Uncle Don Carney
| Don Carney | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Howard Rice |
| Born |
August 19, 1896 St. Joseph, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | January 14, 1954 (aged 57) Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Show | Uncle Don |
| Station(s) | WOR, New York |
| Network | Mutual |
| Station(s) | KDKA, Pittsburgh |
| Network | NBC, CBS |
| Country | United States |
Don Carney was the stage name of Howard Rice (August 19, 1896–January 14, 1954), an American radio personality and children's radio show host. Carney was best-remembered as the host of Uncle Don, a children's radio program produced between 1928 and 1947 and broadcast from WOR in New York.
Don Carney was born Howard Rice on August 19, 1896 in St. Joseph, Michigan and was educated in Michigan public schools. Rice left home and entered the vaudeville circuit at a young age. He began performing stock Irishman parts. It was performing these parts at the age of 15 when he first used the stage name Don Carney. Carney traveled throughout the Midwest in stock shows before settling as an announcer at WOR in New York in 1924.
In 1928, the station premiered Uncle Don, a children's radio program hosted by Carney. The program featured "Uncle Don", as Carney was dubbed, singing, playing the piano, telling stories and introducing many different events pertaining to the lives of the children, dubbed as Don's "nieces" and "nephews", who listened to the program. Some segments of the program included the "Healthy Child's Club" and the "Talent Quest". Winners of the Talent Quest were sometimes offered movie screen tests.
Except for the small amount of time during the mid-1930s when the show was broadcast nationally from the newly formed Mutual Broadcasting System, Uncle Don aired five, sometimes six, times a week, Monday through Saturday afternoons with occasionally a story or two on Sunday mornings, over WOR in New York. Carney soon generated possibly the largest audience of any locally produced children's show in broadcasting history.
Uncle Don ended abruptly in 1947 and for a long time there was speculation in regards to how and why the program ended. The popular story told of the program's end that has been widely accepted as true is that Carney was fired. The actual true story is that he simply left the program.
The urban legend states that Carney was fired after the end of a 1947 broadcast. According to the legend, after ending his broadcast with his usual "Goodnight, little friends, good night" sign off, Carney thought he was off the air and made the statement "There! That ought to hold the little bastards" when in actuality, there was a delay, not uncommon with radio programs of the day, and Carney's comment was broadcast to whomever was listening at the time. The legend goes on to state that public outrage caused Carney's termination from radio.
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