- Collection:
- Broadcasting Collections
- Title:
- Don Kennedy oral history interview, 2014 November 19
- Creator:
- Kennedy, Don, 1930-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Fleming, Kevin, 1970-
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 2014-11-19
1910/1989 - Subject:
- Radio broadcasting
Television broadcasting
Big band music
Children's television programs - People:
- Kennedy, Don, 1930-
- Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, 33.79025, -84.46702
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798 - Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
- Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- application/pdf
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Don Kennedy was born on March 2nd, 1930 in Beaver, Pennsylvania. Kennedy’s career in broadcasting started at the age of thirteen when he constructed a half-watt homemade radio station in the basement of his home. He got his first paying job playing pop records at WPIC in Sharon, Pennsylvania when he was 17. While in college, Kennedy worked at a local radio station as a sports and news announcer and eventually became the chief engineer of the small station. After college he was drafted into the army where he worked as a studio chief in the psychological warfare unit at the end of the Korean War. After the military, Kennedy moved to Atlanta where he anchored the eleven o'clock news at WSB-TV. He was assigned to host a children's show for that station as the character of Officer Don. He played Officer Don on multiple shows from 1956 to 1969 with the most popular, The Popeye Club, amassing the largest audience of any such local program in the nation. In 1960 he established WKLS-FM in Atlanta, serving as President and General Manager. He also set up and served as President of Georgia Network and Florida Network, two of the pioneer state news networks in the nation. In 1976 his company returned Atlanta's channel 36, WATL-TV to the air. Kennedy returned to popular music broadcasting with the syndicated radio program Big Band Jump
which ran from 1986 to 2013 and could be heard nationwide for most of its run. Kennedy also provided voice work for several characters on Cartoon Network programs including Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Terror Phone and as narrator for award winning documentaries aired on Georgia Public Television. He is the recipient of the Silver Circle Award and two Emmys from the Atlanta Chapter of National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Pioneer Broadcaster and Georgia Broadcaster's Hall of Fame awards from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and honorary membership in the Di Gamma Kappa Broadcast Fraternity at the University of Georgia. In 2007 he was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame for Career Achievement.
In the interview Don Kennedy talks about his early life, his work experiences, and his encounters through radio broadcasting. Kennedy relives his experiences at his first job working at WPIC. The interview transitions to the time he went to college to study English and Speech, all while working in broadcasting. Kennedy then talks about his experiences in the Army, working as a studio chief and traveling the world. After the military, Kennedy recalls some of the shows he’s acted and did voice acting for such as The Clubhouse Gang, The Officer Don Show, The Popeye Club, and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Later in the interview Kennedy discusses how he started doing one hour shows for WRAS, and how it eventually evolved into Big Band Jump. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/broadcast/id/2053
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/broadcast:2053/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to items in this collection is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this digital collection available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. Please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ for more information.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Don Kennedy, interviewed by Kevin Fleming, November 19, 2014, Popular Music and Culture Collection. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University.
- Extent:
- Audio: 01:51:44, Transcript: 44 pages
- Original Collection:
- Popular Music and Culture Collection
Don Kennedy Papers
https://archivesspace.library.gsu.edu/repositories/2/resources/1519 - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
