Rollin' on the River (TV series)

Last updated
Rollin' on the River
Presented by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
Production
Executive producer Ken Kragen
Original release
ReleaseSeptember 1971 (1971-09) 
1973 (1973)

Rollin' on the River (later shortened to Rollin') is a musical variety television program hosted by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. They were the first pop rock group to host their own prime-time TV series. [1] (this information is incorrect. Paul Revere & The Raiders were the first rock group to host their own prime time TV show, Happening '68, in 1968, retitled Happening for the 1969 season) The program was produced by Winters/Rosen Productions and Glen-Warren Productions in association with CTV Television Network in Canada. [2] The show aired in syndication from 1971 to 1973. It was carried by 163 U.S. TV stations and 12 stations in Canada. [1]

Rollin' on the River debuted in September 1971 as a 1-hour series at 7:00pm on Saturday nights. For the 1972 season, the show was abbreviated to Rollin', and the show's length was cut down to 30 minutes on Mondays at 7:30pm. It was produced at the CFTO studios in Toronto. [3]

Ken Kragen, the personal manager for the First Edition, was the executive producer. Production began in May 1971 on a studio-built riverboat. Al Hirt was meant to be the co-host, but scheduling conflicts prevented him from spending more than one day shooting the pilot. The First Edition hosted most of the pilot which aired as Al Hirt Meets The First Edition. [1]

The guests on the show included the Carpenters, Ike & Tina Turner, The Grass Roots, the Beach Boys, Delaney & Bonnie, B.B. King, Kris Kristofferson, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Jose Feliciano. [1] [4]

Related Research Articles

Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less widespread in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates. Shows can be syndicated internationally, although this is less common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Clark</span> American radio and television personality (1929–2012)

Richard Wagstaff Clark was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted American Bandstand from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid game show from 1973 to 1988 and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which broadcast New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square.

CJOH-DT is a television station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, serving the National Capital Region as part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Pembroke-licensed CTV 2 outlet CHRO-TV. The two stations share studios with Bell's Ottawa radio properties at the Market Media Mall building on George Street in downtown Ottawa's ByWard Market; CJOH-DT's transmitter is located on the Ryan Tower at Camp Fortune in Chelsea, Quebec, north of Gatineau.

The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series had runs on two different networks on NBC (1962–1963) and CBS (1969–1972) but is most known for its run on first-run syndication from 1965 to 1969 and 1972 to 1986.

Universal Television LLC is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predecessor of the company, NBC Studios, previously assumed such functions, and a substantial portion of the company's shows air on the network.

Quinn Martin was an American television producer. He had at least one television series running in prime time every year for 21 straight years. Martin is a member of the Television Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wink Martindale</span> American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host, and television producer

Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale is an American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host, and television producer. He is best known for hosting Gambit from 1972 to 1976, Tic-Tac-Dough from 1978 to 1985, High Rollers from 1987 to 1988, and Debt from 1996 to 1998.

<i>Solid Gold</i> (TV series) American music countdown and dance TV series (1980-1988)

Solid Gold was an American syndicated music television program that debuted on September 13, 1980, and ran until July 23, 1988. The program was a production of Brad Lachman Productions in association with Operation Prime Time and Paramount Domestic Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Rogers and the First Edition</span> American country rock band

Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, until 1970 billed as the First Edition, were an American rock band. The band's style was difficult to singularly classify, as it incorporated elements of country, rock and psychedelic pop. Its stalwart members were Kenny Rogers, Mickey Jones and Terry Williams. The band formed in 1967, with folk musician Mike Settle and the operatically trained Thelma Camacho completing the lineup.

Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear.

Bowling for Dollars is a television game show on which people could play the sport of bowling to win cash and sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KOFY-TV</span> Merit Street TV station in San Francisco

KOFY-TV is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of Merit Street. It is owned by CNZ Communications, LLC, alongside Class A station KCNZ-CD and low-power station KQRM-LD. The three stations share transmitter facilities atop San Bruno Mountain. KOFY-TV's studios were previously located on Marin Street in the Bayview–Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco until 2018; the station has since maintained space at KGO-TV's studios north of the city's Financial District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Prospect Studios</span> Television studio in Los Angeles, United States

The Prospect Studios is a lot containing several television studios located at 4151 Prospect Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, at the corner of Prospect and Talmadge Street, just east of Hollywood. For more than fifty years, this facility served as the West Coast headquarters of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) before the network moved its main headquarters to the Walt Disney Studios in 1996. From 1949 to 1999, ABC-owned Los Angeles television station KABC-TV was also located there. The station moved to a new state-of-the-art facility located on a portion of Disney's Grand Central Creative Campus (GC3) in nearby Glendale, California, in December 1999. The Walt Disney Company, which acquired ABC, continues to own and operate the facility to this day.

Heatter-Quigley Productions was an American television production company that was launched in 1960 by two former television writers, Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley. After Quigley's retirement, the company became Merrill Heatter Productions.

Tribune Entertainment was a television production and broadcast syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting. It was started in 1964 as a subsidiary of WGN-TV in Chicago. Many programs offered from Tribune Entertainment have been broadcast on the company's television stations.

<i>Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip</i> American comedy-drama television series (2006-2007)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is an American comedy-drama television series created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin. The series was about the production of a live comedy series similar to Saturday Night Live. Produced by Warner Bros. Television, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ran on NBC for 22 episodes, from September 18, 2006, to June 28, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20th Television</span> American television production company

20th Television, Inc. is an American television production company owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Productions from this company are distributed on/in home media formats by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment through the 20th Century Home Entertainment banner.

David Holman is a former television producer and executive who worked in New York and Los Angeles. In his six years working for Jim Henson and the Muppets, he helped launch the original The Muppet Show in 1975, and worked on Sesame Street, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas Special, and The Muppet Movie. He later produced and managed dozens of productions, including several thousand individual shows from daytime soap operas to primetime shows such as Mad About You, and late night shows such as The Dick Cavett Show. He won an Emmy Award for his work at ABC Sports on the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games. He currently develops screenplays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost television broadcast</span> Missing television material

Lost television broadcasts are television programs that were not preserved after they were broadcast, rendering them permanently unavailable for both public and private viewing. Studio archives and other historical records do not contain these programs. This phenomenon primarily affects shows or movies that aired before the widespread use of home video recording and digital archiving.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Yorke, Ritchie (February 5, 1972). "Rollin On The River's Success Creates TV's First Prime-Time Rock Show" (PDF). Billboard. pp. FE-13, FE-14, FE-15, FE-16.
  2. "First Edition TV Series Rolling" (PDF). Cash Box: 14. September 18, 1971.
  3. "Rollin' On The River/Rollin' | History of Canadian Broadcasting". www.broadcasting-history.ca. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  4. "'Rollin' on the River' Waters Contemporary Rock TV Desert" (PDF). Billboard. December 4, 1971. p. 4.