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Don Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Donald J. Kennedy (1930-03-02)March 2, 1930 Beaver, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 29, 2023(2023-06-29) (aged 93) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Years active | 1950–2013 |
| Children | Rebecca Maple |
Donald J. Kennedy (March 2, 1930 – June 29, 2023) was an American radio and television personality and voice talent, whose career began in the late 1940s with a radio announcer spot on Pennsylvania stationWPIC.[1][2][3]
In the mid-1950s, Kennedy was a contributor to theNBC Radio Network weekend showMonitor, where he developed several features, including one about a local character known as the Goat Man.[4][5]
Kennedy is remembered as Officer Don, the host of the long-running Atlanta children's TV showThePopeye Club. It was seen on Channel 2,WSB-TV, from 1956 to 1970.[6][7][8] During his time at thePopeye Club, Kennedy established 96.1 WKLS (nowWRDG), an Atlanta radio station, serving as station president and general manager. The "K" in thecall sign was for his last name.
By 1974, Don Kennedy was part-owner of Briarcliff Communications, which had acquired the license of WATL-TV Channel 36, off the air since 1971. On July 5, 1976, Kennedy returned Channel 36 to fulltime operation, from studios located at 1800 Peachtree Rd NE in midtown Atlanta. He sometimes spent late-afternoons in the station's lobby, greeting business visitors such as vendors and messengers, of course while being immediately recognized by Atlanta natives and long-term residents as the iconic "Officer Don" of local "Popeye Club" fame.
Kennedy later did television voicework, playingTansut inSpace Ghost Coast to Coast, and several characters onThe Brak Show andAqua Teen Hunger Force. In 1986, he began hostingBig Band Jump, an internationallysyndicated radio show devoted to music from theBig Band era. He later added a second syndicated program, theDon Kennedy Show, that featured general pop vocals and instrumentals from the 1940s through the 1970s, as well as modern renditions from theGreat American Songbook. He was also the voice of akiddie ride based onSuperman: The Animated Series made by British manufacturer Jolly Roger, providing a newly-recorded version of the classicSuperman radio show's introductory narration.
Kennedy was the recipient of several awards including the Silver Circle Award, twoEmmys, awards from the Pioneer Broadcasters and Georgia Broadcasters Halls of Fame, and honorary membership in the Di Gamma Kappa Broadcast Fraternity at theUniversity of Georgia. Kennedy supported several causes, including serving as president of the Georgia Chapter ofMuscular Dystrophy, treasurer of the AtlantaHumane Society, board member of the Atlanta chapter of theAmerican Cancer Society, and volunteering as a reader for the Georgia Radio Reading Service for the Blind.
During the summer of 2013, Don Kennedy announced that he would be retiring from radio, ending his work on the syndicatedBig Band Jump andDon Kennedy Show. The final broadcasts of both programs took place on the weekend of September 28–29, 2013.
Television character actorDon Kennedy (also known as Derrick Slaugenhaupt, born 1921) is often confused with radio personality Don Kennedy. Their information and credits are intertwined on theInternet Movie Database. The character actor appeared in many television shows in the 1950s and 1960s such asThe Rifleman.
Kennedy died inAtlanta, Georgia on June 29, 2023, at the age of 93. His daughter Rebecca Maple reported that he had been suffering from dementia following a stroke in 2015.[9]