Johnny Olson
| Johnny Olson | |
|---|---|
Olson in 1956.
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| Born |
John Leonard Olson May 22, 1910 Windom, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | October 12, 1985 (aged 75) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Cerebral hemorrhage |
| Occupation | Announcer |
| Years active | 1944–1985 |
John Leonard "Johnny" Olson (May 22, 1910 – October 12, 1985) was an American radio personality and television announcer. Olson is perhaps best known for his work as an announcer for game shows, particularly the work he did for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Olson was the longtime announcer for the original To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? early in his career and spent over a decade as the announcer for both Match Game and The Price Is Right, and he had been working on the latter series at the time of his death.
Born in Windom, Minnesota, while landing jobs at WIBA and KGDA in Madison, Wisconsin after 1928, Olson enrolled in pharmacy classes at the University of Minnesota. He also worked a string of odd jobs, from soda jerk to singer.
Johnny joined WTMJ in Milwaukee in the late 1930s, organizing a five-piece Jazz band called The Rhythm Rascals and became one of the station's most popular personalities. The Rascals eventually made it to Hollywood, however they would send daily recordings of their shows back to WTMJ. Olson would eventually return to WTMJ and Milwaukee, where he would go on to create the first iteration of Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room. Under Olson, Rumpus Room attracted major national performers, including Spike Jones and The Andrews Sisters. By 1942, the immense popularity of Rumpus Room prompted WTMJ to dedicate the large unfinished Television studio (Plans for what would later become WTMJ-TV were suspended due to World War II) in their new facility to the program.
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