Earliest memory of WAGA's programs

As a young  girl in the early 60's, I remember getting to stay up after my parents went to sleep and watching at 11:30 pm right after the 11 o'clock News a program called Bestonk Dooley presents.  It was a " horror" show and my brother and I thought it was so Co-o-o-o-l  to stay up that late to see it.

Shocker Theater with Bestoink Dooley and they played horror films.  I remember it well.  In the late 60's/early 70's Mr. Dooley(?) ran a mini-theater in downtown Atlanta and it always gave me a fright to walk in and see him working the refreshment center

As a very young boy, around 8 or 9, I remember going to the old WAGA studio on

West Peachtree to see live performances of the TV Wranglers. The host was Farmer John;

Boots Woodall on steel guitar, Papa Paul Rice on bass fiddle; Tennessee Smith on fiddle

and his brother SmittySmith on guitar.Betsy Ross bread was a sponsor and Smitty used to

collect the end wrappers. A regular guest on TV Ranch was Brenda Lee. She wasn't much

older than me and I can remember her standing on an apple crate to make her tall

enough for the camera.

Such memories. I have fond memories of shows on othe stations during that era, and

I have since retired from a competing station as an audio operator. Automation

has taken over just about everything (graphics, cameras, audio) It's such a Shame

to lose the human element in these areas; but the almighty dollar seems to take the 

place of a company's most valuable asset; it's people.

Anyone else have an early story about WAGA ?

  Hi Ripleybird. Just saw your reply today. If you Google;

you can find all kinds of information about your dad.

He was associated with Bill Lowery, a legend in this part

of the country; and nationally as well. He helped form NRC

Records. Joe South was one of the first artists on that label.

He recorded "The Purple People Eater meets the Witch Doctor"

and on the flip side "My Fondest Memories" I was priviledged

to have worked with Bill Lowery when I was program/Music Director

at several radio stations throughout Atlanta. I also worked with his

son, Butch Lowery.

  Anyway, the main purpose of this message is to let you know

the theme song to "TV Ranch"  You can find the lyrics almost

anywhere on Google. "My saddle pals and I". The show would open

as follows with singing from the TV Wranglers:

                      Ridin' the range together; My sadlle pals, and I

                      Through every kind of weather; my saddle pals

                      and I

                                (music interlude, steel guitar from Boots)

                      Announcer:  It's TV Ranch..with your host, Farmer John and

                      Boots Woodall, Tennessee and Smitty Smith and Mama's

                      little man, Papa Paul Rice.

I can remember it like it was last week. Why don't you E-mail me directly

and maybe together we can dig up artifacts. GSU seems to have a lot of

archives from old TV shows; not only from WAGA but from WSB-TV from which

I recently retired.  My E-mail is gregmccl@bellsouth.net. Hope to hear from

you soon.

                                                Greg

George operated the Film Forum with his son throughout the late 60s and up until the late 70s as I recall.....with his son also.   the last movie I saw there was Bedazzled with Dudley Moore and Raquel Welch...maybe around 1977 or 78.

Hey, it's good to see someone new jump in here about

the old days. I am currently having trouble with lines

and wordwrap so pardon me. I don't like to talk about

other stations on the fox5 webpage; but I have many

fond memories of local shows on other stations. Miss

Boo was on channel 11; Skipper Ray McCay also and

Fun with Fran. Then there was the Popeye Club on WSB-TV with

Don Kennedy. Before the Popeye club, it was the

Clubhouse Gang which featured the Little Rascals

(also know as "our gang") I was fortunate to have

appeared on the Clubhouse gang as a cub scout and

the necklace which officer don wore around his neck

with his whistle was braided by a community group in my

neighborhood called the "Womack Park Group" I have

since retired from WSB-TV and feel priveledged to have

worked there and to have been in the audience at WAGA

during the 50's. Oh, by-the-way, Don Kennedy also

hosted a horror movie show on WSB-TV called the shock

show; also showing old Dracula, Frankenstein. Mummy

movies. It's fun to talk about this; everyone chime in please

                                 Greg    gregmccl@bellsouth.net

I also have fond memories of Bestoink Dooley, George Ellis.

I vividly remember the first episode of the Friday night feature. The show opened with the camera showing a cardboard box. That's all. Just a cardboard box. Finally a voice emerged. It was, of course, the Gildersleevesque voice of Mr. Dooley. For most of the commercial breaks, he remained in the box refusing to come out. This epitomized the minimalist approach he had to the show, which was terrific. All the other horror hosts around the country dressed up like monsters or mad scientists and totally played the ham. George took more of an intellectual approach. Even as a kid I knew it was special. A few years later I frequented his Film Forum, where I was educated in the European "art films". Oh, also when he had the Dooley & Company show in the afternoons, he ran a Halloween poem contest one year. I sent in a poem (no, I don't remember it unfortunately). I won one of the prizes and he read my name on the air. The prize: a Remco Herman Munster doll. I still have it. It's the center piece in my collection of monster related items.

Cheers!

Dan

A few of us have shared TV memories. I have relived a few from WAGA-TV

and several from other TV stations in the area; one of which I retired from

almost a year ago.

Moving forward a few years: does anyone remember the old WTCG before

it became WTBS ??  The old Bill Tush newscasts  and what was her name ?

Jane Crooks I believe. This would have been in the late 70's about the

time of the orginal Saturday Night Live. WTCG also had a very cute

devotional series which featured an open with a stained glass window;

then a scene where a robed man would walk behind a pulpit, smile, and

open a book made to look like a Bible. He would then read lyrics to a

popular song (What's your name little girl) or similar, close the book

smile, and walk off. You never knew when it would show up and it was

hilarious. Classical music playing in the background the whole time.

                       Someone let us know about your TV memories

                                              Greg

when i was a kid, the beginning of a great weekend was when mom and dad would let me stay up and see 'shocker'. it was the absolute gold standard for what to watch on friday night.

in the 80s i had frequent business contact with george through his 'film forum' at ansley mall. because of his voice, i recognized him as 'bestoink dooley' and asked him to record the message for my answering machine... in character. we made up an absurd little script and he put down a dead-on bestoink dooley voiceover. pretty soon, i would come home from work and find 20 or 30 messages on the machine. none of them for me. just people calling to hear the greeting.