WTTV- Channel 4 Newscast

[ChiefEngineer]

RFD 4. HMMM. Why would you be.....wait. Ran right before Janie.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Where were they? Don't remember them.

 

[KeithE4]

btw, What I wouldn't have given to meet Ray Rayner or Bill Jackson; those are the hosts I grew up with.

I take it you grew up in or near Chicago, although Jackson did get his start in Indiana - at WLWI Channel 13 in the early '60s and in Ft. Wayne before that, IIRC. I remember him doing a show on Sunday afternoons on 13 circa 1961.

 

[mobilene]

btw, What I wouldn't have given to meet Ray Rayner or Bill Jackson; those are the hosts I grew up with.

I take it you grew up in or near Chicago, although Jackson did get his start in Indiana - at WLWI Channel 13 in the early '60s and in Ft. Wayne before that, IIRC. I remember him doing a show on Sunday afternoons on 13 circa 1961.

South Bend. We had early cable -- it gave us some Chicago stations plus WKZO out of Kalamazoo. It let Dad watch his beloved White Sox.

I once ordered a Gigglesnort Hotel DVD from Bill Jackson's Web site dirtydragon.com. I was thrilled when it came in a box on which he drew Dirty snorting out my address.

 

[dbarton291]

I think I remember the Bill Jackson show from WTTV in the 60s. He had some puppet characters on there named Fergie, Morty and the Four Thumb Twangers. I have an old picture of him and those puppets I got when my neighbor friend took some of us to be guests on his show in the early 60s. Same guy?

 

[KeithE4]

I think I remember the Bill Jackson show from WTTV in the 60s. He had some puppet characters on there named Fergie, Morty and the Four Thumb Twangers. I have an old picture of him and those puppets I got when my neighbor friend took some of us to be guests on his show in the early 60s. Same guy?

Yeah, same guy, but I don't think he was ever on any Indy station other than Channel 13.

 

[dbarton291]

Cool. It's been over forty years. I had always assumed it was WTTV because it was a kids show. If it was channel 13, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm still looking for that picture. Haven't found it since my last move. That was such a blast. When I mention Fergie, Morty and the four thumptwangers, most people give me one of those strange looks.......

 

[iuhoosierscoop]

I believe the name of the white haired gentleman who worked with Joe Smith on RFD 4 was Bob Cook.

 

[majicjim]

Looking back, it's very sad to see what was once a great, well-respected television station go down hill so badly over the years. Now, WTTV is nothing more than Fox 59 Junior.

I agree...Seems like the locally produced stuff is becoming a thing of the past. Growing up in the 60's, I remember Happy Herb the sailor, John B and Clem, Sammy Terry, Janie Woods, Cowboy Bob Glaze, and my dad taking my brothers and me to Channel 4 to watch the wrestling matches with Dick the Brusier, which were taped in the afternoon and shown later that evening (so we could see ourselves in glorious black and white). Even the test pattern that was on a good part of the day until programming began. Talking to guys like Charlie Sears and Steve Ross, you can always hear great stories of what went on behind the scenes there (Charlie's name was on the headstone used on the Sammy Terry set)..they always made it sound like it was a fun place to work at.

I remember Chuck Workman doing sports in the mid to late 70s but cannot remember the news anchor's name back then when it was titled "News 4 Indiana." (it's been over thirty years!) I remember Charlie Sears who was always a funny guy who also did a lot of contract work for area radio stations. He had a surprised look on his face when I answered his question: "what was the fourth network?" I answered "DuMont." He didn't think I ever heard of it but I remember reading about it in encyclopedias when I went to a Catholic high school.

Did anybody here mentioned Peggy Nicholson? Pretty gal with a jubilant and " in 'yo face" cheerfulness that just radiated to me and others. Was a big fan of "Popeye and Peggy" (not "Popeye and Janie" as mentioned in Wikipedia's WTTV article.) Loved her work with the kids on that show..she loved to make them laugh! She also did some fill-in work from the Bloomington studio for "Mid Morning." When I met her in person doing a personal appearance in Bloomington I told her I was a two and a half hour drive north of there and she said "you must be crazy!" but she thanked me just the same for driving all those miles to discover she's the same funny and cheerful gal in person as she was with all of those kids on her show...she's precious! Always wearing her funky decorated MDA T-shirt and the sailor's cap that said "M.V. Paddlewheel Queen."

Don(I think) Tillman was PD at WTTV and hosted the late evening movie program...When the 1976 King Kong re-make was released he showed the 1932 original and I agreed with him..the RKO original was still the best.

WTTV was a great station back in the day

Love and hugs to you Peggy wherever you are.....SMOOOOOOOOTH SAILING!!!

 

[MacOConnor]

The news anchor is likely Doug Rafferty.

There was a Popeye and Janie show. Peggy came along later. There was also a Sally Jo as a host at some point.

John B & Clem were on Lunchtime Theater from 12-1 IIRC.

One of my earliest memories was going to the Bill Jackson show at the Channel 13 studios. It was around 1964. They had kids in barber chairs as a gag and acted like they were getting shaves. Bill interviewed my friend (three years older) next to me and asked what he though about what was going on with those kids getting shaved. He also had an artist pad on and easel that he would make sketches on.

 

[KeithE4]

Cool. It's been over forty years. I had always assumed it was WTTV because it was a kids show. If it was channel 13, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm still looking for that picture. Haven't found it since my last move. That was such a blast. When I mention Fergie, Morty and the four thumptwangers, most people give me one of those strange looks.......

You (and I ;D ) have to be pretty old to remember Jackson's tenure in Indy. He went to Chicago in 1965 but didn't take Fergie & Morty with him.

It's easy to assume that all kids programming in Indy originated at WTTV back in the day; it was the local equivalent of WGN-TV. Most of it did (Janie, Happy Herb, Cowboy Bob, & Ruffles the Clown being the most famous ones), but the other stations had their share. Hoosier Hank and, later, Harlow & Curley did the Three Stooges shows on Channel 6. Kindergarten College, the Hanna-Barbera shows and Bill Jackson were on 13.

Santa Claus had his own show on Channel 8 during the holidays, but otherwise I don't remember WISH-TV being a big player in the kid-show market. Selwin was their big star and he did horror & Tarzan movies, not kid stuff. IIRC, even Channel 40 got into the act with the syndicated (Boston-originated) version of Bozo during their very brief tenure as WURD.

 

[ten_four]

In the 60s channel 6 tried a weekday show called "All Hands on Deck" with Cap'n Starr and Davey along with Harlow Hickenlooper and I believe Curly Myers. After Cap'n Starr (Jerry Vance) left channel 6 to chase his dream in Hollywood, Curly joined Harlow on the Three Stooges Saturday show.
Hal Fryar (Harlow) and other local Three Stooges hosts from around the country were featured players in the 1965 Three Stooges feature film "The Outlaws Is Coming!" I saw it on Cinemax in the early 90s.
Bill Jackson's weekday show on 13 started as a wrap around for Mickey Mouse Club re-runs. The show ran an hour and featured a live studio audience.
In the late 50s channel 4's Popeye host was a character named Whistles. Later came Happy Herb, who also doubled as the play by play announcer for I U basketball on 4.

 

[MacOConnor]

The set for Bill Jackson had a place where four kids would sit behind something like a game show panel. A cartoon character was affixed on the the panel in front of each person. I don't recall which studio the characters were from (Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera, Disney?). I am leaning towards Warner (four would have been Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig + one other).

Krogers had tie-ins to the Mickey Mouse club broadcasts on CH13 with some sort of premiums (coloring book or scrap book?).

The Sally Jo show on Ch4 was Sally Jo & Friends IIRC.

I had forgotten about Kindergarten College. Once you got to first grade, it wasn't considered hip to be watching that amongst my friends.

"The Outlaws Is Coming" is on DVD.

Channel 8 has a kid show on Saturday mornings around the early 70's. I think it was called "Foolin' Around". Mark Much (Hadji and others on early Bob And Tom) was one of the featured performers. See this managed to become a radio thread again...

 

[majicjim]

The news anchor is likely Doug Rafferty.

There was a Popeye and Janie show. Peggy came along later. There was also a Sally Jo as a host at some point.

Thanks Mac. Must have been years before my time. I remember around 1975 when "Debbie's Place" was replaced by "Peggy's World" before the switch to "Popeye and Peggy" a year later....then simply "The Popeye Show" with Peggy still hosting without the live audience (I think) in 1978. Bob Glaze produced it and I think he was also the voice of "the ladder monster."

 

[bigtime]

Prior to Janie there was a kids show with a Keystone cop character. I think it was on WTTV but not sure. It had a very primitive set. He intoduced cartoons I believe.

 

[japman]

I have to throw this into the WTTV talk ...

Friday October 27th, 1971 .. my 10th birthday (my present was a motorized mini-bike) ... happened to be a Sammy Terry anniversary too. The song went like this:

Sammy Terry hits the spot,
Friday night at 11 O'Clock,
with special guests and Sammy too,
October 27th is the date for you!

Amazing that I cannot get that out of my mind 35+ years later ... me sitting on my mini-bike in the living room watching Sammy Terry (who as a 6-year-old scared me too death!).

One final question, did Dick the Bruiser every appear on Sammy's show? (seems like I remember that)

 

[Limp73]

Don't remember Dick The Bruiser on Sammy's show but I wouldn't rule it out. Sammy's show was also watched here in western Ohio where I live. I first took notice of it when I was a teenager on the farm and WTTV's signal was far better than that of the former WLWC(now WCMH) in Columbus late at night. We loved campy monster/sci-fi show hosts in Ohio(myself included!)..after all we had Dr. Creep in Dayton(WKEF) and The Cool Ghoul in Cincinnati(WXIX) and yet another Cool Ghoul up in Cleveland(either WKYC or WEWS). Cincy's Cool Ghoul (Dick Van Hoene...now deceased and sadly missed) did an on-air tribute to Sammy Terry in the 1970s..I found it on You Tube.com the other evening..Go there now and type in "Sammy Terry."
"Cowboy Bob" Glaze is in that same video with Sammy Terry speaking candidly out of character and his ghoulish makeup reminicing his career back in the day.

 

[ten_four]

Prior to Janie there was a kids show with a Keystone cop character. I think it was on WTTV but not sure. It had a very primitive set. He intoduced cartoons I believe.

I remember the Keystone Cop character, but I can't remember the name. I remember he wore circular glasses and the large hat and 20s style police uniform. Maybe even a mustache.

 

[kirkiefan]

Prior to Janie there was a kids show with a Keystone cop character. I think it was on WTTV but not sure. It had a very primitive set. He intoduced cartoons I believe.

I remember the Keystone Cop character, but I can't remember the name. I remember he wore circular glasses and the large hat and 20s style police uniform. Maybe even a mustache.

I don't know..but this is an inspired guess. Was the name by chance Clancy?

There's a Clancy's fast food chain based in Noblesville with locations in Indiana and Ohio.

 

[radio-outsider]

If my memory serves me, there was a newscast on WTTV in the early to mid fifties with a gentleman by the name of Frank Edwards, who also published an anthology series of paperbacks including "Stranger Than Science", "Stranger Than Stranger Than Science", and "Strangest Of All". Frank sat at a desk with his pet bulldog sitting on the desk during the newscast.

My sister was a contestant on a quiz portion of Bill Jackson's Mickey Mouse Show on WLWI, her only TV appearence. The local segment wrapped reruns of the "Mickey Mouse Club" syndicated half-hours to stretch it to a full hour. Fergy and Morty were Martians.

I remember all this Indy TV trivia, including the often "sloshed" Francis Farmer as hostess on the afternoon movie on WFBM-6.

But I can't for the life of me remember where I put my keys.....