The following is a list of local children's television shows in the United States. These were locally produced commercial television programs intended for the child audience with unique hosts and themes. This type of programming began in the late 1940s and continued into the late 1970s; some shows continued into the 1990s. Author Tim Hollis documented about 1,400 local children's shows in a 2002 book, Hi There, Boys and Girls! [1] [2]
The television programs typically aired in the weekday mornings before school or afternoons after school, as well as on weekends (to a lesser degree). There were different formats. Almost all shows had a colorful host who assumed a persona, such as a cowboy/cowgirl, captain/skipper/commodore/admiral, jungle explorer, astronaut, king, princess, clown, sheriff/deputy/trooper, cop, firefighter, hobo/tramp, railroad engineer, magician, "cousin", "grandfather" or "uncle", whose role was not only to be the "DJ" for syndicated material (typically cartoons, although Westerns were more popular earlier on) but also to entertain, often with a live television studio audience of kids, during breaks.
Early program fare included cartoon favorites, such as Koko the Clown, Daffy Duck, Crusader Rabbit, Dick Tracy, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Mighty Mouse, Porky Pig, Deputy Dawg, Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, Mel-O-Toons , Woody Woodpecker, The Funny Company , Mr. Magoo, Space Angel and Clutch Cargo, as well as movie shorts, such as Laurel and Hardy , Our Gang / The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges , as well as animated versions of Laurel and Hardy , Abbott and Costello and The Three Stooges , and live action shorts, such as Diver Dan . Some included educational segments like the portraits of wildlife in Nature's Window.
(see Pennsylvania, Maryland, and District of Columbia markets)
KHON (Channel 2):
KGU/KITV/KHVH (now KITV) (Channel 4):
KGMB (Channel 9):
KTRG (now KHNL) (Channel 13):
(see Quad Cities, Iowa market)
(see Quad Cities market)
KSTF: The Wilmer Worm Show (with June Beaman)
Reno
` KAME Space Station 21 { Ricky Price & Jo Anne Buchanan)
(see New York and Pennsylvania markets)
WIMA-TV:
Howdy Doody 1951 Chester Howard Little Rascals 1951 Chester Howard Roy Rogers 1951. Chester Howard Gene Autry. 1951. Chester Howard
Captain Kangaroo is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series to PBS and independent public stations until 1993.
WPIX is a television station in New York City, serving as the de facto flagship of The CW Television Network. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, the station is operated by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Since its inception in 1948, WPIX's studios and offices have been located in the Daily News Building on East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. The station's transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.
Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to television in 1949, later appearing in franchised television programs of which he was the host, where he was portrayed by numerous local performers.
Robert Lewis Bell, better known as Bob Bell, was an American actor and announcer famous for his alter-ego, Bozo the Clown. He was the original portrayer of the character for Chicago superstation WGN-TV.
Julius Pierpont "J. P." Patches was a clown and the main character on The J. P. Patches Show, an Emmy Award-winning local children's television show on Seattle station KIRO-TV, produced from 1958 to 1981. J.P. Patches was played by show creator and Seattle children's entertainer Chris Wedes. When the show ended in 1981, The J. P. Patches Show was one of the longest-running locally produced children's television programs in the United States.
Vance DeBar Colvig Sr., known professionally as Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Colvig was the original performer of the Disney characters Goofy and Pluto, as well as Bozo the Clown and Bluto in Popeye. In 1993, he was posthumously made a Disney Legend for his contributions to Walt Disney Films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fun and Fancy Free.
WNYW is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship WWOR-TV. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in Manhattan's Lenox Hill neighborhood; WNYW's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.
Saturday TV Funhouse is a segment on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by SNL writer Robert Smigel. 101 "TV Funhouse" segments aired on SNL between 1996 and 2008, with one further segment airing in 2011. It also spawned a short-lived spinoff series, TV Funhouse, that aired on Comedy Central.
WWOR-TV is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in Manhattan's Lenox Hill neighborhood; WWOR-TV's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.
Ray Rayner was an American television presenter, actor and author. He was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.
Romper Room is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers, and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his presenter wife, Nancy Claster, of Claster Television. Sally Claster Bell Gelbard, their daughter, later trained hostesses. The national version was presented by Nancy Terrell and filmed in Baltimore from its inception in 1953.
William Carl Jorgensen was the founding and longtime anchor of New York City's WNEW-TV's Ten O'Clock News from its inception on March 13, 1967, until he left in the spring of 1979. Jorgensen moved to WPIX-TV, also in New York City, where he anchored the news until his retirement in 1987. He was born in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Bill Ray Jackson was an American television personality, cartoonist, and educator. He was best known for having hosted the children's programs The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show and Gigglesnort Hotel.
Wonderama is a children's television program that originally appeared on the Metromedia-owned stations from 1955 to 1977. The show was revived from 1980 to 1987, and again in 2016.
The Bozo Show is a locally produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on its superstation feed. It was based on a children's record-book series, Bozo the Clown by Capitol Records. The series is a local version of the internationally franchised Bozo the Clown format and is also the longest-running in the franchise. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its 40+ years: it also aired under the titles Bozo (1960–1961), Bozo's Circus (1961–1980), and The Bozo Super Sunday Show (1994–2001).
William Cohen was an American actor born in Philadelphia, to an opera actor and singer. As Bill Britten, he is best known for his portrayal of Bozo the Clown in the New York City market.
Joe Bolton was an American radio and television personality whose entire television career was associated with New York City's independent station WPIX Channel 11 from its first day of broadcasting on June 15, 1948, until his retirement in 1975. He hosted many of the station's children's shows such as The Clubhouse Gang and The Three Stooges Funhouse dressed in a policeman's uniform and introducing himself as "Officer Joe Bolton". When hosting The Dick Tracy Show, Bolton wore a police chief's uniform.
John Joseph McCarthy was an announcer and host at WPIX, Channel 11 in New York City. He is best known for hosting the broadcast of the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade for 41 years, and as "Cap'n Jack" for hosting WPIX's block of Popeye cartoons in the sixties and early seventies.
Bozo, Gar & Ray: WGN TV Classics is a two-hour television special produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois which focuses on children's programming which aired on the station from 1955 to 2001. It debuted in 2005 and has been featured on both WGN-TV and its former superstation WGN America. The program is hosted by WGN-TV personality Dean Richards.
Robert Trendler was an American bandleader, songwriter, and musical director of the WGN Orchestra from 1956 till 1975. Trendler was known in Chicago as Mr. Bob the bandleader of Bozo's Big Top Band, on Bozo's Circus, a television program for children home from school for lunch.
Serendipity, KNBC's Emmy-winning children's series, is offering new shows for the summer (Sundays at 9 a.m. on Channel 4), and this means more televised field trips for the youngsters. Host Rudi Medina takes the children to places like the Music Center, Marine-land, horse ranches, aviaries and aboard the Queen Mary (below). Educational-fun is the primary mission.
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