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King — Ed, that is — of KDKA triples in writing producing, acting and supports a wife as well.
At the end of the day, Ed is usually asleep at his typewriter, but wife Wendy, former Ft. Wayne newswoman, just
seems to go on and on and on.
TRIPLE-THREAT man at KDKA, Pittsburgh Westinghouse station, is Ed King — writer, producer and actor. He had no set plan for his future when he finished school in his native La Crosse, Wisconsin, but he did have a flair for writing — a flair which first got him interested in newspaper work. Radio beckoned him in 1937 when he took a job at WKBH in La Crosse as a continuity writer.
But the attraction of the newsroom was still stronger and he left WKBH to go to Chicago as a free lance writer and later as a reporter and rewrite man on the Tribune. Something else happened in Chicago, however — he got his first taste of big time radio as assistant to the production manager at WGN.
That definitely launched him on a radio career and during the years before World War II he gathered experience as program director at WSJS, Winston Salem, N. C, and as a writer and production man at the Westinghouse station in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, WO WO.
Uncle Sam called him and he went off to the wars as a member of the Army Air Corps Intelligence. Shortly after he won a discharge, King joined the staff of KDKA January 15, 1946.
His first assignment at the Pittsburgh station was as a gag man and script writer for the noontime Variety show, "Brunch With Bill," a Monday-through-Friday half hour feature. For a time, while the show's originator, Bill Hinds, was in the Army, King wrote script and acted as Brunchmaster. When Hinds returned to the Station, King continued as writer and actor.
The five-day-a-week stint left him too much time on his hands, however, and he set aboutwriting other shows. His next effort was a serious dramatic presentation, "The Man Who Forgot," a Good Friday drama based on the story of Pontius Pilate. It has since become a KDKA tradition and is presented every Good Friday.
His next effort was a special summer replacement, "King for a Minute," a 15-minute satirical program in which he poked fun at every kind of stuffed-shirtedness that came his way.
He returned to serious writing just before the National Presidential Campaigns opened when he wrote and produced a 13-week series of half hour dramatic productions entitled "The Star-Spangled 'X' " — a political history of the men who sought the Presidency.
Months of research brought to light little known episodes of the nation's early political conventions. They were presented with true historic flavor and rounded out by the sparkling campaign and folk songs of the day.
In addition to writing and producing KDKA radio shows, King has taken part in many of them as an actor. He has been featured in the Adventures in Research series and in the KDKA public service shows on Sundays at 4:30 P.M.
King and his wife, Wendy, live in suburban Beechview and devote their spare time to their book and record collections. Wendy, former Ft. Wayne newspaper woman and continuity writer, continues her radio work in Pittsburgh as a free-lance writer for advertising agencies.
They both like radio and now that they're sure it's here to stay, they are exploring the possibilities of television.
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