24 - WMET-TV

Pogo's Cartoon Circus

"Pogo's Cartoon Circus" was the name of a low-budget, long-forgotten afternoon kid's show from low-powered WMET-TV, Channel 24.  No photos from the show are known to exist.  The program aired around 1969-71 and was broadcast live from studios in the old Avalon Theatre on Park Heights Avenue.  Like all WMET local shows, it was broadcast in glorious black and white.  Pogo was a clown who, according to Stephen Appel, a former WMET employee, was played by station  announcer Bob Acton.  Occasionally Pogo was replaced by a guy with sunglasses and a sombrero.  That was WLPL-FM morning man Randy Hilton, who in July, 2001, offered these memories:

"The only times I replaced Pogo was when he didn't show up for work that day.  I don't recall the Mexican character having a name.  Pogo would always refer to me as 'Uncle Randy' who filled in for him while he was out.  Those were the days.  It was a lot of fun and I'll always remember those experiences in radio and TV.  Pogo had a following with kids.  Even though it was a small TV station, not much else was on those days for kids in the afternoon."

Your obedient webmaster remembers once seeing Pogo lose it with a studio full of cub scouts, bawling them out on camera.  Ah, live television!  WMET went dark in the early 1970's.
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