KTNT RADIO & TV
(Tacoma Public Library archives) In January of 1955, announcer Bob Gleason (left) and an unidentified butcher stood behind a counter on the Shop Rite Food Centers set in the KTNT studio while the production staff broadcast a live commercial into Tacoma’s homes. Bob Gleason was the program director of KTNT- Channel 11’s noontime homemaker’s show. To the far left is the set for Marshall Clink-a-long Clack-a-ty, television’s first robot lawman. The robot debuted in 1954 as Marshal of Mechanical City. The robot was made up of dials, batteries & flashing lights and introduced cartoons and kids’ movies. When KTNT, owned by the Tacoma News Tribune, went on the air in 1952, they were the second station to take to the airwaves in the Pacific Northwest.
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Marshall Clink-a-long Clack-a-ty was before my time.
I think it was b4 my time lol. And I was there for and on Daddy Din. Was pre-romper room. I kind of remember a robot... Did not remember that clever clackety name though, but I bet my sister does. She was six, but I was only 3 in 1954. Dad (Bob Gleason) did make us girls a robot, I think? Thinking/seeing a green button and dials, but cardboard.....or maybe......
At any rate, I liked finding this article.
Thank you.
Patricia Farrow-Bowen (Patsy Gleason)
Thank you, Patricia. Your father, Bob Gleason, wore many hats at KTNT TV. Host of cooking shows, movies, news anchor, public affairs programming and sometimes booth announcer. I probably left out other responsibilities, but he was a major mover & shaker at Channel 11.
He was also known as Boxcar Bob when he filled in for Brakeman Bill. Crazy Donkey was loose, but Bob always looked serious.
Yes! I forgot about Boxcar Bob. He didn't play well with Crazy Donkey for some reason, always serious. Was he anchoring the news also at that time? I don't recall. That might have been the reason.
Well, I'm old enough to see that it rhymes with Hopalong Cassidy, who was my first western hero, followed closely by the Cisco Kid and Wild Bill Hickock. I had a Hopalong cowboy hat, and a pair of Wild Bill six-guns in long leather holsters that came down well below my knees. We did have a cowboy-themed kids cartoon show on Tri-Cities tv--it was Bert Wells Buckaroo Time, with singing cowboy Bert and his sidekick Prairie Pete, who peered into the top of his likker jug to see the next cartoon! Not really suitable for kid's tv, but probably why I've been known to swig likker straight from the jug to this day.
Bob Gleason was a pro. Laid-back and easy going on camera. But I have no memory of a Marshal Clink.