Ernest Earle Anderson (November 12, 1923 – February 6, 1997) was an American radio and television personality, horror host, and announcer.

[2] In an interview, his son Paul Thomas Anderson spoke of his military service: He (Ernie) was in the Navy stationed mainly in Guam.

[3]After the war, Anderson attended Suffolk University for two years, then took a job as a disc jockey at WSKI in Montpelier, Vermont.

[4][5] Anderson worked as a disc jockey in Albany, New York and Providence, Rhode Island before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1958 to join radio station WHK.

"[7] Anderson switched to television, joining the Cleveland NBC affiliate KYW-TV (now WKYC), where he first collaborated with Conway for some on-air work.

In mid-1961, both Anderson and Conway moved to then-CBS affiliate WJW-TV to host a local morning movie show called Ernie's Place, which also featured live skits and comedy bits reminiscent of Bob and Ray.

With Anderson deprived of his comic foil, Ernie's Place was canceled, but management soon offered him a horror host role for a local incarnation of Shock Theater that WJW acquired the rights to air late-nights on Fridays.

Occasionally, Ghoulardi would even insert himself into a film and appear to run from the monster, using a chroma key system that WJW normally utilized for art cards.

One remnant of Ernie's Place was also revived: the live comedy sketches and skits, only with Chuck Schodowski assuming Conway's role as Anderson's primary sidekick.

Fuldheim was the first woman to anchor a TV news show in the United States and a lifelong staffer for Cleveland's ABC affiliate WEWS.

She openly disliked Anderson, feeling that the youth of Ohio were under attack with his pot jokes and childish antics, which she found distasteful.

While the station acquiesced and ordered the cancellation of "Parma Place," the publicity from that incident and the Fuldheim feud put the Ghoulardi character at the peak of his popularity.

Anderson, Conway, and Schodowski appeared in local and regional TV commercials that often included their quirky brand of humor.

[8] Promises of becoming an actor in Los Angeles and Anderson's fatigue led to his decision to leave Cleveland permanently in the summer of 1966.

Anderson was also the announcer of America's Funniest Home Videos from 1989 to 1995 and did the voiceover for the previews of new episodes during the first three and a half seasons[11] of Star Trek: The Next Generation until he was replaced by Don LaFontaine.

[4] A lifelong smoker, Anderson died of lung cancer on February 6, 1997[14] and is buried in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.

[17] Jarmusch, who watched Ghoulardi as a child living in the Cleveland area, has stated that he was greatly influenced by the character's "anti-hierarchical appreciation of culture" and selection of "weird" background music.

[18] Anderson as "Ghoulardi" has also been cited as an early influence on many Cleveland and Akron-area musicians who formed influential rock and punk bands in the 1970s, including Devo, The Dead Boys, Pere Ubu, and The Cramps.

[20] By paying a licensing fee, stations including New York City's WHTZ used Anderson's voice for positioning statements such as, "If it's too loud, you're too old" and "Lock it in and rip the knob off!