- Jon Arthur
:"For the Pensacola, Florida radio personality, see Jon Arthur."Jon Arthur was the professional name of Jon Goerss. As Big Jon Arthur he was the host of the Saturday morning children's radio series, "Big Jon and Sparkie". Sparkie, "the little elf from the land of make-believe, who wants more than anything else in the world to be a real boy,” was actually the recorded voice of Jon Arthur played at a fast speed.
From his home in Pittsburgh, Jon Arthur went to radio school and then began his broadcasting career at radio station WJLS (Beckley, West Virginia), signing on two weeks after the station went on the air in 1939. Arthur left Beckley for Ogdensburg, New York, and headed for the West Coast.
"No School Today"
At WSAI in Cincinnati he began the "Big Jon and Sparkie" show, carried daily on 181 ABC stations beginning in 1950. ABC also aired his two-hour Saturday show, "No School Today", heard weekly by 12 million listeners on 275 stations. The show's theme song was "
Teddy Bears' Picnic " as sung by Ann Stephens. Cincinnati's Don Kortekamp, who was working at WSAI, became the scriptwriter of "Big Jon and Sparkie".During the 1960s, Jon Arthur broadcast middays at WKRC in Cincinnati. Arthur's life story was featured on the radio show "
Unshackled ".He should not be confused with the Pensacola radio DJ Jon Arthur.
Listen to
* [http://www.satellitemediaproduction.com/otr/bigjon/noschooltoday.ram "No School Today"]
External links
* [http://bcyesteryear.com/fulltext.php?article=25 Bob Cox's Yesteryear]
* [http://jeff560.tripod.com/wkna.html "WKNA Radio Recollections" by Ted McKay]
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