WHDH-TV (defunct)
Encyclopedia
WHDH-TV was the callsign of the first station to use channel 5 in Boston. The station ceased operations March 18, 1972, after the station lost its license. The channel, but not the license, was taken over by WCVB-TV
the following morning: March 19, 1972. It is of no relation to either WCVB or the current WHDH-TV
.
Corporation along with WHDH radio (AM 850, now occupied by WEEI
; and FM 94.5, now WJMN
). It was originally an ABC
affiliate, but switched to CBS
on January 1, 1961. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/jehobden/tvgene.html&date=2009-10-26+00:46:16 http://www.theprovidencechannel.com/whdh/history.htm
Initially, studios were with sister station WHDH
Radio at 6 St. James Avenue in Boston's Back Bay; but this facility was far from ideal for television and in early 1960, the station moved into a newly built studio center at 50 Morrisey Boulevard in the Dorchester section of Boston.
WHDH was also the first television station in New England to originate local live (and later taped) programming in color.
In 1959, WHDH began a local version of Bozo The Clown with Frank Avruch as Bozo; in 1966, 130 episodes taped by WHDH that year would go into national syndication for those stations that did not want a local "Bozo" show.
Almost as soon as it signed on, the FCC
began investigating allegations of impropriety in the granting of the television license. This touched off a struggle that lasted 15 years. As a result, WHDH-TV never had a license longer than six months at a time. (Television station licenses at the time lasted for three years.)
In 1969, a local group, Boston Broadcasters Incorporated (BBI), was granted a construction permit for a new channel 5 under the call letters WCVB-TV
after promising to air more local programming than any other station in America at the time. The challenger was also critical of the combination
of the Herald-Traveler newspaper and WHDH AM-FM-TV. Herald-Traveler Corporation fought the decision in court, but lost its battle in 1972; and Boston Broadcasters was awarded a full license.
During the final months of its operation, WHDH-TV was court-ordered to sign off daily at 1:00 A.M. so that WCVB-TV could test its equipment. WHDH-TV declined to sell its transmitter and tower to the new WCVB-TV, which subsequently leased space on WBZ-TV
's tower. Since WHDH would not sell its studio building and equipment at 50 Morrissey Boulevard to WCVB, BBI was forced to remodel and move into a former International truck dealership in Needham.
The WHDH-TV call letters were subsequently reassigned to channel 7
almost 18 years later to the day of their last use, on Monday, 12 March 1990, where they remain to this day.
Among the anchors who worked there were John Day, Jack Hynes
, John Henning, Chet Curtis
, and in the final months before WHDH was forced off the air, a young reporter/anchor named Natalie Jacobson
. Lead sports anchor was Don Gillis after 1962 (prior to that, sports scores were read by the news anchor) while weather reports were done first by Fred B. Cole, then Ray Miller, and finally Bob Copeland.
The station won several awards for news coverage, includingh multiple honors as "National News Film Station Of The Year" from the National Press Photographers Association
.
When WCVB started up, nearly all of the former WHDH news staff was hired by that station.
baseball club from 1958 through 1971; with Curt Gowdy
, Ned Martin
, and later, Ken Coleman
doing play-by-play, with analysis during the 1960's provided by former star Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell
, and starting in 1969, by former Sox star Johnny Pesky
. Although these announcers worked on both TV and radio, the games were simulcast only through 1960; after that, the announcers would go back-and-forth between radio and TV.
For games on TV beginning in 1961, the analyst would do color on television for the entire game with Gowdy (through 1965) or Coleman (1966-71) doing the play-by-play of innings 1-3 and 7-9 on TV (and innings 4-6 on radio); while Martin called innings 1-3 and 7-9 on radio along with the middle innings on TV.
An average of 56 regular-season games were televised each year, equally split between home and away, with all but a handful being on weekends. The games were also fed to other TV stations (mainly CBS affiliates) in the New England region.
During the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons, WHDH also televised a few Boston Bruins
hockey games (broadcast on Sundays, usually on tape, either Saturday night games shown on Sunday afternoons, or Sunday night games shown on tape after the 11 P.M. local news that evening. One game, on February 12, 1966, a Saturday matinee from the old Madison Square Garden
in New York against the New York Rangers
was carried live and in color back to Boston, using a color mobile unit owned by WOR-TV
New York (which produced a videotaped broadcast of the game to air there that evening).
The station also broadcast a handful of Boston Celtics
basketball games during the early-to-middle 1960's. These were usually weekend afternoon games not on national TV. WHDH broadcast away Celtics' playoff away games from 1962 through 1966, although WHDH did televise live coverage of the seventh and final game of the 1962 NBA Finals
between the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers
from the old Boston Garden
.
In 1965, Celtics' playoff away games were also shown on the newly-launched WIHS-TV
. WIHS carried some regular-season Celtics' road games during the 1964-65 season, but team officials, worried about the low penetration of UHF receivers in the Boston area, arranged for WHDH to simulcast 1965 playoff games so they would reach a wider audience. WHDH alone was the TV home of the Celtics in the 1965-66 season, with coverage concentrated on away games during the playoffs.
Fred Cusick
did the Bruins' games; Don Gillis called the Celtics' games.
In October of 1958, WHDH launched a weekly candlepin bowling
show broadcast Saturdays at 12 Noon. Initially co-hosted by Jim Britt
and Gillis, Gillis eventually became the solo host. The show was extremely successful and remained on Channel 5 (with Gillis still as host) until February 1996, long after WHDH had given way to WCVB.
In 1968, with the Harvard University
football team about to host arch-rival Yale University
in a showdown of unbeaten teams for the Ivy League
football championship, WHDH made plans to cover the game. Due to ABC Sports' deal with the National Collegiate Athletic Association
that precluded live telecasting of games not in the ABC/NCAA package, WHDH broadcast the game on tape the next day, with Gillis doing play-by-play.
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
the following morning: March 19, 1972. It is of no relation to either WCVB or the current WHDH-TV
WHDH-TV
WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
.
History
WHDH-TV signed on November 26, 1957. It was owned by the Boston Herald-TravelerBoston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
Corporation along with WHDH radio (AM 850, now occupied by WEEI
WEEI
WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications. The station is one of the top-rated sports talk radio stations in the nation. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts...
; and FM 94.5, now WJMN
WJMN (FM)
WJMN is a successful Rhythmic Top 40 radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, USA, under the ownership of Clear Channel Communications. Its current slogan is "Hip Hop and Today's Hit Music!" and can be heard as far north as the White Mountains under good conditions, and in portions of...
). It was originally an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate, but switched to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
on January 1, 1961. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/jehobden/tvgene.html&date=2009-10-26+00:46:16 http://www.theprovidencechannel.com/whdh/history.htm
Initially, studios were with sister station WHDH
WEEI
WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications. The station is one of the top-rated sports talk radio stations in the nation. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts...
Radio at 6 St. James Avenue in Boston's Back Bay; but this facility was far from ideal for television and in early 1960, the station moved into a newly built studio center at 50 Morrisey Boulevard in the Dorchester section of Boston.
WHDH was also the first television station in New England to originate local live (and later taped) programming in color.
In 1959, WHDH began a local version of Bozo The Clown with Frank Avruch as Bozo; in 1966, 130 episodes taped by WHDH that year would go into national syndication for those stations that did not want a local "Bozo" show.
Almost as soon as it signed on, the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
began investigating allegations of impropriety in the granting of the television license. This touched off a struggle that lasted 15 years. As a result, WHDH-TV never had a license longer than six months at a time. (Television station licenses at the time lasted for three years.)
In 1969, a local group, Boston Broadcasters Incorporated (BBI), was granted a construction permit for a new channel 5 under the call letters WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
after promising to air more local programming than any other station in America at the time. The challenger was also critical of the combination
Concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
of the Herald-Traveler newspaper and WHDH AM-FM-TV. Herald-Traveler Corporation fought the decision in court, but lost its battle in 1972; and Boston Broadcasters was awarded a full license.
During the final months of its operation, WHDH-TV was court-ordered to sign off daily at 1:00 A.M. so that WCVB-TV could test its equipment. WHDH-TV declined to sell its transmitter and tower to the new WCVB-TV, which subsequently leased space on WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
's tower. Since WHDH would not sell its studio building and equipment at 50 Morrissey Boulevard to WCVB, BBI was forced to remodel and move into a former International truck dealership in Needham.
The WHDH-TV call letters were subsequently reassigned to channel 7
WHDH-TV
WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
almost 18 years later to the day of their last use, on Monday, 12 March 1990, where they remain to this day.
News operation
WHDH's newscasts were known as "WHDH-TV News." This title was used until March 18, 1972, when the station signed off for the last time and was replaced by WCVB.Among the anchors who worked there were John Day, Jack Hynes
Jack Hynes
John “Jack or Jackie” Hynes is a former U.S.-Scottish soccer forward. He spent over twenty years in the American Soccer League, twice earning league MVP recognition. In 1949, he earned four caps with the U.S. national team. In addition to playing professional soccer, Hynes was a New York City...
, John Henning, Chet Curtis
Chet Curtis
Chet Curtis is best known as the former husband and co-anchor of Natalie Jacobson, both Boston newscasters.Chet Curtis is a primetime anchor at NECN. He anchors The Chet Curtis Report and co-anchors New England Business Day. Before joining NECN in the spring of 2001, Curtis was an anchor and...
, and in the final months before WHDH was forced off the air, a young reporter/anchor named Natalie Jacobson
Natalie Jacobson
Natalie Jacobson was for a quarter-century a well-regarded and popular television newscaster with WCVB-TV in Boston, Massachusetts....
. Lead sports anchor was Don Gillis after 1962 (prior to that, sports scores were read by the news anchor) while weather reports were done first by Fred B. Cole, then Ray Miller, and finally Bob Copeland.
The station won several awards for news coverage, includingh multiple honors as "National News Film Station Of The Year" from the National Press Photographers Association
National Press Photographers Association
NPPA is the acronym for the National Press Photographers Association, founded in 1947. The organization is based in Durham, North Carolina and its mostly made up of still photographers, television videographers, editors, and students in the journalism field...
.
When WCVB started up, nearly all of the former WHDH news staff was hired by that station.
Sports coverage
WHDH was television home of the Boston Red SoxBoston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
baseball club from 1958 through 1971; with Curt Gowdy
Curt Gowdy
Curtis Edward "Curt" Gowdy was an American sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally-televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:The son of a manager for the Union Pacific railroad,...
, Ned Martin
Ned Martin
Edwin Martin was an American sportscaster, known primarily as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox from to...
, and later, Ken Coleman
Ken Coleman
Kenneth R. Coleman was an American radio and television sportscaster for 38 years . He was born in Quincy, Massachusetts....
doing play-by-play, with analysis during the 1960's provided by former star Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell
Mel Parnell
Melvin Lloyd Parnell is a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher.Parnell spent his entire ten-year career with the Boston Red Sox , compiling a 123-75 record with 732 strikeouts, a 3.50 earned run average, 113 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 1752.2 innings pitched in 289 games...
, and starting in 1969, by former Sox star Johnny Pesky
Johnny Pesky
John Michael Pesky , nicknamed "The Needle" and "Mr. Red Sox", was a Major League Baseball shortstop, third baseman, and manager. During a 10-year career, he played in 1942 and from 1946-1954 for three different teams. He missed all of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons while serving in World War...
. Although these announcers worked on both TV and radio, the games were simulcast only through 1960; after that, the announcers would go back-and-forth between radio and TV.
For games on TV beginning in 1961, the analyst would do color on television for the entire game with Gowdy (through 1965) or Coleman (1966-71) doing the play-by-play of innings 1-3 and 7-9 on TV (and innings 4-6 on radio); while Martin called innings 1-3 and 7-9 on radio along with the middle innings on TV.
An average of 56 regular-season games were televised each year, equally split between home and away, with all but a handful being on weekends. The games were also fed to other TV stations (mainly CBS affiliates) in the New England region.
During the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons, WHDH also televised a few Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
hockey games (broadcast on Sundays, usually on tape, either Saturday night games shown on Sunday afternoons, or Sunday night games shown on tape after the 11 P.M. local news that evening. One game, on February 12, 1966, a Saturday matinee from the old Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in New York against the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
was carried live and in color back to Boston, using a color mobile unit owned by WOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
New York (which produced a videotaped broadcast of the game to air there that evening).
The station also broadcast a handful of Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
basketball games during the early-to-middle 1960's. These were usually weekend afternoon games not on national TV. WHDH broadcast away Celtics' playoff away games from 1962 through 1966, although WHDH did televise live coverage of the seventh and final game of the 1962 NBA Finals
1962 NBA Finals
The 1962 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 1961-62 National Basketball Association season, and was the conclusion of the 1962 NBA Playoffs. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers and the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics...
between the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
from the old Boston Garden
Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by some 30 years...
.
In 1965, Celtics' playoff away games were also shown on the newly-launched WIHS-TV
WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV is a MyNetworkTV television station for eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire that is licensed to Boston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter along the Needham and Wellesley town line southwest of the MA 9 and I-95 / MA 128...
. WIHS carried some regular-season Celtics' road games during the 1964-65 season, but team officials, worried about the low penetration of UHF receivers in the Boston area, arranged for WHDH to simulcast 1965 playoff games so they would reach a wider audience. WHDH alone was the TV home of the Celtics in the 1965-66 season, with coverage concentrated on away games during the playoffs.
Fred Cusick
Fred Cusick
Frederick Michael Cusick was an American ice hockey broadcaster who served as the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer from 1971 until 1997 on WSBK-TV in Boston, and from 1984 until 1995 on NESN...
did the Bruins' games; Don Gillis called the Celtics' games.
In October of 1958, WHDH launched a weekly candlepin bowling
Candlepin bowling
Candlepin bowling is a variation of Bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces, Ontario, Quebec, and the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where it is more common than ten-pin bowling....
show broadcast Saturdays at 12 Noon. Initially co-hosted by Jim Britt
Jim Britt
Jim Britt was an American sportscaster who broadcast Major League Baseball games in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s and 1950s...
and Gillis, Gillis eventually became the solo host. The show was extremely successful and remained on Channel 5 (with Gillis still as host) until February 1996, long after WHDH had given way to WCVB.
In 1968, with the Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
football team about to host arch-rival Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in a showdown of unbeaten teams for the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
football championship, WHDH made plans to cover the game. Due to ABC Sports' deal with the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
that precluded live telecasting of games not in the ABC/NCAA package, WHDH broadcast the game on tape the next day, with Gillis doing play-by-play.
Personalities
- Frank AvruchBozo the ClownBozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
- Jim BrittJim BrittJim Britt was an American sportscaster who broadcast Major League Baseball games in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s and 1950s...
- Ken ColemanKen ColemanKenneth R. Coleman was an American radio and television sportscaster for 38 years . He was born in Quincy, Massachusetts....
- Bill CrowleyBill Crowley (sportscaster)William C. Crowley was an American sportscaster.Crowley called New York Yankees games from 1951-1952 and Boston Red Sox games from 1957-1960...
- Chet CurtisChet CurtisChet Curtis is best known as the former husband and co-anchor of Natalie Jacobson, both Boston newscasters.Chet Curtis is a primetime anchor at NECN. He anchors The Chet Curtis Report and co-anchors New England Business Day. Before joining NECN in the spring of 2001, Curtis was an anchor and...
- Fred CusickFred CusickFrederick Michael Cusick was an American ice hockey broadcaster who served as the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer from 1971 until 1997 on WSBK-TV in Boston, and from 1984 until 1995 on NESN...
- Leo EganLeo EganLeo Egan was a Boston sportscaster.A native of Buffalo, New York, Egan replaced Ted Husing as the announcer for Harvard football games after Husing was banned for referring to Harvard quarterback Barry Wood as putrid...
- Christine Evans (sometimes billing herself as "Chris")
- Don Gillis
- Art GleesonArt GleesonArt Gleeson was an American baseball announcer.Gleeson got his start calling games for teams in the California League games during the late 1930s and early 1940s...
- Curt GowdyCurt GowdyCurtis Edward "Curt" Gowdy was an American sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally-televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:The son of a manager for the Union Pacific railroad,...
- Bill HarringtonBill HarringtonWilliam "Bill" T. Harrington was an American sportscaster, children's television host, and news reporter for WHDH and TV and WCVB-TV in Boston.-Sportscasting:...
- John Henning
- Peter HyamsPeter HyamsPeter Hyams is an American screenwriter, director and cinematographer, probably best known for directing the 1984 science fiction adventure 2010 , Capricorn One, the comic book adaptation Timecop and the Arnold Schwarzenegger horror/action film End of Days.-Family:Hyams was born in New York...
- Roy LeonardRoy LeonardRoy Leonard is a former American radio personality best known for hosting WGN's mid-day radio show from Chicago for 31 years and for his appearances on WGN-TV's news and Christmas specials. He also hosted Family Classics after Frazier Thomas died....
- Ned MartinNed MartinEdwin Martin was an American sportscaster, known primarily as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox from to...
- Johnny MostJohnny MostJohn M. "Johnny" Most was an American sports announcer, known primarily as the raspy radio voice of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association from 1953 to 1990....
- Mel ParnellMel ParnellMelvin Lloyd Parnell is a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher.Parnell spent his entire ten-year career with the Boston Red Sox , compiling a 123-75 record with 732 strikeouts, a 3.50 earned run average, 113 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 1752.2 innings pitched in 289 games...
- Johnny PeskyJohnny PeskyJohn Michael Pesky , nicknamed "The Needle" and "Mr. Red Sox", was a Major League Baseball shortstop, third baseman, and manager. During a 10-year career, he played in 1942 and from 1946-1954 for three different teams. He missed all of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons while serving in World War...
- Caroll SpinneyCaroll SpinneyCaroll Edwin Spinney, sometimes credited as Carroll Spinney or Ed Spinney , is an American puppeteer most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on the children's television show Sesame Street.-Life and career:...
- Bob Wilson