Bob Bradley
WRCV-TV Studios
circa 1963

Bob Bradley, who also used to teach communications at Temple University, was an old TV hand at WRCV-TV (and later KYW-TV), Channel 3 in Philadelphia. He worked there from 1956 to 1987. In 1986, Bob Bradley was honored by the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia as our "Person of the Year." In 2003, he was inducted into our "Hall of Fame."

In the late fifties, local kiddie shows were all the rage. Channel 3 had several: Pete Boyle, Bertie the Bunyip and Buckskin Billy. One of the things Buckskin Billy did was originally started by John Zacherle (as Roland) over at WCAU-TV and that was intercutting live shots of the air talent (in this case, Buckskin Billy) into the old theater serials he showed. For example, if there was a shoot-out on the film, the station would cut to a live shot of "Billy" shooting at the bad guys.

Buckskin Billy was portrayed by Bob Bradley. He would have children as guests on his live Saturday & Sunday shows and he would ask, "Where are you from?" The kid would answer, for example, Upper Darby. Bob would then ask, "Did you have a rough ride on the stage coming to the TV station?"

Voiceover Announcer Jerry Immel from Atlanta, Georgia grew up in Cleveland and then Philadelphia, so he got to know Bradley from both cities. He sent us this e-mail:

I listened to Joe Earley's conversation about Bob Bradley, and thought I would add some background information..., since my friendship with Bob actually began in Cleveland, where I lived before moving to Philadelphia and where Bob was a staff announcer, before the 1955 NBC-Westinghouse station swap, at NBC's WTAM-AM-FM and WNBK(TV). His Buckskin Billy character was also created there.

Bob was born in around 1920 and grew up in East Lansing, Michigan. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan. Having worked for NBC in Cleveland since 1948 (using his actual Dutch surname, Bouwsma), he was inspired by the ownership transfer to fulfill his longtime ambition of freelancing in New York. Even though he spent a year with some success in New York, family responsibilities persuaded him to return to full-time station work.

Using his contacts on the WRCV-TV management team, many of whom had migrated from the Cleveland operation, he began doing part-time booth work at Channel 3.

When Pat Landon, who did the weekday morning shift and the Today show cut-ins, left to become a radio program director, an full-time opening occurred.

Many announcers were auditioned, including weekend part-timer Gary Geers, but the job went to Bob, who was a known quantity to the management from the Cleveland days. That would have been in around 1957 or 1958. My last conversation with Bob took place in 1986.

Broadcast Pioneers member Joe Earley, well known in Philly as Mr. Rivets e-mailed us:

The announce booth was on the second floor with a window looking into Studio B. You entered the booth through the sound lock to the studio. Booth announcing was a bore. You spent your entire shift in that little room waiting for the station breaks and the little amber light to flash, your cue from master control, to do station ID and whatever promo they had scheduled for that break. Then you checked it off in your log book which was brought in by the traffic department before your shift started....

I did booth announcing at Channel 3 in the late fifties, from five thirty P.M. to sign off, about two A.M. Did it for six months. It was a bore and ruined my social life, disastrous for a twenty-six year old. So, I went on to bigger and better things. I hope!

Other booth announcers, if I remember correctly, were: Norman Brooks, (Earle Gill), Gary Geers, Alan Scott (briefly) after his show went off. There were also some part-timers who filled in such as Bud Smith, Bill Webber (I'm pretty sure) and, I think, Sid Dougherty. I could be wrong about Sid.

A little while later, Joe Earley e-mailed this:

...Dick Graham did some booth work at Channel 3. At the time he was doing radio in Wilmington. Last I heard he was living in Roxborough, right off Henry Ave.... Also there was a Roy Allred (he later showed up at Channel 6 doing sports). I think he was a news anchor at Channel 3 for a short time. When I would come in to relieve him for the night shift, he would complain how tired he was not having had enough sleep,... (Roy was recently married). By the way, Dick Graham was a great guy with a marvelous voice. A real pussycat. I always enjoyed his company.

Later, Jerry Immel e-mailed:

Bob used the Buckskin Billy name on WNBK Cleveland. Another of Bob's side activities was with an organization called the Invest-in-America Committee. I'm not sure was its mission statement was (Invest in America for more and & better jobs), but I recall Bob hosting a discussion program on WRCV-TV (maybe even on WNBK) with the title "Invest in America." Bob's undergraduate degree was in economics.

A subjective impression: Bob was ahead of his time in that he was never announcerish. Many announcers from that generation were quite formal and stylized -- Norman Brooks was a good example -- but Bob's delivery was always extremely natural and accessible, way before that style became as common as it is today. As the host on KYW-TV: 50 Years of Your Life (aired in 1982), I would even call him avuncular.

One part-time booth announcer not included in Joe Earley's recollection was my old buddy Frank Kastner, who at the time worked as Frank Carter. He and Gary Geers would split the broadcast day on Saturdays and Sundays, with Gary working sign-on and Frank working sign-off. By the way, the WRCV-TV staffer whose job it was to direct the station breaks and cue the booth announcer was called the correlator.

Broadcast Pioneers member Bill Bransome e-mailed in 2001:

Bob Bradley is alive and well in Clearwater, Florida. He has been down there for several years, and is particularly active (in broadcasting) during Spring Training.

We understand that Bob stopped the broadcasting work a few years after this e-mail.

Barbara Van Weelden, a visitor to our website e-mailed in 2006:

I just visited the website that shows Bob as Buckskin Billy and read some of his background there. We met Bob and Rosemary Bouwsma while on vacation in the Caribbean in 1991, became friends and now that we all live in Florida, we see each other more frequently.

He has often talked about his broadcasting career and it was exciting to me to see him in his "Billy" characterization on the website.

Bob gave up his spring training work a couple years ago and now is still active leading discussion groups in his church.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Bill "Wee Willie" Webber
© 2008, Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
All Rights Reserved

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com