Channel 4 in the pre-WDIV days

[JackAttack FM]

Channel 4 became WDIV-TV in the summer of '77,around my 24th birthday,just before I went to St. Clair College here in Windsor and a month before Elvis died.

It was 1978.

Kay Graham paid cash and traded WTOP-TV in Washington, DC for WWJ-TV.
The News got WTOP straight-up. The only thing channel 4 had going for it was that Detroit was a bigger market then Washington at the time. WTOP was as powerhouse news station and a CBS affiliate. Channel 4 had an also-ran newscast and a last place NBC affiliation.

But Elvis did die in August '77.

Oopsy replaced Bozo because of concerns that Bozo was too aggressive for young children.

That's wrong too.
Channel 4 simply lost the Bozo franchise for this market to Channel 9 (CKLW) around the late 60's. The franchise eventually was bought by TV2 in the 70's.

Channel 4 needed another kid's show after losing Bozo so McNea became Oopsy.
Which I think he took to Canadian TV after channel 4 was sold.

sports another Don Kremer,who with Chuck "Buck" Walby hosted "Bowling For Dollars "

Wrong again.
Bob Allison hosted Bowling for Dollars after the 6pm news.
Kremer hosted Beat the Champ that aired after The Tonight Show.

[borderboy653659200]

JackAttackFM,I'm often wrong,so that isn't news .Thanks for putting me straight .(And wasn't Betty Carrier on WDIV-TV in '78 ? Also,they had a deaf anchor named Bob Pellegrino who signed the news for the hearing-impaired .) I thought Channel 4 became WDIV-TV in '78 because I was finishing St.Clair College here in Windsor at that time . Is Kremer still with us ?

[JackAttack FM]

Betty Carrier was gone by the early 70's. She was a news anchor but, it didn't seem that long. I think there was some kind of stir in town that she came and went form anchoring so quick.

Joe Pellegrino was a sports guy at channel 4 in the 70's and was on the Tigers' broadcasts. I'm pretty sure he wasn't deaf.

I do remember channel 4 doing a signing segment of their noon newscast in the early 80's.

I don't know where Don Kremer is.

[moldyoldie]

I don't know where Don Kremer is.

Don Kremer passed away a few years ago.

Pellegrino is definitely not deaf. He's had a long broadcasting career in Pennsylvania.

[JackAttack FM]

One of the most endearing personalities at channel 4 that everyone seemed to love was Milky the Clown. He was played by Clare Cummings, a master magician. His show was sponsored by Twin Pines Dairy, thus the name Milky and his all white costume. He was a bit before my time but, if you mention Milky to anyone growing up in the 50s and 60s in Detroit they are really nostalgic for him.

The other guy who was on channel 7 then 4 was George Perroit and his world travels show. He would show films about different places around the globe and discuss it with a guest. I seem to remember him being on 4 into the 70's.
I came across a couple of his shows somewhere on YouTube recently.

I'm glad Moldy you mentioned Dick Westerkamp. I know his daughter. She said he went to Chicago and eventualy retired to Florida where he did some really talented paintings.

My grandmother built the costumes for Bozo when the show was at channel 4. She mostly did a lot of costumes for the broadway shows that came to town and then for some TV shows.  

[JGP1954]

Yes, once, I talked to Clare at the auto show, years after his Milky days. He was doing his magic tricks act. He was wearing a tuxedo, but that voice was unmistakable. A very friendly, talented man.

[sfpcc]

The franchise eventually was bought by TV2 in the 70's.

Channel 4 needed another kid's show after losing Bozo so McNea became Oopsy.

I kind of remember watching the channel 2 Bozo. Mostly I reacll it being loud, a little scary, and not very appealing.

Bozo was a franchise so each city had a different version of the show. Has anyone out there seen more than one Bozo? If you have could you tell of any difference between the two?

[JackAttack FM]

There's literally dozens of videos of Bozo shows from around the country on Youtube.

I know WGN and WZZM had their Bozo shows on through the 90s.

The guy who played him in Grand Rapids, Dick Richards, did a nice show.

Art Cervi who played Bozo here at Channel 9 and then at TV2 still does interviews and makes appearances.

[borderboy653659200]

Dang,Kremer died four months before Gordie Howe !!!!!

[borderboy653659200]

JackAttack FM,I remember Milky,whom I enjoyed as a lad . And George Pierrot,another boyhood favourite,died virtually the same day in early May 1980 as former Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito . (Didn't Earl Brink host "World Adventure Series?") And Dennis Glen Cooper,my mother's science teacher at Northern High School, had a science show on Channel 7 ,I believe,when I was a kid .

[borderboy653659200]

I meant Bob INGRAM signed the news for the hearing impaired circa '78 .(I remembered the correct surname last night .)

[sfpcc]

I found a website dedicated to Oopsy

www.oopsytheclown.com

[borderboy653659200]

I met Johnny Ginger in '84 on a Windsor bus .(He was visiting his daughter,who lived on the West Side as I once had.) When I asked him about children's programming,he said that everything is network-originated as opposed to the local programming of the 60's and 60's .

[borderboy653659200]

"50's and 60's," that is .

[Deleted User 7620]

https://youtu.be/LOrQdOPqzag

https://youtu.be/SLfUqEX1NGQ

https://youtu.be/dKRXyJAcb30

Anyone remember Wes Sarginson?