was one of those television "pioneers"--from the 1950's and 1960's---programs done "live"--no matter what mistakes happened. He also appeared in dozens of musicals, movies and television shows.
Cartoon Alley was an American television series that aired on Turner Classic Movies on Saturday mornings from 2004 to 2007. It featured classic animated shorts.
William Robert Cardille, also known as "Chilly Billy", was an American broadcast personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Captain Noah and His Magical Ark was a television program for children and was generally broadcast around the Philadelphia area. The series aired from 1967 to 1994. It was filmed and produced at the WPVI-TV, Channel 6 studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Celebrate the Season Parade is one of the traditional parades held each year in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day; that is, the last Saturday in November. It is one of the first events that rings in the holiday season and airs annually on WPXI, the local NBC-affiliated television station in Pittsburgh.
The All New Popeye Hour is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King Features Syndicate. Starring the comic strip character Popeye, the series aired from 1978 to 1983 on CBS.
Popeye the Sailor is an American animated series of comedy short films based on the titular comic strip character created by E. C. Segar. In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios adapted Segar's characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. The plotlines in the animated cartoons tended to be simpler than those presented in the comic strips, and the characters slightly different. A villain, usually Bluto, makes a move on Popeye's "sweetie," Olive Oyl. The villain clobbers Popeye until he eats spinach, giving him superhuman strength. Thus empowered, the sailor makes short work of the villain.
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar. The character first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929, and Popeye became the strip's title in later years. Popeye has also appeared in theatrical and television animated cartoons.
Chiller Theatre, or Chiller Theater, was a late-night horror and science fiction movie program on WIIC/WPXI, Channel 11, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It aired from September 14, 1963 to January 1, 1984. It was hosted by Bill Cardille, known to fans as "Chilly Billy". It was a Saturday night tradition for two generations of Pittsburghers. Two films were shown, one starting at 11:30 p.m. and the second starting at about 1:00 a.m. In between films, and at random times during the films, breaks were taken for skits such as reports from the "PSS"; in these skits, Bill Cardille would go into another part of the WIIC studios and pretend he was broadcasting from the (nonexistent) Pittsburgh Subway System. Other characters included Captain Bad, Maurice the Matchmaker, and Mr. Magnificent. Cardille and WIIC publicist Robert Willis wrote the skits and sometimes Channel 11 staffers were enlisted to play bit parts. At the end of the show, Cardille would sit on a stool and banter with the studio crew.
