John Reed King

American radio and television game show host

John Reed King
King at right with a contestant on the television game show There's One In Every Family, 1952.
Born	October 25, 1914 Wilmington, Delaware
Died	July 8, 1979 (aged 64) Woodstown, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Host on radio and television programs
Spouse	Jean Abbot King
Children	2 daughters, 1 son

John Reed King (October 25, 1914 – July 8, 1979) was an American radio and television game show host who hosted numerous game shows during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Career

King was one of the announcers for The American School of the Air on CBS,^[1] and he had one of the top-rated radio shows of the 1930s in New York City with Missus Goes A-Shopping. He was also an announcer for the radio version of Death Valley Days^[1] and for The Jack Berch Show.^[2]

On August 1, 1944, he hosted the live television version of Missus Goes A-Shopping, and on January 29, 1946, he hosted the television version of It's a Gift, making these among the first television quiz shows ever aired, after CBS Television Quiz (1941-1942).

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, King was host of The John Reed King Show, an audience-participation quiz show. It began on WOR-TV and moved to WCBS-TV on February 2, 1950.^[3]

He worked at KDKA radio and television in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1960s. He was a morning news anchor for the radio station, and hosted a daily talk show on television. In 1970, he was a news anchor at KGO-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated television station in San Francisco, California.

Personal life

He married Jean Elizabeth Abbot (or Abbott).^[when?] They had two daughters and a son.^[4]

Radio Shows, Host

Missus Goes A-Shopping (1934-1944) CBS Radio and local NYC
Our Gal Sunday (1937-1940) announcer
Duffy's Tavern (1941-1942) announcer
The Gay Nineties Revue (1941) announcer
What's My Name? (1941)
Double or Nothing (1944 - 1945)
Death Valley Days and The Sheriff (1945-1951) announcer
Give and Take (1945-1953) CBS
Chance of a Lifetime (1949-1952) ABC^[1]
Sky King (1954) playing the part of Sky King

Television Shows, Host

Missus Goes A-Shopping (1944-1949) CBS Television
It's a Gift (1946) CBS
King's Party Line (1946)
The John Reed King Show (1949)
Chance of a Lifetime (1950-1952) ABC; (1953-1955) (DuMont)
Battle of the Ages (1952)
Beat the Clock (1952)
Where Was I? (1952-1953) DuMont
What's Your Bid? (Feb-April 1953) ABC
There's One In Every Family (1952-1953) CBS
Give and Take (1952-1953) CBS
Why? (1953)
Let's See (1954) ABC
Have a Heart (1955) DuMont
Gunsmoke, episode "Old Comrade" (1962) guest starred as a townsman

Books

John Reed King's Quiz and Game Book (1949)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3
^ "Berch Is Back". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Harrisburg Telegraph. June 7, 1941. p. 24. Retrieved November 30, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Debuts, Highlights, Changes (Continued)". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. January 29, 1950. p. 2. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
^ Obituary, nytimes.com. July 10, 1979. Accessed August 10, 2023.