Bill Owen (writer and announcer)
Bill Owen | |
|---|---|
 Bill Owen in 2013 | |
| Born | February 1, 1931 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Writer Radio/Television announcer |
Bill Owen, widely known as the "King of Trivia", is a writer and radio/television announcer whose career spans six decades. He served as host and announcer for the children's program
Family
Bill Owen was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on February 1, 1931. His father Owen T. Owen (born in Milbank, South Dakota on September 15, 1890) was an outstanding track star at the University of North Dakota where he graduated from law school. He held many public offices including state tax commissioner and chairman of the state's Workman's Compensation bureau.
Owen's mother Else Rohde Owen (born in
Early life
Owen participated in football, baseball, basketball, and track as a young man and became an avid fisherman, water and snow skier, and licensed pilot and one day achieved his dream of parachuting from an airplane. He has said his toughest accomplishment was learning to ride a unicycle.
He was editor of his high school newspaper (the
Announcing career
After graduating
Initially, Owen was reluctant to play the part of Marshal Bill; he wanted to focus on doing sports. One other announcer, Gus Becker, heard about the show and was eager to do it if Owen refused. Owen recommended Gus, but the management told Owen he was the right person for it. One year Owen was asked to lead the annual
While in service he met Rosemary Bobo of Gray Court, South Carolina, a high school home economics teacher, and they were married on October 1, 1955. Their three children are Carolyn, a well-known singer-musician-songwriter/artist/horse-trainer, Richard, a banking executive, and Lisa, a horse-trainer and the owner of a horse stable and riding academy.
Owen joined
Three years later Owen was chosen by ABC for its staff. He stayed for thirty years during which time he did news and sports on both radio and television. Among his many sports assignments was filling in for Howard Cosell on Howard's sports shows and post-New York Mets broadcasts. Owen was also selected to become a disc jockey on WABC radio ("MusicRadio 77") as one of the station's original "Swinging Seven" which also included Scott Muni, Herb Oscar Anderson, Chuck Dunaway, Jack Carney, Farrell Smith, and Charlie Greer (who was known for always spraying the microphone for germs when his shift began).[1][2]
The publicity for the "Swinging Seven" was enormous: full page photos of the DJs in the major newspapers, billboards with their photos scattered around town, posters advertising their "Swingin' Sound Surveys", and constant playing on air of their promos. They also made public appearances attired in trademark bright red blazers.
In 1966 he was elevated from being the show announcer of the award-winning young people's series "
During his years at ABC, Owen co-wrote with announcer
While working as a free-lancer, Owen did many on-camera and voice-over commercials for national television, and portrayed Ellery Queen in the nationally syndicated series "Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries". It ran for many years on radio stations, allowing time for local commercials.
Owen also wrote the popular syndicated panel Return with Us to... with drawing by comic strip artist Don Sherwood.[4] This nostalgic remembrance of the past enjoyed a long run in Grit, a national weekly newspaper.
From 1982 to 1990, Owen was announcer for ABC-TV's
After leaving ABC in 1990, Owen was the principal voice of
Retirement: "The King Of Trivia"
In retirement, Owen wrote The Over 60 Trivia Book,[5] All Those Things My Teacher Never Told Me,[6] and Runners-up, Bridesmaids, & Second Bananas,[7] the first two books illustrated by his daughter Carolyn.
He recently released a new book, Dropping Names,[8] which takes the reader on a 60-year plus trip through the world of broadcasting, introducing us to the famous and not-so-famous that he met and worked with along the way.
He continues to do radio and TV commercials, the best-known being a series for the National Motor Museum Mint featuring replicas of popular cars and trucks from the past. He also appears before senior clubs with a nostalgia program about old-time radio and other memories of the 1930s and 40s.
Owen and his wife Rosemary are avid
See also
References
- ^ Bill Owen's Profile at WABC MusicRadio 77
- ^ "Those Great DJs" List of WABC DJs
- ^ Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill, The Big Broadcast 1920-1950 at Scarecrow Press[permanent dead link]
- ^ Don Sherwood, "Return With Us To..." comic strip original art at Heritage Auctions, icollector.com
- ISBN 978-1-878282-21-7
- ISBN 978-1-878282-51-4
- ISBN 978-1-878282-68-2
- ISBN 978-1-937943-11-0
External links
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