From the May 26, 1958 issue of LIFE Magazine, Warren Reed [with eye patch] and Paul Herlinger of KTNT TV Tacoma. The caption reads: Warren Reed puts on an eyepatch and uses a stooge named Frankenstein, played by Paul Herlinger, to help with the horror mood for the spook movies on Seattle’s KTNT. He addresses his colleague as “our boy Frankie” and reads passages from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” to teach him boyish pranks.
The article featured TV’s horror movie hosts from across the USA.
Originally published in the Tacoma News Tribune, August 2007
The tale of Brakeman Bill’s show business success
PETER CALLAGHAN
THE TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE
It was something right out of show business legend.
The show was set to start in a few days and the star fell ill. Could he step in and do the show, which must – as we all know – go on?
Of course, said Bill McLain. He’d fallen in love with radio as a kid on McKinley Hill and in South Tacoma. He’d worked at stations in Ellensburg and Yakima and then at KTNT AM and FM in Tacoma (named KTNT because it was owned by the newspaper). In the same little building at South 11th and Grant was one of just two TV stations in the state. read more
Robert “Bob” Gleason, a television broadcast pioneer in the Seattle-Tacoma area, was a news anchor in the days of “live TV”. He was the on-air voice for Heidelberg Beer. He also did the cartoon voice of “That Little Old Winemaker, Me” in wine commercials.
In the early days, he did weather, news and shows featuring celebrities such as former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, then-actor Ronald Reagan and then-astronaut John Glenn. In the 1960s, he covered civil-rights struggles.
He particularly had liked emceeing “Deck Dances” – a social-dance show broadcast from a cruise ship on the waterfront during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. “In the days when everything was live, nothing ever threw him,” said former KTNT producer-director Paul Herlinger. “Bob would say, `It’s only television – we’ll get out of it. “He was easygoing and real pleasant to work with. He was unassuming and modest in real life, and that came across on the air when he did talent work. What you saw was what you got. It endeared him to viewers and enhanced the image of the station.”
Born in Butte, Mont., Mr. Gleason moved with his family to Seattle during the Depression. Mr. Gleason spent most of the war as a Navy radio man aboard a submarine chaser in the Pacific. Afterward, he launched his career as a disc jockey at KBRO radio in Bremerton. There he made several recordings that made the pop charts. They included the ballad “Christmas Wish” and the Western novelty tune “Sheriff in the Posse.”
In 1953, he joined the on-air talent at Tacoma’s new CBS affiliate, KTNT. He interviewed many celebrities during his stint on the KTNT-TV panel show, “Exposure.” He retired from broadcasting in 1985 and spent more time golfing near his home in Browns Point.
This account taken from a Seattle Times report in September 2000, when Bob Gleason died of lymphoma. He was 80.
[Original KTNT TV facility - 11th & Grant Street - Tacoma] NOTES on two KTNT TV staffers and their other career highlights:
Charlie Burd began his career as morning man at KMO when it was the Country Giant. His radio career also took him to: KBRO in Bremerton [news], announcer at KTAC-AM/KBRD-FM, announcer at KEZX Seattle. Later, Burd was Ranger Charlie on Channel 11 and was also their station booth announcer. I worked with Charlie at Country KRPM FM in 80s when the studios were located in downtown Tacoma at 9th & Pacific Ave. Burd’s last job was as the overnight DJ at KMAS in Shelton, January 1998 to April 2000.
[Pictured on right: The KTNT facilities remodeled, recently the home of Verizon Communications.]
Another KTNT alumni–Leland “Lee” Knudsen – A familiar voice to radio and television listeners in the Puget Sound area from the 1950s until his retirement in 1986. His earlier radio career included: classical KISW-FM Seattle, MOR KTAC-AM Tacoma, classical KXA-AM Seattle, newscaster/Program Director KTW-AM, announcer KING AM & FM, jazz show host at KBVU Bellevue, and KTAC AM & FM again 1967. Knudsen was TV booth and news announcer at KTNT-TV and later KSTW (Channel 11), Tacoma. At KSTW, he was the announcer that introduced the afternoon movie each day. He retired in 1986.
[PHOENIX] Popular Valley radio personality Bill Austin has died. The former KEZ host had signed off the air from 99.9 FM in February. He was co-host of the well-known ‘Beth & Bill’ in the morning show. The 55-year-old died from cancer, family friends say.
“His partner, Beth McDonald, was with Austin at the time of his death,” said Clear Channel Director of Programming Smokey Rivers. Clear Channel owns KEZ-Radio. “Bill was not just my radio partner,” McDonald said in a statement. “He was the brother I never had. A couple of days before he passed, while at the hospital, he told me, ‘I sure miss doing that little radio show.’ This morning, in true Bill fashion, he signed off at exactly 10 o’clock.” Austin had been a fixture of Phoenix radio for almost 20 years, and had been a TV weather man on Channel 12 before that.
A tribute to Bill Austin, featuring the most memorable moments from his two-plus decades with Beth, will air Friday, June 4, 6-10 AM on 99.9 KEZ. [Source: ABC 15]
Another great Seattle radio talent has died. Robert O. Smith, zany man of a thousand voices, died of pancreatic and liver cancer. Smith worked at KSND, KJR, KOL, KTAC, KVI, KIXI FM and CFMI. He recorded several novelty tunes, including “Walter Wart, the Freaky Frog” and “DJ At The End of The World.” You might also remember him as Dr. Zingrrr, host of late night fright films on Channel 13 in Tacoma, sometime in the early 70s.
His hobbies included 3-D art and animation. He gave voice to hundreds of TV cartoon characters. He was a world class Powerlifter [he was a big guy, 5' 9" about 275 pounds]. He was 67 years young.
Art Linkletter, the host of “People Are Funny” and “House Party” of the 1950s and ’60s died Wednesday, May 26, at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles.
Caught on the web: this from Q13/Seattle: Mark, Lily, MJ, Kaci & Adam keep it light during breaks, as you see in the video. Follow Lily Jang on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LilyJang and Q13 on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Q13FOX
50s/60s kiddie show host and former WNBC radio DJ, Soupy Sales, died Thursday. He was 83. He might hold the pie-throwing record, beating the Three Stooges by a couple thousand pies at least. He had a hit record with a dance tune, Do The Mouse. Not a great tune by any means. But, he was a star and the record did well. $$$
My parents used to talk about “the good old days”. Now, I tell my kids about the “good old days”, and they can’t relate to it. Those were the 60s, before microwave ovens, Ipods, CDs,the Internet. We got our music from KJR radio. We grabbed the comics page of the Tacoma News Tribune in the evening and stretched out in front of the TV. Our parents watched the evening news with Ted Bryant on KING Tv.
We stayed out until way past dark each night, there were no fears of predators, only our own fear of the dark or the big dog behind the wire fence down the alley. We read magazines to find out about what celebrities were up to. Though it was well known among the stars in Hollywood that Rock Hudson was gay, we never would have known. There was no TMZ or Entertainment Tonight. We never heard of scandals, though there certainly must have been things going on that reporters kept secret. Imagine that! People respected each other that much.
All of our kiddie show hosts were healthy and doing well, Now, they are aged, sickly and dying. We are all getting older. We have memories of our “good old days, when things were very different from the way life is today. It was a slower time. We weren’t hit from all sides with information. TV news was about serious events, not Hollywood news. I think a lot of people today could benefit from a whipped cream pie in the face.
Saturday, May 19, 8:23 am
 Click the individual station links to find historical data regarding stations, personalities and formats at SeaTacRadio.com
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