Ray Rayner - Chicago

Chicago

After briefly working in radio in Grand Rapids, Michigan on WOOD Radio as well as New York and Dayton, Ohio radio following the war, Rayner joined what was then WBKB but later became WBBM-TV in Chicago as a staff announcer; he also worked on a local morning program called Rayner Shine in 1953. This was Rayner's first work with puppets, who were provided for the show by the Mulqueens. He would get a noontime program called The Ray Rayner Show in 1953, he and his co-host Mina Kolb would host a somewhat free form show that would feature music, comedy skits, dance and pantomime. The show, geared towards teens, ran for five years.

WBBM asked Rayner to switch to a children's program in 1958, though reluctant at first, he did so with The Little Show, which was very much like Ray Rayner and His Friends; on this version, the duck he worked with had the name of Havelock. It ran two years; he also hosted Popeye's Firehouse (as Chief Abernathy) for another two. He would move on to WGN-TV in 1961.