The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Five voices who defined Toronto television

RadioActive · October 28, 2015 10:27 am

It's not anywhere online that I can find, but this past Saturday's Toronto Star Entertainment section had an article entitled "Five voices who defined Toronto television." It relates a time in broadcasting when stations had a "voice" that did all the promos, all the IDs, and all the intros for local shows, a practice it noted is fading into history.

It listed the following five:

1) Bob Boving - Not necessarily a household name, but the longtime voice of the CBC, as well as a promo voice in the U.S.

2) Ken Ryan - The voice of Global TV right into the 90s, and the announcer of that terrible locally produced game show Bumper Stumpers.

3) John DeLazzer - The first voice ever heard on the old CICA, Channel 19, now known as TVO. He also hosted a few shows of his own on the channel, before it became a province-wide "network."

4) Dave Devall - A well known weatherman and CFTO personality, he was also the voice of the station IDs, and was the last voice you heard when the station signed off for the night.

5) Mark Dailey - No list would be complete without the man known as "The Voice." Mark was not only a newscaster, but did all the promos and the "Citytv Everywhere" IDs that became something of a trademark. It's not as well known and it's not mentioned in the article, but for many years, Mark also did recorded promos that played on the phone while you were waiting to speak to someone at the station. They were so witty and became so popular, people would start phoning the switchboard and asked to be put on hold just so they could hear the latest version. Hard to believe it will be five years this coming December since we lost him.

That's the list the Star published. Perhaps they only had room for five, but I think they should have also mentioned a former frequenter of this board, the great Lee Marshall, who for ages was the voice of CTV's promos and news departments.

Last edited by RadioActive (October 28, 2015 2:17 pm)

Dale Patterson · October 28, 2015 10:45 am

6: Don Berns - Voice of Global and TSN for many years.

Peter the K · October 28, 2015 11:26 am

The Article, from Ed Conroy, can be found here

http://www.pressreader.com/canada/toronto-star/20151024/282213714677899/TextView

RadioActive · October 28, 2015 12:00 pm

Thanks. I was pretty sure it was around somewhere but wasn't able to find it.

Peter the K · October 28, 2015 12:09 pm

No worries. I was only aware of it because I follow Conroy's retrontario on twitter.

As an aside, I'm not a fan of the pressreader interface. It works ok on a PC, but is almost unusable on the web browser on my android phone. But I digress.

mace · October 28, 2015 3:51 pm

I always remember Dave Devall's CFTO ID just before "World Beat News" at 6PM. This is CFTO TV, Channel 9, in Toronto Cable 8. On the screen you saw a large boxy almost rectangular 9 surrounded by a multitude of colours. Does anybody remember Tom Jolls as the longtime voice of WKBW ch 7 in Buffalo? Just before Eyewitness News, Tom would say WKBW TV Channel 7 Buffalo. It's 11 oclock. Do you know where your children are?

g121 · October 29, 2015 12:54 am

mace wrote:
.. Does anybody remember Tom Jolls as the longtime voice of WKBW ch 7 in Buffalo? Just before Eyewitness News, Tom would say WKBW TV Channel 7 Buffalo. It's 11 oclock. Do you know where your children are? ..

*chuckles* you must be talking about Commander Tom .. & can't forget Dave Thomas & Promo the Robot on Rocketship 7 : )) ..

cheers from Toronto ..

Tq345 · October 29, 2015 7:55 am

g121 wrote:
mace wrote:
.. Does anybody remember Tom Jolls as the longtime voice of WKBW ch 7 in Buffalo? Just before Eyewitness News, Tom would say WKBW TV Channel 7 Buffalo. It's 11 oclock. Do you know where your children are? ..
*chuckles* you must be talking about Commander Tom .. & can't forget Dave Thomas & Promo the Robot on Rocketship 7 : )) ..

Don't forget The Sweetlys and Biff Beeper. I was an avid viewer as a child back in the early '70s. Hopefully someone can confirm my memories, but I believe Rocketship 7 aired live starting at 7 am weekdays. The reason I remember it being live is that between cartoons, Dave would do brief news updates along with Biff's sports reports. Who can forget his reports on the Buffalo Braves and their star "Bob McAdooooooooooo ..."

Then Dave would trade his jumpsuit for a sport jacket and join Nolan Johannes for Dailing For Dollars. I'm likely looking back through rose coloured glasses, but I kind of miss the days before network and syndicated programming crushed local live TV.

RadioActive · October 29, 2015 11:54 am

Loved Rocketship 7 when I was a kid. It's become common trivia that Dave Thomas (aka Boreanaz) is the father of David Boreanaz, the co-star of the Fox TV drama "Bones." (Maybe if Promo the Robot guest starred one time, I'd actually watch the show!) His dad, of course, was the weatherman at a Philadelphia station for decades after he left Buffalo, under the name "Dave Roberts."

Rocketship7.com

You have to be a real old timer to remember when a guy named Virgil Booth was the announcer who did the station IDs at the old WBEN-TV. That would have been the late 50s and early 60s.

Last edited by RadioActive (October 29, 2015 11:57 am)

Peter the K · October 29, 2015 3:45 pm

Yes, Rocketship 7 did indeed start at 7 and ran until 9:00. I used to watch it religiously as a kid growing up in the 70s. Still have fond memories of Biff Beeper and the sweetly's.

The talent on the show were, among other things, consumate multi-taskers. At the end of each show, there was just a few minutes for Dave Thomas to change into his suit and Johnny Banaszak to get out of his robot costume and into a suit and strap on his cordovox (a wild electronic accordion) for dialing for dollars.

But it took me the longest time, as a kid, to figure out that Commander Tom was indeed Tom Jolls, the weather guy and staff announcer.

barilko05 · October 29, 2015 5:43 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Loved Rocketship 7 when I was a kid. It's become common trivia that Dave Thomas (aka Boreanaz) is the father of David Boreanaz, the co-star of the Fox TV drama "Bones." (Maybe if Promo the Robot guest starred one time, I'd actually watch the show!) His dad, of course, was the weatherman at a Philadelphia station for decades after he left Buffalo, under the name "Dave Roberts."

Rocketship7.com

You have to be a real old timer to remember when a guy named Virgil Booth was the announcer who did the station IDs at the old WBEN-TV. That would have been the late 50s and early 60s.

Actually, there was an episode of BONES that featured Boreanz's character coming across a picture of the Rocketship 7 cast and him commenting about how he (Booth, the character) loved the show growing up.

Jody Thornton · October 29, 2015 8:37 pm

mace wrote:
I always remember Dave Devall's CFTO ID just before "World Beat News" at 6PM. This is CFTO TV, Channel 9, in Toronto Cable 8. On the screen you saw a large boxy almost rectangular 9 surrounded by a multitude of colours. Does anybody remember Tom Jolls as the longtime voice of WKBW ch 7 in Buffalo? Just before Eyewitness News, Tom would say WKBW TV Channel 7 Buffalo. It's 11 oclock. Do you know where your children are?

Yes I recall both gentlemen doing imaging and IDs. Didn't Dan Williamson also do a short run as Global's imaging voice? I know Don Berns did, but I always locved Dan's voice too (use to listen a lot in the 80s on CKFM)

RadioActive · October 29, 2015 10:32 pm

barilko05 wrote:
Actually, there was an episode of BONES that featured Boreanz's character coming across a picture of the Rocketship 7 cast and him commenting about how he (Booth, the character) loved the show growing up.

Not to hijack the thread, but since I started this one, I suppose it's OK. I love when shows do these so-called Easter eggs or better yet, break the "fourth wall" and acknowledge they're doing a TV show. "Green Acres" used to be great at this, with some of the characters seeing and commenting on the opening credits.

There was a moment in this season's "Minority Report," a likely-to-be-cancelled new show on Fox, that was easy to miss. It takes place around the year 2064, and as one character passes by a futuristic TV monitor in the pilot, there's a promo running for the 65th season of "The Simpsons," which is apparently still on the air with the same actors doing the character voices!

There was a great 30 second scene I remember in "That Girl" back in the 60s, when star Marlo Thomas is walking down the hall of a church and literally bumps into her real-life dad, Danny Thomas, who's dressed as a priest. The next two sentences were simple but hilarious. "Sorry, father," she says. "That's OK, my child," he replies, then walks off. Nice bit.

Garry Shandling used to break the fourth wall on his first show. But he readily admitted he'd borrowed it from the best of the best, "The George Burns & Grace Allen Show," a 50's classic and one of the funniest shows ever seen on TV. George was the first boob tube star to talk directly to the audience, once doing his monologue and promising to wave to the audience when he entered the next scene. True to his word, he did. He would often comment on the efforts of the other actors, once telling a physician, "Thank you doctor. You gave a fine performance," as the fake medico walked out the door.

And for those who hated the way the great Darrin switch was made on Bewitched, Burns managed to show how to do it right in one extremely memorable episode. The actor who played the next door neighbour left the show and they hired a new person to take his place. As his wife prepared to bean him over the head with a set of books as he came around the corner (don't ask,) George stepped in and shouted "Stop the action!" He then explained to the audience that Fred Clark, who played Harry Morton, left to go to a Broadway play, and "we wish him luck. Taking his place is Larry Keating." And then he introduced him to his co-star, the great Bea Benaderet. They shook hands, complimented each other on their acting skills and hit it off. To which George replied, "Knock it off or no one will believe you're married. Action!" And with that, Keating came around the corner and she hit him with the books. Substitution accomplished.

Then there was the magic TV set, in which George not only watched his own show in progress in the privacy of his den, but would frequently switch the station and tune in programs on other networks, commenting on them at the same time. It was always funny.

But the greatest and oddest Easter egg I ever saw actually happened on two different shows, on two different networks, both of which were completely unrelated to each other. And you had to watch both of them to get it. It started on NBC's "Community," in which Abed was obsessed with ABC's "Cougar Town." In a premiere episode after a summer hiatus, the character explained he'd been cast as an extra on the show during his summer break, but blew it when he got so nervous, he had to throw up and leave in the middle of his scene.

It seemed innocuous enough, until a week or so later, when in a scene on "Cougar Town," the actor suddenly appeared very clearly in the background of a restaurant set, sat down, then after about 10 seconds, got up in a hurry, causing his chair to fall over and clatter to the ground, as he ran out of the picture. All the while the regular show continued in the foreground and there was no explanation at all of what had happened. But if you knew what was going on, it was an absolutely incredible moment unlike any I've ever seen before.

mace · October 29, 2015 10:32 pm

Boy does that WBEN TV logo bring back memories. Rocketship 7 started at 7/730/8AM over the years, but always ended at 9AM for Dialing For Dollars[which eventually became AM Buffalo] If you want an excellent website for Buffalo broadcast history, try staffannouncer.com. There are entire sections devoted to Commander Tom, Irv/Rick&Tom, and Rocketship 7. I did not know there were two Promo the Robots. The original was around until 1967 when it was updated. There is even a small section devoted to CFTO's Uncle Bobby.

Tq345 · October 30, 2015 8:01 am

Peter the K wrote:
Yes, Rocketship 7 did indeed start at 7 and ran until 9:00. I used to watch it religiously as a kid growing up in the 70s. Still have fond memories of Biff Beeper and the sweetly's.

The talent on the show were, among other things, consumate multi-taskers. At the end of each show, there was just a few minutes for Dave Thomas to change into his suit and Johnny Banaszak to get out of his robot costume and into a suit and strap on his cordovox (a wild electronic accordion) for dialing for dollars.

You're blowing my mind Peter. I had no idea Johnny from "Johnny And Jimmy" fame was Promo The Robot. And speaking of J & J, only local TV could feature a two-person orchestra consisting of drums and the amazing electronic 'cordeen.

tvguy · October 30, 2015 3:52 pm

I recall Virgil Booth's ID - "this is the Buffalo Evening News station....WBEN-TV Buffalo".

ig · October 31, 2015 12:29 am

Me neither . That's neat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZVesNYJUCE

I loved Dialing for Dallars when I was a kid.. it was one of my first tastes of 'American' TV .

And since I'm posting nifty links anyway... Happy Hallowe'en folks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXTEUM4OF7Q
http://www.reelradio.com/gifts/wkbwwotw71.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjpuCaSdQ3g

ig.

Tq345 wrote:
Peter the K wrote:
Yes, Rocketship 7 did indeed start at 7 and ran until 9:00. I used to watch it religiously as a kid growing up in the 70s. Still have fond memories of Biff Beeper and the sweetly's.

The talent on the show were, among other things, consumate multi-taskers. At the end of each show, there was just a few minutes for Dave Thomas to change into his suit and Johnny Banaszak to get out of his robot costume and into a suit and strap on his cordovox (a wild electronic accordion) for dialing for dollars.

You're blowing my mind Peter. I had no idea Johnny from "Johnny And Jimmy" fame was Promo The Robot. And speaking of J & J, only local TV could feature a two-person orchestra consisting of drums and the amazing electronic 'cordeen.

Last edited by ig (October 31, 2015 12:35 am)

Peter the K · October 31, 2015 1:56 am

Tq345 wrote:
You're blowing my mind Peter. I had no idea Johnny from "Johnny And Jimmy" fame was Promo The Robot. And speaking of J & J, only local TV could feature a two-person orchestra consisting of drums and the amazing electronic 'cordeen.

ig wrote:
Me neither . That's neat.

Well now, even back then, even in the large Polish enclave that was "Bawflo", a musician had to do whatever one had to do in order to make ends meet. Johnny was the accordionist of a very popular Buffalo Polka band from the 60s and 70s called the "New Yorkers".

True confession time. As a good Polish kid in the 70s, I played the accordion and watched Johnny playing the cordovox hoping that some day, I'd be able to play one of those beasts. Back then, they cost around $2K. (about the price of a new car back then) It was basically a professional accordion with some bulky 60s electronics attached but it was state of the art for the time. Never did get to play one of those corodovoxes. (voxen? voxii?) But today's Roland digital accordion (I kid you not) blows it away. But I digress.

Two observations about about Dialing for Dollars:

I was always amazed at how big a studio audience they'd have. That must have been one hell of an event to wrangle every day.

I would hate to be the poor schlep who had to cut up the buffalo phone book to populate the bin. I wonder how often they refreshed it?

And finally...

The wivb logo from 1982-1992

Am I the only one who looks at this and sees a profile of a big pointy nose?

Tq345 · October 31, 2015 8:12 am

Peter the K wrote:
I would hate to be the poor schlep who had to cut up the buffalo phone book to populate the bin. I wonder how often they refreshed it?

"The count is three from the bottom. We're calling ... T. Stemkowski of Cheektowaga. I sure hope they're home ..."

Glen Warren · October 31, 2015 12:13 pm

Rocketship 7 - Learning to draw with the "ScopeView" Dave at the set wall on one side, Promo standing on the other and in between was a "Magic Drawing Wall" - really just a set flat with a cutour in it, and someone standing behind it reverse drawing on the paper surface..... Dave would try to draw a copy of the picture in the ScopeView, but it never really turned out that well.... Promo would be talking to Dave while he was drawing, and giving words of encouragement to him...

The cable hanging out the botoom rear of the Promo body, was actually the mic cable for the microphone afixed inside the head of the costume.... no wireless mics back in the 60s especially for a private affiliate.

ig · October 31, 2015 12:43 pm

Sandy Hoyt and Don Andrews were also staff announcers at Global for a bit. And ofcourse who could forget Sandy and Carl doing 'news from zoos'