Royal Parker
Royce Pollokoff (b. 1929), better known by the stage name Royal Parker, is an American television personality. In a broadcasting career spanning the 1940s–1990s, he appeared in various roles in the Baltimore, Maryland, market.[1]
Parker began his broadcasting career on WASA (now WJSS), an AM radio station in Havre de Grace, Maryland, in the 1940s, hosting a music program called the Royal Record Review.[1]. He moved to television when the medium was in its infancy, joining the old WAAM-TV (now WJZ-TV) in Baltimore in 1951, where he would be a staple on Baltimore television for the next four decades.
He created a children's television character, Mister Poplolly, in which he would don an oversized hat and glasses, along with a clown's nose, for a daily show.[1] Other characters he played were P. W. Doodle, a newsboy, and a Popeye-like sailor. [2] Parker also did newscasts and commercials, including the Buddy Deane Show between 1957–1962. In 1962, he moved to WBAL-TV, where he hosted such popular televised bowling programs as Pinbusters and Bowling for Dollars in the 1970s.[3]
Parker remained at WBAL-TV until his retirement in the mid-1990s.[4] Reflecting on his varied roles in the early pioneering years of commercial television, Parker recalled in 2008 that when he started at WAAM in 1951, earning $45 per week, "We just figured things out as we went along. In six months, you did everything. I could run a control board, or put on a cooking show".[1]
Parker and his wife, Phyllis, continue to live in the Baltimore area. He remains active in local charitable work, including benefit appearances for the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Olesker, Michael (May 20, 2008). "Here's a Royal cheer for a charitable guy". The Baltimore Examiner. p. 6.
- ^ Kelly, Jacques (November 11, 2006). "Local Television's Royal Parker". The Baltimore Sun. p. 2B.
- ^ Cohen, Charles (April 24, 2002). "Broadcast Muse". Baltimore City Paper. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ "Royal Parker, WBAL-TV personality", The Baltimore Sun, July 1, 2008.