Announcer Ken Roberts 1910-2009

[Zoneboy]

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The younger generation may have no connection but broadcasting has
lost one of its pioneering legends with the passing of Ken Roberts at
99.


Roberts, a native of New York City, was one of the most familiar
voices of the early days of radio and television and a founding member
of AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild. Born Feb. 12, 1910, Roberts
gave up plans for a law career after appearing in a Broadway play
written by Garson Kanin.


Shortly afterward, he became a staff announcer for CBS Radio but
eventually voiced shows for every major network.


On radio, he was the emcee or announcer for Quick as a Flash, It Pays
to Be Ignorant, The Shadow and Let’s Pretend.


In television’s early history, Roberts was the host of a short-lived
DuMont game show, Where Was I?


However, his notable fame in TV came as an announcer on game/contest
shows and on soap operas.


Among his credits: Arlene Francis’ Blind Date, Dennis James’ Chance
of a Lifetime, the original versions of Make Me Laugh and Music Bingo
in the fifties, a 1948 game Try and Do It, CBS’s Wingo with Bob
Kennedy---a five-week knockoff of Bingo and talent contest Your Big
Moment.


Arguably, his longest run as a game show announcer was on Jan Murray’s
Dollar a Second in the 1950s. Roberts was frequently seen on camera
doing commercials for the game’s sponsor, Mogen David Wine.


His other television announcing stints included Candid Camera, Crime
Photographer, Goodman Ace’s unsuccessful transition of his Easy Aces
from radio to TV, TV Newspaper, Walter Winchell’s unfortunate attempt
to clone Ed Sullivan with a variety show (on NBC, 1956), an early
Frank Sinatra variety hour for CBS and the Daytime Emmy Awards (at
least in 1979).


However, probably his major connection with viewers was as the daily
voice for CBS’s Love of Life and The Secret Storm. American Home
Products (Aerowax, Black Flag, Freezone, etc.) owned both soaps and
its executives felt Roberts brought the proper setup and sendoff tones
to its dramas. Along with stars Audrey Peters (Vanessa Sterling) and
Ron Tomme (Bruce Sterling), Roberts rotated for two weeks with on
camera announcements in 1958 touting the Love of Life’s expansion from
15 minutes to [ a half ] hour, the first of the old quarter-hour soaps
to double its daily length.


Through the sixties until the lead character of Peter Ames was killed
by the show’s writers, Roberts (usually on the Wednesday show) weekly
re-explained---ostensibly to new viewers---“The Secret Storm is the
story of Peter Ames and his three grown children……..” The show would
end with: “This is Ken Roberts inviting you to join us again tomorrow
for The Secret Storm.”


His son Tony Roberts went on to a career on Broadway, one short-lived
NBC detective series (Rosetti and Ryan) and a semiregular spot on the
panel of the syndicated What’s My Line?


Movie and TV critic Leonard Maltin told THE FIX Monday afternoon via e-
mail: “I was lucky enough to interview Ken Roberts some years ago for
my book about radio, “The Great American Broadcast.” He was charming
and self-effacing, and had vivid memories of working with everyone
from Fred Allen to Col. Stoopnagle and Budd.”


PERSONAL MEMORIES: This is one of those obituaries one reads with
wistful reflections of how the role of the announcer is becoming a
virtual dinosaur in television. Aside from Rich Fields on The Price
Is Right and Burton Richardson on Family Feud, few genuinely
identifiable voices remain on game shows. Soaps today are introduced
strictly with theme music. Gone are the days when a Dan McCullough
would chime in at 1:30 to tell us: “For the next 30 minutes….As the
World Turns,” or Harry Kramer (and later Hal Simms) would follow
television’s most distinctive eight piano notes with “Presented
live…….The Edge………of Night.”


Ken Roberts’ name was not known on the level of a Johnny Olsen or a
Don Pardo but devoted television enthusiasts of the ‘50s and ‘60s
definitely knew who he was. He spoke in clear, distinctive tones with
a touch of the urbane in his voice. Both at noon and at 4 o’clock,
CBS viewers could be out of their rooms where a television was on but
hear that trademark voice. They knew it was time for either the daily
visit to Rose Hill to witness the struggles of Vanessa Dale Sterling,
or to Woodbridge, N.Y., for the travails of the Ames family.


I was not old enough to remember Dollar a Second during its original
run. However, on my first viewing of a kinescope years later, I knew
in an instant The Voice who was bringing on Jan Murray.


Ken Roberts was one of the handful of performers to whom anyone who
has ever stepped before a broadcast mike owes a debt of gratitude. He
was one of those who wrote the rules of broadcasting when no rules
existed. Unfortunately, a lot of those original rules are being
rewritten today to the point of eliminating some key principles:
warmth, intelligence and class. Ken Roberts gave us all of those. We
have precious few of his ilk with us today.

[Scoobiedoo30]

R.I.P.

[catlover79]

[JT]

RIP!!

Even Ken Roberts. Just too much death in one day for me.

There are episodes of TSS on YouTube with Roberts announcing. There used to be a fantastic Love of Life ep from 1975 with his work, too, but it's been gone for a while.