These were locally produced commercial television programs intended for the child audience with unique hosts and themes.
Author Tim Hollis documented about 1,400 local children's shows in a 2002 book, Hi There, Boys and Girls!
Almost all shows had a colorful host who assumed a persona, such as a cowboy/cowgirl, captain/skipper/commodore/admiral, jungle explorer, astronaut, king, princess, clown, sheriff/deputy/trooper, cop, firefighter, hobo/tramp, railroad engineer, magician, "cousin", "grandfather" or "uncle", whose role was not only to be the "DJ" for syndicated material (typically cartoons, although Westerns were more popular earlier on) but also to entertain, often with a live television studio audience of kids, during breaks.
Early program fare included cartoon favorites, such as Koko the Clown, Daffy Duck, Crusader Rabbit, Dick Tracy, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Mighty Mouse, Porky Pig, Deputy Dawg, Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, Mel-O-Toons, Woody Woodpecker, The Funny Company, Mr. Magoo, Space Angel and Clutch Cargo, as well as movie shorts, such as Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang/The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges, as well as animated versions of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and The Three Stooges, and live action shorts, such as Diver Dan.
(see Pennsylvania, Maryland, and District of Columbia markets) KHON (Channel 2): KGU/KITV/KHVH (now KITV) (Channel 4): KGMB (Channel 9): KTRG (now KHNL) (Channel 13): (see Quad Cities, Iowa market) (see Quad Cities market) KSTF: The Wilmer Worm Show (with June Beaman) Reno ` KAME Space Station 21 { Ricky Price & Jo Anne Buchanan) (see New York and Pennsylvania markets)