John Reed King

John Reed King
King at right with a contestant on the television game show There's One In Every Family, 1952.
BornOctober 25, 1914
Wilmington, Delaware
DiedJuly 8, 1979 (aged 64)
Woodstown, New Jersey
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Host on radio and television programs
SpouseJean Abbot King
Children2 daughters, 1 son

John Reed King (October 25, 1914 – July 8, 1979) was an American radio and television game show host who hosted numerous game shows during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Career

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King was one of the announcers for The American School of the Air on CBS,[1] 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[1] and for The Jack Berch Show.[2]

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).

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, King was host of The John Reed King Show, an audience-participation quiz show. It began on WOR-TV and moved to WCBS-TV on February 2, 1950.[3]

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.

Personal life

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He married Jean Elizabeth Abbot (or Abbott).[when?] They had two daughters and a son.[4]

Radio Shows, Host

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Television Shows, Host

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Books

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  • John Reed King's Quiz and Game Book (1949)

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3
  2. ^ "Berch Is Back". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Harrisburg Telegraph. June 7, 1941. p. 24. Retrieved November 30, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ "Debuts, Highlights, Changes (Continued)". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. January 29, 1950. p. 2. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  4. ^ Obituary, nytimes.com. July 10, 1979. Accessed August 10, 2023.
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