John Reed King
John Reed King (October 25, 1914, Wilmington, Delaware – July 8, 1979, Woodstown, New Jersey) was a famous radio and television game show host who hosted numerous game shows during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.[1] He was married to Jean Abbot King and had three children, Joanne King, Julianne King, and John Reed King Jr.
Career
King was one of the announcers for The American School of the Air on CBS,[2] and he had one of the top-rated radio shows of the 1930s in New York City with Missus Goes A-Shopping. He was also an announcer for the radio version of Death Valley Days[2] and for The Jack Berch Show.[3]
On August 1, 1944, he hosted the live television version of Missus Goes A-Shopping, and on January 29, 1946, he hosted the television version of It's a Gift, making these among the first television quiz shows ever aired, after CBS Television Quiz (1941-1942).
He worked at KDKA radio and television in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1960s. He was a morning news anchor for the radio station, and hosted a daily talk show on television. In 1970, he was a news anchor at KGO-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated television station in San Francisco, California.
Radio Shows, Host
- Missus Goes A-Shopping (1934-1944) CBS Radio and local NYC
- Our Gal Sunday (1937-1940) announcer
- Duffy's Tavern (1941-1942) announcer
- The Gay Nineties Revue (1941) announcer
- What's My Name? (1941)
- Double or Nothing (1944 - 1945)
- Death Valley Days and The Sheriff (1945-1951) announcer
- Give and Take (1945-1953) CBS
- Chance of a Lifetime (1949-1952) ABC[2]
- Sky King (1954) playing the part of Sky King
Television Shows, Host
- Missus Goes A-Shopping (1944-1949) CBS Television
- It's a Gift (1946) CBS
- King's Party Line (1946)
- The John Reed King Show (1949)
- Chance of a Lifetime (1950-1952) ABC; (1953-1955) (DuMont)
- Battle of the Ages (1952)
- Beat the Clock (1952)
- Where Was I? (1952-1953) DuMont
- What's Your Bid? (Feb-April 1953) ABC
- There's One In Every Family (1952-1953) CBS
- Give and Take (1952-1953) CBS
- Why? (1953)
- Let's See (1954) ABC
- Have a Heart (1955) DuMont
- Gunsmoke, episode "Old Comrade" (1962) guest starred as a townsman
Books
- John Reed King's Quiz and Game Book (1949)
References
- ^ IMDB entry
- ^ a b c Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3
- ^ "Berch Is Back". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Harrisburg Telegraph. June 7, 1941. p. 24. Retrieved November 30, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
