Local television legend Rich Koz doesn’t need an introduction to most of our readers, especially when he is dressed as his character Svengoolie, wearing his classic raccoon-eyed ghoulish face paint and top hat. But many might not realize that he’s been working in Chicago broadcasting since the 70s. Koz is the affable and spooky host of Svengoolie, the long-running Chicago television program that airs classic horror, sci-fi, and B movies intersected with comedy and trivia by Svengoolie, his friends, and an arsenal of rubber chickens. Svengoolie the show is the antithesis of slick, with its parody songs, low-budget set, and audio cues culled from 30s movies, but it’s also an incredibly important (and hilarious) link to 50s and 60s television. Koz created his own version of the character with the input and blessing of Jerry Bishop, a radio and television announcer who originated Svengoolie while hosting WFLD’s Screaming Yellow Theater program in the early 70s.
I ended up working with him, and after the show was canceled, worked with him in radio. A friend then asked him about doing Svengoolie as a sort of summer fill-in show on a TV station. Jerry didn’t want to play the character again, but he decided I could be “Son of Svengoolie.” It was pretty flattering that he felt I could be the character! We had some false starts on the idea, and it didn’t end up happening. We went on to various things, together and separately, but then Jerry was hired to do a morning show in San Diego, and he asked what I was going to do. I told him I might try to pitch a local station on a TV show. He then said if I wanted to try to do the Son of Svengoolie, I had his blessing. I shopped it around, and eventually got on the air—ironically on the same station Jerry had been on. I did have to kind of rebuild the audience, since time had passed and, of course, here was a different guy playing a variation on the original character . . . but we succeeded!
The Museum of Broadcast Communications Celebrates 40 Years of Rich Koz as Svengoolie Sat 10/26, 7-11 PM, Museum of Broadcast Communications, 360 N. State, 312-245-8200, museum.tv, $50. Doors open at 6:30 PM. “Berrr-wynners will attend a private reception with Rich Koz before the event from 5:30-7 PM for $150, which includes admission to the event as well as a personalized photograph with each guest and Sven.”
Svengoolie airs locally on MeTV Saturdays at 7 PM and on the U Saturdays at 11 AM.
Somewhat recently, then, there was the famous incident of a pirate broadcaster breaking into the Channel 11 and WGN airwaves, with a guy in a Max Headroom mask. I proposed that we do a takeoff on that: that I was a former disgruntled employee (ahem) who breaks into the airwaves every week and shows a movie. They bought it, and we even did promos. The promo started as a normal spot, then there was static, and you’d see me working on some equipment, with a sign reading “Friday 10:30” in the background. It’d then fade back for the end of the normal promo. A lot of people thought it was real. I was told the FCC actually called the chief engineer and asked if they should investigate. They were supposedly not pleased when he told them it was just a promotional gimmick.
Why Berwyn? OK. When Jerry G. Bishop was starting his Sven show, Johnny Carson and Rowan and Martin made small-town jokes about Burbank. And back when he was working in Cleveland, famous horror host Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) made fun of a local suburb, Parma. Jerry wanted a local equivalent to poke fun at and settled on Berwyn, since, at the time, the main drags there were loaded with car lots and savings and loan companies. He decided Berwyn would be it, and I’ve carried on the tradition. The great thing is—the people of Berwyn KNOW that I’m only kidding, and they love it and have always been just great to me (with the exception of one short-term mayor who didn’t like the jokes but still would come over to get his picture taken with me when I appeared there!). And now, the whole country responds to the cry of: “BERWYN?!” v
