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Television's 50 Years in Colorado
by Tom Mulvey
Editor's note: It is very difficult to boil 50 years of television down to a few pages. Since two of the Denver stations Channels 2 and 9, turn 50 this year and two next year, Channels 4 and 7, we decided to just cover the two stations for now and write about the other two next year. Though there are many stories to be told about the early days of TV in Denver, the names of those involved are also important. Tom Mulvey was deluged with names from the past and included as many as possible. Our apologies to the ones we missed. Everything else will have to wait until the book is written. Enjoy!
When KFEL-TV, Channel 2, hit the air on July 18, 1952, it sent shock waves into The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Denver's eight radio stations, KFEL, KLZ, KMYR, KOA, KPOF, KTLN, the old KVOD (now KHOW), and new that year, KGMC in Englewood.
The local radio stars that year included Carl Akers, Glen Martin, Don Roberts and Pete Smythe on KLZ; Gene Amole, Jack Mumey and Bill Reed, KMYR; Lynn Reed, Ken White and Starr Yelland, KOA; Grady Franklin Maples, KGMC; "Cool" Bill Davis, Joe Flood and Con Schafer, KTLN, and Barry Coleman, Ron McCoy, Jody Noll, Ray Perkins, Bob Shriver, Gus Swanson, Jack Swenson, Doug and Willie Taylor, and Hal Taft, KFEL. Lynn Reed and Yelland were doing their newscasts direct from The Denver Post, and Amole and Mumey also broadcast the Denver Post news. The Denver Bears baseball broadcasts were aired on KMYR with Bill Reed doing the play-by-play, and from the KLZ studios in the Shirley Savoy Hotel, Don Roberts played great music such as Sammy Kaye's Harbor Lights. Gunsmoke was first heard on CBS Radio in April of that year. As Matt Dillon, William Conrad took listeners back to Dodge City, Kansas each week, "...when there was just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers...with a U.S. Marshall, and the smell of Gunsmoke."
Dan Thornton was Governor; Quigg Newton, Mayor, and the movie at the Paramount was promoted as "Get Gay With Gay Garters Gertie." The name of the movie was "She's Working Her Way Through College," with Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan. At Lakeside Amusement Park, dancers in the El Patio Ballroom were cheek to cheek as Jimmy Dorsey's band played "Maria Elena," and over in the Trocadero Ballroom at Elitch Gardens it was Eddy Howard and His Orchestra, with Eddy singing "To Each His Own." A new Kaiser cost $2.399.53 at Bill Dreiling Motor Co., you could purchase a Hutchinson-Carey 2-bedroom home in Littleton's Crestview area for $9,900 with $880 down, and Hart Schaffner & Marx suits went for $59 at Cottrell's. While all this was going on, KFEL TV2 was making history by bringing Denver, "the largest dark city", into the television age. In 1948, the FCC had placed a freeze on television station applications, This left fourteen states, including Colorado, without any TV so anticipation was great as Coloradans read about programs available in other states. With NBC and Dumont Networks, Channel 2 was able to take to the air just 18 days after the FCC lifted the freeze, and was the first new television station in the United States to go on the air after the Korean War.
Station personnel included Gene O'Fallon, General Manager; Frank Bishop, Director; Bill Conklin, National Sales Manager; Bob Hart, Local Sales Manager; Brad Robinson, Operations Manager; Gene (Bud) O'Fallon Jr., Program Director; Duncan Ross, Program Manager; Tom Morrissey, Chief Engineer; Harry Mack, Director and Producer; Joy Shepherd, Administrative Supervisor, and staff members Don Arthur, Bob Blackmoore, Barry Coleman, Scotty Cullen, George Harris, Lillian Helling, Warren Huskie, Morey Jones, Bill Keene, Jack Fitzpatrick, George Kirkpatrick, Dick McDaniel, Jay Millman, Bob Petry, Birdell Pierson, Ed Roman, Jeanne Sackman, Mark Schreiber, John Seneff, Jack Sherlock, Bob Shriver and Jack Swenson. Film Editor Al Eirish started working for Channel 2 on September 1952, and stayed for 40 years. He worked in Denver television broadcasting longer than any other person. In 1952 Bob Shriver had the distinction of being Channel 2's first Announcer. His career continued as a radio and TV personality, TV Account Executive and advertising agency Account Executive. Mick Schafbuch, former General Manager of KOA Radio and KOA-TV (now KCNC-TV4) recently wrote about Bob Shriver: "Probably Denver's most versatile on-air person. He could do commercials, anchor news, weather and sports, then go out to Elitch's and host the KOA broadcasts from the Trocadero Ballroom. Bob was terrific, and was always a happy guy." The second booth announcer at Channel 2 was Merwin Smith. Bob and Merwin did all sorts of thing besides announcing from the booth - live commercials, hosting movies, etc. Smith did a Saturday evening program with Snader Telkescriptions, (short films of performances by big bands, singers and magicians). It was Smith and Chuck Mulcahy who discovered Fred and Fae at the supper club on West Colfax and put them on Channel 2 as the Fred & Fae Soda Shop. Mulcahy was the Director. Smith went on to do great things at Channel 7, but he needs to write down all the wonderful stories that go with his years in television - the fluffs, strange things, a wild Bill Reed break-up attempt with Tim O'Connor, and so many others If someone would write the history of Denver radio and television and Smith added his funny stories, (he could tell things on most of Denver's personalities), they would have a best seller.
Early KFEL-TV also had three cooking shows on the air. Doug and Willie's program was sort of a cooking show, with occasional guests and a lot of goofing around. The other two were done by Salome Hanson and Mary Madory.
The station had great newscasters in Dick McDaniel and Jack Fitzpatrick, Jack Swenson, weather, and Bill Reed on sports. Other shows included Chuck Collins with his young daughter, Judy; Snicker Flickers; Wax Fax; Ray Perkins at the piano; Jerry Osburn and The Riders of the Rockies from 1952 to 1959; and Gene Amole was host of a weekly feature called Panorama that later moved to Channel 7. Amole was also the first late-movie host and the first movie he aired was Stagecoach. O'Fallon sold the station in July of 1955 to J. Elroy McCaw for $750,000. Earlier, in 1953, The O'Fallon family sold KFEL-Radio to Intermountain Network for $275,000. Intermountain, owned by A.L. Glasmann, an Ogden, Utah, Publisher, changed the call letters to KIMN.
Back to 1952, Colorado by now, according to The Denver Post, is "television crazy." The Rocky Mountain News reports that the arrival of television is accompanied by "scores of celebrations throughout the city" - even though there are only 1,000 TV receivers in town, and all television is in black and white. Color TV came many years later. Still, demand is immense, with dealers offering to take orders with "no money down", "three years to pay." The ad for the American Furniture Company at 16th and Lawrence, phone Main 0241, shows a Philco console TV set for only $379, nothing down and just thirteen dollars a month for three years. California TV manufacturer "Mad Man" Muntz arrives with two shipments of TVs, he sells them from the back of trucks at Twentieth Street and Broadway. Retailers warn that some sets must be home-tuned by a technician, and the BBB cautions that sets must be serviced on the average more than five times each year. The Denver Post quotes a professor of optometry as stating the television can help cure crossed eyes. The Rocky publishes an article titled "How to Operate Controls of Your New Television Set," and under the headline "TV Togs," the fashion page discusses appropriate attire for watching: "Just the thing for casual easy glamour in front of a television set are black velvet tapered slacks and a picador jacket made of white silk fringe." Outside aerials are necessary and Denver's building inspection department requires an antenna permit at a dollar a year, with installation only by a licensed contractor. A published report warns that wind blowing across an improperly installed TV aerial will set the house on fire. Each aerial installation must be followed up by two city inspections: one structural and the other concerning wiring.
Denver had about 35,000 TV sets when KBTV arrived on October 12, 1952. W.D. Pyle and Tom Ekrem, owners of KVOD radio, formed the Colorado Television Corp., and capitalized with $1 million, became Denver's second TV station. The Board, made up with 16 Denver business leaders, included Joseph Dyer, Max Goldberg, Harry Goldberg, Jack Harris, Ed Hirschfeld and Duncan Pyle. Pyle hired Joe Herold as Station Manager and Jerry Lee as Commercial Manager. Other department heads included: Carl Bliesner, Transmitter Supervisor; Jim Butts, Studio Supervisor; Ted Hardy, Continuity Editor; Norman Larson, Publicity Director; Bill Michelson, News Editor; W.L. Murray, Film Manager; Maurine Nelson, Traffic Manager; Loren Orr, Stage Manager; Rosa Lee Samuels, Office Manager; Bob Smith, Engineer; Mort Thorp, Local Sales Manager; Sam Worsham, Program Manager; and Ev Wrenn, Production Manager. The new station began telecasting from 1100 California Street at Speer Blvd., and carried both the ABC and CBS networks, leaving Channel 2 with just Dumont and NBC. The first studio was formerly a motorcycle shop, large enough to hold four cars, and a worm factory was located in the basement of the building. Nine months later, Channel 9 moved to the former Lowen-Thomsom auto garage at 1089 Bannock. The "electrically operated revolving stage," Channel 9's pride and joy, is actually the car agency's old grease rack with a platform added on top and wheels beneath. After months of only a few hours a week of ABC feeds, the network began to develop new programming, "Cheyenne", "Maverick". "The US Steel Hour", etc. But the station relied mostly on local programming and rerun shows in syndication. Their highest rated program was "Liberace", sponsored by The Denver National Bank. The News with Bill Michelsen became top rated. The news staff totaled three, one rewrite man, Michelsen and a photographer who carried a Polaroid and a 16mm camera. Anything news-worthy on film required processing at a local film lab, and they used the Polaroid still visuals for late-breaking stories.
Three years later, the FCC approved the sale of Channel 9 to John Mullins and Frank Leu. One year later, in 1956, Leu sold his ownership to Bill Zeckendorf of Webb & Knapp, and on October 6, 1961 Mullins purchased Zeckendorf's 50 percent for $2.4 million. In the eight years between gaining full control in 1961 and his death on August 29, 1969, Mullins acquired KARK TV and KARK AM/FM in Little Rock, AK ; the Alden Sign Co.; Barbre Productions; the Naegael Outdoor Advertising (which he changed to his name); and KBTR Radio (which he converted into Denver's first all-news radio station with Tom Mulvey as its first General Manager). TV staff changes occurred and Bob Brown was named National Sales Manager; Len Swanson, Local Sales Manager; Gil Lee, Assistant Manager; Hal Taft, Director of Promotion; JoAnn Sherman, Assistant Editor of Channel Niner newsletter; Jim Butts, Chief Engineer; Mann Reed, Program Manager; Ann Walker, Merchandising Director; Tony Canino, Director; Russ Kundert, Production Manager; Carl Kitt and Marsh Faber, Staff Photographers; and Account Executives: Harold Michaels, Dutch Alexander, Bob Prangley and Roger Eaton. In September of 1959, Mullins purchased two RCA Television Tape recorders for $110.000, and fourteen thousand dollars of tape to increase the stations programming abilities. On April 5, 1971, executors of Mullins estate announced that Combined Communications Corp. (CCC) Phoenix, had agreed to purchase all of the stock of Mullins Broadcasting for around $35 million. Not too bad for a man who had started with a half-interest for a reported $800,000. The executors of Mullins' estate, who managed the company's affairs up to the sale to CCC, were Alvin Flanagan, Max Brooks, Chairman of the Central Bank and Trust Co., and Charles Haskell, a Denver Attorney.
Channel 9 did well for Mullins in the early days with such local programming as: Ozie Waters, Colorado Rangers and "House Party", (with Bill Butterfield at the piano, Zeke Beckman on the accordion, Onard "Spike" Gibson on bass fiddle, Ozie on the guitar and Jerry Osburn on the steel guitar); Ed Scott, "Sheriff Scotty" and "Western Living"; Sunday Night News Wrap-up (10:05 to 10:15 p.m.), anchored by Hal Taft, commercials by George Platis and sponsored by State Life Insurance Company of Colorado; Arlyne Lampshire, weather; Vince Monforte, weather; Max Goldberg, "On the Spot"; Fred Leo, "Sports Corner" and Centennial Race Track's feature race of the day- sponsored by Pappy Fry Motors; Hal Davis, "Extra Inning" sports; Miss Gloria, "Romper Room", sponsored by Miller's Super Markets and scheduled by Mary Robertson of Marshall Robertson Advertising Agency. Lillian Helling, Known as Miss Lillian to the viewers, did the commercials, written by Jim Briggs; Miss Lee and Jerry the Giraffe, "Clubhouse Gang"; Lloyd's Best Movie of the Week, sponsored by Lloyd's Furs with Dick Kaye as talent. Prescott & Pilz handled the account with Warren Huskie in charge of production and Gene Pilz as Account Executive; Dick Crosswhite, Grain & Livestock Market Reports; Frank Goody, "Officer Goody"; Bill Michelsen's three-per-day-newscasts; Mark Schreiber, Sports; Ev Wrenn, "Inside Television"; Hal Taft and Mrs. Ralph Carr, (widow of the former Colorado governor), "Koffee Klatsch"; Frances O'Connor, "Menu Matinee" - daily cooking show. Studio one included a "modern, permanent and complete kitchen set." Commercials by Bob Long and Norma Levy for Ellis Canning Co. and Gooch Foods, Maxine Mulvey for Bowman Biscuit Co. on Mark Schreiber Sports, and Vic Cotton for the Ford Dealers; and many other locally produced shows such as, Reaching For the Stars, sponsored by Dismant Miller Lincoln Mercury; "This Is The Life"; "Treasure Chest of Knowledge"; "Your Lease on Life"; "Know Your Government"; KBTV's extensive coverage of Election Night, 1960. Sponsored by Seal Office Supply and Bob Jones Skyland Ford, the Channel 9 staff and KHOW talent, Jack Fitzpatrick and Kay Howe (aka Merrie Lynn) were up all night to get the results of the Kennedy/Nixon, Allott/Knous and Rogers/Rolander races. Bob Martin doing the play-by-play of Denver Bear's baseball games. The teams first appearance on Denver television. The sponsor was Coors and the Channel 9 "Scoop" was set up by Bill Moomey, Advertising Director of Coors, Bob Howsam, (like in KHOW) President of the Bears, and Revill J. Fox, Coors' advertising agency. "Expedition Colorado." - "The first show ... makes Cheyenne and Matt Dillion look like drug store cowboys ... Channel 9 will have a lasting piece of work the State can cherish." In 1960, These were the comments of Walter "Dusty" Saunders, Rocky Mountain News columnist, about the first production of Expedition Colorado. The stories and script were written by Pasquale "Pocky" Marranzino, noted Rocky Mountain News Columnist and Historian. The pictures were provided by Fred and Jo Mazzulla,who owned one of the most famous and extensive original picture collections of the early west, including slides, plates and prints. A special theme was written by the program producer, Gil Lee, and the song was presented by Tex Ritter. Narration was by Fred Arthur, to the accompaniment of single string guitar music. Russ Kundert was the Director and Marshall Faber did the filming. I hope that somewhere there is a film of this show to go into the yet-to-be-built Museum of the Broadcast Pioneers of
Colorado.
You know the rest of the story. Al Flanagan became the top executive after the death of Mullins and when the Gannett Co. took over Channel 9 in June of 1979, he was moved to Atlanta as Chief Executive Officer of Gannett. Effective January 1, 1967, channel 9 hired Carl Akers and in 1972 John Rayburn joined him as co-anchor of the 10:00 p.m news until Akers retired, and then Rayburn co-anchored the news with Ed Sardella until March 1, 1978, when Rayburn retired. Sardella and Mile Landess were teamed after that. With personalities such as Adele Arakawa, Linda Benzel, Krista Bradford, Neal Browne, Larry Camp, Nick Carter, Kim Christiansen, Lois Craft, Kevin Corke, Susan Crenshaw, John Cromwell, Frank Currier, Fred Dressler, Gary Essex, Jill Ferris, Ed Greene, Tom Green, Mark Koebrich, Bill Kuster, Mike Landess, Anne Lanker, Dick Lewis, Ward Lucas, Bertha Lynn, Christina Mendonza, Mike Nelson, Cliff Nicholson, Mike Nolan, Scott Patrick, Sylvia Perez, Art Peterson, Leon "Stormy" Rottman, Kathy Sabine, Lynn Sanner, Sherry Sellers, Gary Shapiro, Paula Woodward, Ron Zappolo and the list goes on and on, Channel 9 has continued to remain a great television station.
In his "The Golden Screen" article of July 13, Dusty Saunders asked if they left out any Denver television personalities. I received many letters and e-mails on that statement. To start with, most of the 36 listed above were missing and they were just Channel 9 folks. I want to do Channel 4 and Channel 7 next year for their 50 year anniversary, so I didn't go to my files for their personalities, but here are some that Dusty missed as per the letters and e-mails: Steve Alvarez; Tom Baer; Les Barry; Barbara Berlin; Ernie Bjorkman; Jim Bosh; Jon Bowman; Sterling Bricker; Irv Brown; Bob Burton; Ken Chambers; Henry Chu; Bill Clarke; Chuck Collins; Rosemary Collins; John Connors; Joe Cope; Louisa Craft; Noell Custer; Betsy Dill; Kimberly Drake; Laurie Everett; Jack Fitzpatrick; Glen Gerberg; Max Goldberg; Larry Green; Greg Guinan; Salome Hanson; Amy Hasten; Scott Hastings; Kristen Hart-Zell; Julie Hayden; Chuck Henning; Ned High; Vicki Hildner; Jim Huckaby; Randy Jackson; Sylvia Jennings; Steve Johns; Jack Jolly; Norm Jones; Darold Kelly; Dennis Ketterer; Katie Kiefer; Alexandra King; John Kounalis; Tony Larson; Merrie Lynn; Kristen McCloskey; Madeline McFadden; Leo McGuire; Gene McGuane; Mary Madora; Beverly Martinez; Marty Matthews; Mary Miller; Greg Mills; Greg Moody; Max Morath; Cliff Morrison; Chuck Muller; Red Merrill Muller; Maxine Mulvey; Jim Nasi; John Nickel; Stephanie Nora; Fred Norman; Jerry Osburn; Woody Paige; Edd Perkins; Lou Personett; Jeff Peterson; Bill Pierson; C.J. Prince; Jim Redmond; Richard Riggs; Tom Riley; Larry Roderick; Peter Rogot; Todd Romero, Russ Rountree; Ed Ruetz, Juliann Ruetz, Dave Scott; Jon Scott; Lynn Setzer; Jack Sherlock; Duffy Sherman; Kim Sherwood; Tom Shannon; Bob Shriver; Mike Silva; Tom Smidt; John Soderman, Aimee Sporer, Bill Stewart; Chuck Stevens; Dean Swanson; Jack Swenson; Jerry Talbert; Jim Turner; Charles Merlin Umpenhour; Pat Vaeth; Larry Varnell; Ron Voight; Ray Walker; Chris Wallace; Kathy Walsh; Tom Watt; Steve Weiss; Jim West; Ken White; Marty Wolf; and Dave Young.
Some of the above were not anchors, weathercasters or sports anchors. They were hosts of award-winning station productions. Dusty added locally produced programs in his article, but only had eight shows. We listed some of the local Channels 2 and 9 shows above and here are more of other programs he missed: After 11 year domination of kids' shows, Fred & Fae retired from Channel 7 on December 31, 1968. The 8-8:30 a.m. slot was taken over by Noell Custer with her Noell and Andy show and she continued to hold the kids for 15 years until she retired in 1982; The Bill Barker Show , Bill Barker and Julianne Ruetz; At 10:30 p.m., just after Channel 7's number one rated (60 share) newscasts with Carl Akers, Warren Chandler and Starr Yelland, The Late Show with Dick Lewis and "Tell them Dick Lewis sent you" kept everyone up. Also,The Mickey Mouse Club. Hosted by Dick Lewis for 7 years. Panorama. Written and narrated by Gene Amole and Directed by Jim Lannon, the show won a Peabody Award in April of 1958. Hello Neighbor, on both KOA radio and Channel 4, first hosted by Maxine Mulvey for 3 years, then hosted by Merrie Lynn for ten years until she married the then Colorado Governor. Merrie Lynn is a member of the Colorado Broadcasting Hall of Fame; Blinky's Fun Club, hosted by Russell "Blinky" Scott. The Rocky Mountain News column did have a few lines about Blinky the Clown, but it would take a full page to write about his 32 years on Channel 2 and his 40-some years of bringing the thrill of the circus and the excitement of learning into the hearts of thousands of children. Holder of a prestigious "Emmy" award and countless other honors, Scott has dedicated himself to community service, education, safety...and smiles! The November 11, 1985, issue of Colorado MAC News magazine honored Scott with a full-color cover of Blinky and a story of Scott's achievements. during his then 30-year career. The News also had eight lines about Denver Now and that story could take up another page. Denver Now, with Beverly Martinez-on KWGN TV2 since January, 1973. She has won numerous awards including the George M. Sandoval Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990, and in 2002 she was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado Hall of Fame. Other local productions include: Your Right to Say It, Greg Guinan; Sounding Board, Jim Bennett, Fred Hobbs and Sheldon Peterson; Ragtime, Max Morath; Parker Panel, Russ Rountree; Colorado Getaways, Leo McGuire - Original Host; Masthead; The Road to Nowhere; Gene's Junction; Capitol News Conference with Ed Ruetz-Moderator. Ruetz was also a Channel 4 anchor, Legislative and Political reporter and NBC delegation reporter at Democratic and Republican conventions; And, we can't forget Pat Vaeth playing the harp on a weekly show. My time has run out. Thank you for yours. Next year, we will do the first 50 years of Channel 7 and Channel 4, perhaps we can add all the missed names and programs. Watch for "80 years of Radio" in the November issue of Advertising and Marketing Review.
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