Glenn Ryle | |
|---|---|
 Glenn Ryle in early 1980s promotional photo | |
| Born | January 16, 1927 |
| Died | September 19, 1993 (aged 66) |
| Occupation(s) | Announcer Children's show host (Skipper Ryle) News/sports/weather reporter Game show emcee (Bowling For Dollars) |
| Spouse | Jacqueline |
| Children | Steve, Cheri |
Glenn Ryle Schnitker (1927-1993) was an American television personality based in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best remembered by Cincinnatians for hosting the Skipper Ryle Show for seventeen years on WKRC Television.
Ryle attended Western Hills High School in Cincinnati during World War II. A member of the class of 1945, he became a member of the second of five chapters of the Cincinnati-based Fraternity Triginta Optimi. At age 17, Ryle left school to enter military service with the United States Marines. At one point in his service career he briefly participated in a War Bond drive with war hero Pappy Boyington. [1]
Following his discharge, Ryle was a civilian advisor for the Israeli military in the Middle East during the time when this territory was being created. In June 1950 Ryle was recalled to active duty with the start of hostilities in the Korean War. He served in Korea just over a year.
On advice from a friend in Huntington, WV and against his own better judgment and with no prior experience or training, Ryle became involved in broadcasting and joined WMOH radio in Hamilton. His inexperience, and also his potential, caught the attention of Cecil Hale of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, who took Ryle under his wing, improving his skills. Ryle was later hired briefly by WLWT; his first on-camera commercial was on Midwestern Hayride plugging B.C. Headache Powders. His stint at WLWT was short-lived, and he continued at WMOH until he auditioned for and won a staff announcer position at WCPO-TV, where he performed additional duties including hosting a short-lived kids show (on this show he was a localized version of Captain Midnight); he also hosted a late night movie show, cleaned pianos, and even ran a boom microphone on Paul Dixon's pantomime show. Ryle was released from WCPO after a year and a half, and soon went to work as a writer/producer for the Ralph Jones Advertising Agency. In the fall of 1954 Ryle received a phone call from Paul Shoemaker at WKRC-TV offering Ryle another television job, which he immediately accepted.
At WKRC, Ryle reprised most of the duties he had at WCPO—staff announcing and hosting a movie matinee show. A year after hiring on at WKRC he co-created and hosted The Skipper Ryle Show and in the 70s hosted the local weeknight version of Bowling for Dollars . Early in his career Ryle was one of six staff announcers at Channel 12, but ultimately it was Ryle's voice that became synonymous with WKRC, especially its Station IDs and promos; Ryle remained at WKRC for 35 years.
In the late winter-early spring of 1956, Ryle was chosen by WKRC executives to host a children's show consisting mostly of cartoons; the show was initially going to be called Hi, Kids!, but then Ryle's military experience asserted itself, and when he started adding messages about river and boat safety, the producers decided to go with a riverboat setting which, with Cincinnati being right on the Ohio River, was a perfect fit. Then someone suggested the nickname "Skipper", which Ryle liked, and thus the name of the show was changed.
In the show's earlier years, Ryle donned a Naval peacoat and matching peaked cap with a gray wig and bushy mustache, adopting an "old man of the sea" motif, but by the early 60s the wig had been discarded and Ryle had grown a real mustache of his own. The rousing seafaring song "Blow High, Blow Low" from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel was used as the show's theme.
The Skipper Ryle Show became an surprise hit and ultimately ran seventeen years on WKRC. Originally an hour-long Saturday morning show, it later moved to Sundays for two hours, and later still became a weekday series. At its peak the show was second only to WCPO's Uncle Al Show in popularity among kids. Part of the show's larger appeal was that Ryle was never condescending in his talks with the kids who appeared on the show. Despite the fact that his own personal primary demographic was kids who had felt they had outgrown Uncle Al, Ryle tried to, as he once put it, "open the whole thing up to everybody", young and old alike. Colleague Nick Clooney and other local critics once regarded Skipper Ryle as the most civilized children's show on television.
The show became so popular that Ryle made in-person appearances at local amusement parks including Coney Island, LeSourdsville Lake, and even at the Cincinnati Zoo. In the early 70s, Ryle, in an attempt to compete with rival WXIX's Sunday morning powerhouse Wonderama , hosted a limited-run weekend series called the Skipper Ryle Special which featured a live audience, games and guest stars; over the years Ryle gave away countless prizes from Cincinnati-based Kenner Toys. But by 1973, though the show was still very popular, WKRC executives, citing increasing expense, decided to cancel production of the show.
The Ryles lived in the western Cincinnati suburb of Cheviot. Ryle's wife, Jacqueline, was a Cincinnati native; they had two children, Steve and Cheri Schnickter. Ryle maintained a low profile after his retirement in the late 80s. His final public appearance was an interview by colleague and long-time friend Nick Clooney at WCET in the fall of 1990. He died in 1993 and was buried in Bridgetown Cemetery in Cheviot. [2]
Cheviot is a city in west-central Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. The population was 8,658 at the 2020 census.
WBQC-LD is a low-power television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Fox affiliate WXIX-TV and 24/7 weather channel WZCD-LD. The three stations share studios at 19 Broadcast Plaza on Seventh Street in the Queensgate neighborhood just west of downtown Cincinnati; WBQC-LD's transmitter is located on Symmes Street in the Mount Auburn section of the city.
Nicholas Joseph Clooney is an American journalist, anchorman, and television host. He is the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney and the father of actor George Clooney.
WLWT is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati.
WCPO-TV is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's studios are located in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati next to the Elsinore Arch, and its transmitter is located at the site of the station's original studios on Symmes Street, in the Walnut Hills section of the city.
WKRC-TV is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to MyNetworkTV affiliate WSTR-TV under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Deerfield Media. The two stations share studios on Highland Avenue in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati, where WKRC-TV's transmitter is also located.
Robert E. Braun was an American local television and radio personality, best known for a program originating in Cincinnati, Ohio, named The Bob Braun Show. The show, which he hosted from 1967 to 1984, had the highest Arbitron and Nielsen ratings of any live entertainment/information program in the Midwestern United States. Originating at WLWT, the 90-minute live telecasts originally were syndicated to three other cities in the Midwest. Eventually, more television stations joined the line-up. Braun's show featured a live band, singers, and special guests including Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Paul Lynde, Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller, Dick Clark and NFL-star Jim Brown. Politicians including Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, John Glenn, and Ted Kennedy were also guests.
Thomas Wade Brennaman is an American television sportscaster. He is the son of former Cincinnati Reds radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman. He served as the television voice of the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1998 to 2006, and as the voice of the Cincinnati Reds from 2007 through 2020. His career with the Reds and Fox Sports ended abruptly when he was caught on a hot mic making a homophobic statement during a game broadcast. His on-air apology, in which he interrupted himself to call "a drive into deep left field by Castellanos", became an internet meme. Since leaving the Reds, he has served as a commentator for the Roberto Clemente League and for Chatterbox Sports.
Paul Dixon was a daytime television personality and talk show host in Cincinnati, Ohio. He began his career with radio shows in New York City and Chicago before being enticed to come to then-radio station WCPO in Cincinnati as a news reporter and announcer around 1945. He was chosen best newscaster in Cincinnati in 1947 after conducting an interview with men trapped in a collapsed downtown building.
The Money Maze is an American television game show seen on ABC from December 23, 1974, to June 27, 1975. The show was hosted by Nick Clooney and was announced by Alan Kalter. It was produced by Daphne-Don Lipp Productions, of which Dick Cavett was a principal.
The Uncle Al Show was a children's television program originating in Cincinnati. The show was hosted by Cleveland native Al Lewis (1924–2009), and later was co-hosted by his wife, Wanda.
Ruth Lyons was a pioneer radio and television broadcaster in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is said Ruth Lyons accidentally invented the daytime TV talk show. Like Arthur Godfrey and others of the era, Lyons built a TV empire.
Albert Joseph "Al" Schottelkotte was an American news anchor and reporter for Cincinnati's WCPO-TV for 27 years, rising through the executive ranks at WCPO and later the Scripps Howard Foundation until his death in December 1996.
The Paul Dixon Show was an American television variety program originating in Cincinnati on WLWT Television beginning in 1955 and ending in December 1974, following Dixon's death. The show began as a 30-minute series expanding to 90 minutes in the 1960s, but the other stations along the Crosley/Avco regional television network in nearby Dayton, Columbus and Indianapolis only ran 60 minutes of the show. Pre-recorded episodes were sold to other markets throughout the Midwest.
Robert Gerald Shreve was a first-generation television broadcasting personality based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Paul Keels is the current play-by-play announcer for Ohio State University's football and men's basketball teams for WBNS Radio and the Ohio State Sports Network.
The Cool Ghoul was a popular radio and TV character and horror movie host in Cincinnati, Ohio, created and portrayed by Dick Von Hoene, a Cincinnati native. With his trademark shout "Bleah, bleah, BLEAAAHHH!" and his inimitable tongue-fluttering "Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl...", The Cool Ghoul was an icon of Cincinnati television, radio and local pop culture for over four decades.
Len Mink is a Christian evangelist and musician. He is the president and founder of Len Mink Ministries, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his late wife Cathy have a weekly television program entitled Len and Cathy on the TCT television network, which is carried in 173 countries on Sky Angel channel 133 and DirecTV channel 377.
Bill Wolff was a staff announcer for WNBC and the NBC network who worked for over six decades as a radio and television announcer. He is best known for announcing the soap opera Another World from 1964 until 1987.
William Lorne Nimmo was a television and radio personality whose career spanned seven decades.