Don Kennedy
| Don Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Donald Kennedy June 10, 1930 Beaver, Pennsylvania |
| Years active | 1950-present |
Donald "Don" Kennedy (born June 10, 1930 in Beaver, Pennsylvania) is a radio,[1] TV personality and voice talent whose career began in the late 1940s with a radio announcer spot on PA station WPIC.[2][3]
In the mid-1950s, Kennedy was a contributor to NBC's Monitor radio show where he developed several features, including one about a local character known as the Goat Man.[4][5]
He is remembered as Officer Don, the host of the long-running Atlanta children's TV show The Popeye Club (1956 to 1970).[6][7][8] During his time at the Popeye Club, Kennedy established WKLS, an FM Atlanta radio station, serving as station President and General Manager. It's rumored that the K in the call letters was for his last name.
He is most currently known for his voicework playing Tansit in Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and several characters on The Brak Show and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He began hosting Big Band Jump, an internationally syndicated radio show devoted to music from the Big Band era, in 1986. He later added a second syndicated program, the self-titled "Don Kennedy Show," that featured general pop vocals and instrumentals from the 1940s through the 1970s, as well as modern renditions from the Great American Songbook.
Kennedy is the recipient of several awards including the Silver Circle Award, two Emmys, awards from Pioneer Broadcaster and Georgia Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame, and honorary membership in the Di Gamma Kappa Broadcast Fraternity at the University of Georgia. Kennedy continues to support causes including President of the Georgia Chapter of Muscular Dystrophy, treasurer of the Atlanta Humane Society, board member of the Atlanta Cancer Society, as well as volunteering as a reader for the Georgia Radio Reading Service for the Blind.
During the summer of 2013, Don Kennedy announced that he would be retiring from radio, ending his work on the syndicated "Big Band Jump" and "Don Kennedy Show." The final broadcasts of both programs took place on the weekend of September 28-29, 2013.
Television character actor Don Kennedy (aka Derrick Slaugenhaupt, born 1920) is often confused with TV/Radio personality Don Kennedy above. Their information and credits are intertwined on the Internet Movie Data Base. The character actor appeared in many TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s such as 'The Rifleman'.
Partial filmography
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force (various episodes, 2001–2010) (TV) as Assisted Living Dracula, Vegetable Man & Rubberman (Lance Potter)
- The Brak Show (2001–2003) (TV) as Morlun, Poppy
- Space Ghost Coast to Coast (various episodes, 1994–1999) (TV) as Tansit, Bill Manspeaker
- Acme Radio Hour (1995) (TV)
References
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