''Captain 11'' is an after-school children's program for over 41 years on

KELO-TV KELO-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls; its tra ...

, broadcast on channel 11 from

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

. Station weatherman Dave Dedrick donned a yellow-trimmed blue pilot uniform with hat and daily (later weekly as cable TV began to cut into its ratings) became the jolly host of the show. The show primarily played cartoons and other children's fare, and featured the Captain having all the kids (his "crew") introduce themselves on the air, guessing to win the

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

chest, and children with

birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person, or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage. Many re ...

s working the Captain's control panel of lights and switches. The show ended with the Captain playing the "freezeberg" game with the children, having them: Face the camera and wave one hand: then wave both hands: followed by wave both hands and one foot then wave both hands and both feet which usually resulted in most of the kids jumping up and down while facing the camera. Finally, the Captain would tell them to "freeze", not moving a muscle as the camera panned over the crowd of kids attempting to remain still.

The Captain 11 charge

The show opened with an animated space scene, slowly zooming in to the Captain's space ship, with this charge voiced over: "Captain 11! Today's man of the future!"

History

The show ran from March 7, 1955 to December 27, 1996, making it the longest continuously running children's television program in the United States. Dedrick's autobiography''It Ain't All Cartoons: Memoirs of the Captain'', 1989, reveals interesting background about the show, like why the character's trademark rubber headphones were eventually discarded after many seasons, and how the set designers could not agree on a single design and eventually had to work independently on their own sections. Dave Dedrick retired from broadcasting on December 30, 1996. He was inducted into the South Dakota Broadcasters Hall of Fame on April 18, 1997, and into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1999. Dedrick died in Sioux Falls on January 22, 2010, at the age of 81. The ''Captain 11'' set and other memorabilia is displayed in the State Historical Museum in Pierre.

References

External links

''Captain 11''''Captain 11'' Tribute
at Keloland.com *
Video Tribute to the Captain
Local children's television programming in the United States South Dakota television shows 1950s American children's television series 1960s American children's television series 1970s American children's television series 1980s American children's television series 1990s American children's television series 1955 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings {{US-child-tv-prog-stub