Dick Dudley

For the professional wrestler, see Big Dick Dudley.

Richard Allen "Dick" Dudley (birth name: Casper Bernard Kuhn, Jr.) (April 22, 1915 in Louisville, Kentucky – February 2, 2000 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) was an American radio and television announcer.

Dudley's career began in 1925 on a children's radio program on WTNT radio in Nashville, Tennessee. Following graduation from high school, he started a repertory company in a renovated barn, and wrote plays, some of which featured a young Dinah Shore.

He later became an announcer on WSM (AM),[1] and in 1938 moved to New York City where, after holding several jobs, he joined NBC as a page, moving up the ranks to the position in staff announcer in 1940. He was among the first to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. During World War II, Dudley was based in London, where he served as program director of the American Forces Network.[2]

After the war, Dudley returned to NBC, where he announced on such radio shows as The Adventures of Archie Andrews,[3] The Aldrich Family, The Catholic Hour, and The Eternal Light. His television announcing credits included the original 1949 TV version of Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Arturo Toscanini's television concerts, the original 1950s version of The Price Is Right (as a substitute announcer), The Today Show, and Not for Women Only. In addition, he also handled local booth announcing work, including public service announcements, for NBC's New York outlet WNBC-TV. He retired from NBC in 1985.

Dudley was also host of recorded-music programs on WNBC radio.[4][5]

Dudley died of a brain tumor at age 84.

References

  1. ↑ Havighurst, Craig. Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City. Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 2007 (p. 107).
  2. ↑ Morley, Patrick. This Is the American Forces Network: The Anglo-American Battle of the Air Waves in World War II. Praeger Publishers, 2001 (pp. 37, 44, 97, 131, 136).
  3. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (1981), Radio's Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs 1930-1960. A.S. Barnes & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-498-02393-1. P. 4.
  4. ↑ "New WNBC Disc Show Will Debut On Saturday" (PDF). Radio Daily. January 8, 1948. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Miller, Leo (June 5, 1949). "Stars on Holiday, Stuff Continues". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 13 January 2015.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.