Ken Roberts (announcer)
Encyclopedia
Ken Roberts was an American
radio and television announcer known for his work during the Golden Age of Radio
and for his work announcing the daytime television soap opera
s The Secret Storm
, Texas
and Love of Life
, each for a two-decade span.
as Saul Trochman and grew up in The Bronx
. His father, Nathaniel, an insurance salesman and English tutor from Latvia
, and his mother, Fanny Naft, from present-day Ukraine
, were both Jewish immigrants to the United States. Roberts attended attended DeWitt Clinton High School
. He briefly attended law school and worked in Fiorello H. La Guardia's law office as an intern, but quit the unpaid position after the firm wouldn't cover his bus fare. He changed his name after entering the radio business so that it would not "sound so Jewish".
or in the 1930s at Brooklyn
radio station WLTH. In an interview for the book The Great American Broadcast, Roberts told Leonard Maltin
that he had started at the Brooklyn station in 1930, where his responsibilities included answering phones and sweeping the floors, in addition to on-air roles playing piano and reading poetry.
During the 1930s and 1940s, at the height of the radio era, Roberts' voice appeared widely in live programming to introduce programs, moderate game shows and do live reads for commercials. Despite his Errol Flynn
-like good looks and the frequent broadcasts featuring his voice, as often as several times each day, few listeners knew who he was or would have recognized him in public.
Radio credits include The Shadow
(including the 1937-38 season on the Mutual Broadcasting System
with a 22-year-old Orson Welles
starring in the role of Lamont Cranston), the comedy Easy Aces
, along with soap operas Joyce Jordan, Girl Intern and This is Nora Drake. He also announced or hosted a number of game show
s, such as What's My Name? and the parody It Pays to Be Ignorant
, in which he would pose questions to actors portraying contestants such as "Who came first: Henry I or Henry VIII?" that would be answered incorrectly. At various times, he performed on eponymous programs for Fred Allen
, Milton Berle
, Victor Borge
and Sophie Tucker
.
In 1941, he achieved his goal of hosting his own quiz show, with Quick As a Flash
on the Mutual network. Among the elements of the program, Roberts would dramatize an historic event which contestants would have to correctly identify. Other prizes were awarded for identifying the common element in three songs played by the orchestra and for solving descriptions of staged crimes.
On television, he was the original announcer for Candid Camera
and introduced popular soap operas Love of Life
from 1951 to 1980, The Secret Storm
from 1954 to 1974 and Texas
from 1980 to 1982. On Jan Murray
's comedy game show Dollar a Second
, Robert's on-air duties included advertisements for sponsor Mogen David wines.
He parodied himself on the 1970s educational television program The Electric Company, in which his bits included announcing a supposed program called Love of Chair
, a spoof of Love of Life, in which Roberts would describe the attachment of a boy and his chair, ending each skit with the cliffhanger "And what about Naomi?". He had an off-screen role as an announcer in the 1987 film Radio Days
, in which his son Tony Roberts
appeared.
Radio historian Jim Cox
described Roberts' voice as neither "Yankee, Southern, Western or anything else". It was a voice that didn't "irritate anybody" and that "you just naturally liked to hear", making him "one of the leading lights of radio". Steve Beverly of The Daily Game Show Fix described Roberts as having "what executives called a golden throat", with a familiar voice that was one of broadcasting's most-recognized anonymous voices. He also found time to narrate dozens of theatrical movie trailers and "intermission" segments for traditional and drive-in theaters during the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1935, Roberts was one of the founders of the American Guild of Radio Announcers and Producers one of the predecessors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
(AFTRA).
Roberts died in Manhattan's NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
at age 99 on June 19, 2009, due to pneumonia
following a stroke
he had suffered five years before his death. He was survived by his fourth wife, Sydell, as well as a son, daughter, two stepchildren, one granddaughter and four step-grandchildren. His son, actor Tony Roberts
, described his father's voice as accentless with perfect tones, sounding to him "as though it came from God" and telling him "Don't be an actor", at least at first.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio and television announcer known for his work during the Golden Age of Radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
and for his work announcing the daytime television soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
, Texas
Texas (TV series)
Texas is an American daytime soap opera which aired on NBC from August 4, 1980 until December 31, 1982. Created by John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington, and Paul Rauch, the show was a spinoff of Another World...
and Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
, each for a two-decade span.
Early life and education
Roberts was born on February 22, 1910, in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
as Saul Trochman and grew up in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
. His father, Nathaniel, an insurance salesman and English tutor from Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, and his mother, Fanny Naft, from present-day Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, were both Jewish immigrants to the United States. Roberts attended attended DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...
. He briefly attended law school and worked in Fiorello H. La Guardia's law office as an intern, but quit the unpaid position after the firm wouldn't cover his bus fare. He changed his name after entering the radio business so that it would not "sound so Jewish".
Radio and television career
His first position in radio is variously stated to have been in the 1920s at radio station in WPCH in New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
or in the 1930s at Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
radio station WLTH. In an interview for the book The Great American Broadcast, Roberts told Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
that he had started at the Brooklyn station in 1930, where his responsibilities included answering phones and sweeping the floors, in addition to on-air roles playing piano and reading poetry.
During the 1930s and 1940s, at the height of the radio era, Roberts' voice appeared widely in live programming to introduce programs, moderate game shows and do live reads for commercials. Despite his Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
-like good looks and the frequent broadcasts featuring his voice, as often as several times each day, few listeners knew who he was or would have recognized him in public.
Radio credits include The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
(including the 1937-38 season on the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
with a 22-year-old Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
starring in the role of Lamont Cranston), the comedy Easy Aces
Easy Aces
Easy Aces, a long-running American serial radio comedy , was trademarked by the low-keyed drollery of creator and writer Goodman Ace and his wife, Jane, as an urbane, put-upon realtor and his malaprop-prone wife...
, along with soap operas Joyce Jordan, Girl Intern and This is Nora Drake. He also announced or hosted a number of game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
s, such as What's My Name? and the parody It Pays to Be Ignorant
It Pays to Be Ignorant
It Pays to Be Ignorant was a radio comedy show which maintained its popularity during a nine-year run on three networks for such sponsors as Philip Morris, Chrysler, and DeSoto....
, in which he would pose questions to actors portraying contestants such as "Who came first: Henry I or Henry VIII?" that would be answered incorrectly. At various times, he performed on eponymous programs for Fred Allen
Fred Allen
Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
, Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
, Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
and Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker was a Russian/Ukrainian-born American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first half of the 20th century...
.
In 1941, he achieved his goal of hosting his own quiz show, with Quick As a Flash
Quick As a Flash
Quick as a Flash was a 30-minute radio quiz program which featured drama segments with guest actors from radio detective shows.Created by director Richard Lewis and emcee Ken Roberts, the program debuted over the Mutual Network on Sunday, July 16, 1944. Sponsored by the Helbros Watch Company, the...
on the Mutual network. Among the elements of the program, Roberts would dramatize an historic event which contestants would have to correctly identify. Other prizes were awarded for identifying the common element in three songs played by the orchestra and for solving descriptions of staged crimes.
On television, he was the original announcer for Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
and introduced popular soap operas Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
from 1951 to 1980, The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
from 1954 to 1974 and Texas
Texas (TV series)
Texas is an American daytime soap opera which aired on NBC from August 4, 1980 until December 31, 1982. Created by John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington, and Paul Rauch, the show was a spinoff of Another World...
from 1980 to 1982. On Jan Murray
Jan Murray
Jan Murray was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host who made his name on the Borscht Belt.-Early life:Murray was born Murray Janofsky in The Bronx, New York City...
's comedy game show Dollar a Second
Dollar a Second
Dollar a Second is a comedy game show hosted by Jan Murray which originally aired from September 20, 1953 to June 14, 1954 on the DuMont Television Network.-Game play:...
, Robert's on-air duties included advertisements for sponsor Mogen David wines.
He parodied himself on the 1970s educational television program The Electric Company, in which his bits included announcing a supposed program called Love of Chair
Love of Chair
Love of Chair was a recurring sketch on the television program The Electric Company. It was seen primarily during the 1971–1972 season...
, a spoof of Love of Life, in which Roberts would describe the attachment of a boy and his chair, ending each skit with the cliffhanger "And what about Naomi?". He had an off-screen role as an announcer in the 1987 film Radio Days
Radio Days
Radio Days is a 1987 comedy film directed by Woody Allen. The film looks back on an American family's life during the Golden Age of Radio using both music and memories to tell the story.-Plot:...
, in which his son Tony Roberts
Tony Roberts (actor)
David Anthony "Tony" Roberts is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, usually cast as Allen's best friend.-Early life:...
appeared.
Radio historian Jim Cox
Jim Cox (radio)
Jim Cox, a retired college professor living in Louisville, Kentucky, is a leading historian on the subject of radio programming in the 20th century...
described Roberts' voice as neither "Yankee, Southern, Western or anything else". It was a voice that didn't "irritate anybody" and that "you just naturally liked to hear", making him "one of the leading lights of radio". Steve Beverly of The Daily Game Show Fix described Roberts as having "what executives called a golden throat", with a familiar voice that was one of broadcasting's most-recognized anonymous voices. He also found time to narrate dozens of theatrical movie trailers and "intermission" segments for traditional and drive-in theaters during the 1940s and 1950s.
Personal
Roberts married twice in his youth, his first marriage annulled after two weeks and the second ending in divorce after a few months. Roberts and his third wife, the former Norma Finkelstein, were married for 50 years until her death in 1984. He was married for a fourth time in 1998 to the former Sydell Salzberg.In 1935, Roberts was one of the founders of the American Guild of Radio Announcers and Producers one of the predecessors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
(AFTRA).
Roberts died in Manhattan's NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital is a prominent university hospital in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools: Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and Cornell University's Weill Medical College. It is composed of two distinct medical centers, Columbia...
at age 99 on June 19, 2009, due to pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
following a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
he had suffered five years before his death. He was survived by his fourth wife, Sydell, as well as a son, daughter, two stepchildren, one granddaughter and four step-grandchildren. His son, actor Tony Roberts
Tony Roberts (actor)
David Anthony "Tony" Roberts is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, usually cast as Allen's best friend.-Early life:...
, described his father's voice as accentless with perfect tones, sounding to him "as though it came from God" and telling him "Don't be an actor", at least at first.