Feder: NBC Chicago launched record-setting run for Hugh Downs

The great Hugh Downs, whose more than five decades in television earned him a Guinness-certified record for most hours on network TV, started it all in Chicago, Robert Feder writes.

As a radio announcer at NBC Chicago in the 1940s, Downs moved to TV on "Kukla, Fran and Ollie," the seminal children's show created by puppeteer Burr Tillstrom.

"On rare occasions I would be seen also, but usually it was voice-over stuff, announcing the program," Downs recalled in a 1997 interview. "The show had no real rehearsal. They would discuss a situation and they would then just ad-lib the whole thing and do it somehow tailored to time. That was an art that may be lost now in our business."

During the years he worked at NBC's Merchandise Mart studios, Downs lived in north suburban Wilmette, according to broadcast historian Rich Samuels.

It was at NBC Chicago that Downs met Dave Garroway, whom he eventually would follow as host of NBC's "Today." His amazing list of credits also included Sid Caesar's "Caesar's Hour," "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar, the game show "Concentration," and more than 20 years on ABC's "20/20."

Downs died Wednesday at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 99.

Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.