An almost complete episode of The Grandpa Ken Show has been posted on YouTube on the TCMediaNow channel! The program features artwork by Grandpa Ken, a musical recording with artwork by Ken, a Vidcraft Wizard of Oz cartoon, price giveaways, and appearances by Ken’s puppets. This may be the only existing episode of the program […]
The popularity of local kids TV hosts was enhanced by their personal appearances around the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. This clipping from December 1970 promotes appearances by Clancy, Willie, and Carman from WCCO, Grandpa Ken and Romper Room’s Miss Karen from KMSP, and Casey and Roundhouse from WTCN. Thanks to Jack Kennelly for his […]
Very little programing form the early days of children’s television has survived. Most shows were broadcast live in the 1950’s and 60’s. Occasionally, programs were preserved on kinescope, with the intention they would be rebroadcast later. A “kinescope” was usually a 16mm film that was photographed off a high resolution TV monitor. The results were […]
Minor updates Aug 12, 2023 Ken Wagner entertained Minnesota children from 1960 to 1973 on KMSP, channel 9. When the show began, Wagner was known as Captain Ken, a character he originally created for WOC-TV in Davenport, Iowa. In later years, the Captain retired and was known to viewers as Grandpa Ken. A talented artist, […]
Here’s a brief article from the Dakota Count Tribune, featuring Ken Wagner, best known at the time as Captain Ken on Channel 9. He later became Grandpa Ken. My thanks to Jack Kennelly for sharing this.
Every so often I bump into a bit of Twin Cities television history that tells us a little bit about our favorite TV hosts. This article comes from BoxOffice magazine dated February 6, 1961. It describes promotion of a movie called Wizard of Baghdad on the local kids shows. The movie was promoted by Casey […]
Russ Nyberg was a regular guest on the Grandpa Ken Show, on KMSP, channel 9. His youngest daughter, Delayne Nyberg Strand, was kind enough to share some of her memories of her father, and the Grandpa Ken Show. Delayne remembers “when I was a small child I spent most of my time with my dad […]
Ken Wagner is well known to Minnesota kids as Captain Ken and later Grandpa Ken on KMSP, channel 9 throughout the 1960’s. Before moving to the Twin Cities in 1960, Wagner was a popular kids show host in the Quad Cities area of Iowa. In addition to playing Captain Ken, he hosted a commentary show […]
TV Digest from December 14, 1968 featured a great profile on Ken Wagner and the Grandpa Ken Show. The program was revamped a bit at that time, and the article features a lot of information about the program as it was formatted at the time. A Great many readers may wonder just what is out […]
In 1960, Ken Wagner moved his show from WOC-TV in Davenport, Iowa to KMSP-TV in Minneapolis. He actually hosted two programs. The first was Kartoontime at 8AM, carrying the title of Dave Lee’s program. The second show was Cap’n Ken’s Cartoon Showboat, which aired at 6PM. These photos are from a 1963 magazine article. The […]