Bill Tush
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William John Tush, III (born October 16, 1948) is an American news journalist and humorist. In high school, Tush showed an early interest in broadcast performance and started working in radio professionally while a Junior in High school. Tush went to work in Atlanta, Georgia for
Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...
, first as an announcer, later developing '' Tush'', a comedy show broadcast on Turner's WTBS SuperStation.


Early life and education

Tush was born October 16, 1948, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of Apolonia "Pauline" (née Kirzyc) and William John Tush Jr. Living in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Tush attended Arsenal Washington Vocational Technical High School, graduating in 1966. While in high school, Tush showed an early interest in broadcast performance. He said that as young child he was drawn to radio announcer's voices. "They came alive to me... I was much more comfortable with them than I was the people in my real life." Tush chose not to attend college in order to continue his professional broadcasting career.


High school announcer

While attending high school, Tush conducted the morning audio announcements, using the name "Tush the Great". Tush was a staff member of the ''Washington Highlights'', the high school's newspaper as well as an editor of the school's yearbook ''The Cavalier''. His senior yearbook entry said he "plans to get into the radio".


Early radio station

Tush built a low power broadcast radio station in his parents' attic. Using the call letters "WJTC", Tush and a friend broadcast rhythm and blues music and high school news after school on weekdays and all day on weekends. "On a good day, the signal could be heard over the entire block".


Commercial broadcaster while in high school

While a junior in high school, Tush was hired by a nearby Latrobe, Pennsylvania radio station as a utility broadcaster, working as a disk jockey, news announcer and engineer, filling in for an employee who had been drafted. Tush said he found himself playing recorded crop reports and hosting the station's "Mid Morning Polka Party".


Broadcasting career


Radio broadcaster

Tush began his professional career after high school as a radio newscaster and
disk jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile ...
for a number of radio stations in the Pittsburgh area including KQV AM where he was known as "Bill Williams". Tush was drafted in 1969, served in the US Army, spending six months in Vietnam as a communications specialist. Returning to Pittsburgh, Tush was the late afternoon drive time disk jockey on WEDO AM radio. He also worked simultaneously on KQV, again using the name "Bill Williams" to avoid listener confusion. By 1971, his WEDO time slot was named "The Bill Tush Show".


Atlanta years

In 1974, Tush traveled to
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, looking for work. He was hired by WGST AM as a disk jockey playing the station's
Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
format. "It was a strange place to work" Tush said. One day, after playing the
Johnny Bristol John William Bristol (February 3, 1939 – March 21, 2004) was an American musician, most famous as a songwriter and record producer for the Motown label in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was a native of Morganton, North Carolina, about wh ...
song ''Hang On In There Baby'', a station employee walked in, picked up the record from the turntable and broke it, saying "I hate that record".


SuperStation WTBS

Bored with radio, Tush decided to try television. "One weekend I was watching this local television station that ran all these great movies but they were in such bad shape – they were scratchy I remember – but they were all the old great black-and-white films that I've always loved. I was hooked on this television station. But the station was so bad I thought 'I could get a job there'". The station was WTCG Channel 17. Tush walked into the station carrying his
reel-to-reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...
demo tape and asked if the television station needed any announcers. They did. He was hired as a part-time booth announcer for $50 per week. Station owner
Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...
used satellite broadcasting to greatly enlarge his station's broadcast footprint. Turner's WTCG became " WTBS - your SuperStation" and the station was suddenly available on hundreds of cable channels across America, providing content 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new WTBS quickly became a hit in households across the country. As WTCG evolved into
SuperStation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
WTBS, Tush did voice-over station promotions and station identifications. He was one of the few who was seen on-air at the station, appearing in commercials and occasionally moderating public affairs shows. Station owner Turner stopped Tush in the hallway one day and said "You're doin' a good job. Smile more." One night, Turner came to the station and said to Tush "Hi Bill, you're doing a good job. Are you doing what you want to do?" Tush said "I want to host the movies". The next day, WTBS' Director of Operations Sid Pike called Tush and said "You're going to host (WTBS') ''Academy Award Theatre''".


Parody news programs

The
FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...
required the station to broadcast news, so Turner suggested Tush record a 20 minute newscast to air after the end of the late night movie. The newscast was named ''17 Update Early in the Morning''. It was rebroadcast at 5 a.m. Turner jokingly commented, "we'll have a 100% share (of the viewership ratings) at that time". Initially the newscast was simply Tush recording a voice-over of the days' news. He signed off by saying "Have a nice night or morning, whatever the case may be". Later, Turner told Tush "Why don't we have someone on-camera doing the news? You're the announcer. Why don't ''you'' do it?" The late night time slot and having full control over content allowed Tush to take great liberties with the news presentations. One episode saw Tush literally dragged off the set by a "kidnapper" as Tush delivered "news" of diplomats being kidnapped around the globe. Tush said "There was fake panic from the crew" as he forcibly removed from behind his news set desk. One stunt saw Tush and his crew promoting the addition of "a new, award-winning weatherman from Cleveland, Ohio". A week-long promotion built audience interest. The day the new "weatherman" started, Tush placed an older announcer who worked off-air for the station in front of a weather map. When the "weatherman" was given his cue that he was on the air, the announcer introduced himself, grabbed his chest and "died" on air, causing another false panic on set. Tush once delivered the news with his " co-anchor" Rex, a
German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...
. The dog (who belonged to an associate) was shown next to Tush on set wearing a shirt and tie while eating a peanut butter sandwich. Rex appeared only on one episode but a myth grew where many people thought the dog was a nightly guest. Tush was often joined by a so-called "Unknown Newsman" who read the news while wearing a paper sack on his head. Tush and his team invented stories and false news, reporting made up holiday parades and a "rocket launch" which included footage of a paper airplane set on fire. Tush said he knew the reach of the new cable SuperStation had grown when he was invited by fans in Valdez, Alaska to be the grand marshal of their winter festival parade. Tush's parody news programs are now considered a forerunner of both ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
s ''Weekend Update'' and ''
The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...
''.


''Tush'' television show

Hoping to capitalize on Tush's growing national fame from the satirical overnight newscasts, Turner told Tush to develop a comedy show for WTBS. "I want you to do a show. It can be variety, it can be comedy, I don't care. I'll pay you $100,000 () a year to promise you'll never leave". Tush said "Of course, I'll do that. I won't leave". Turner continued, saying "We're gonna have everything: comedy, singin', maybe even wrasslin'. You're gonna host it!" Tush left the meeting and said to his production director and said "What are we going to do now?". Tush said he "had no clue what we were doing". Premiering on December 28, 1980, '' Tush'' (also known as ''The Bill Tush Show'') was an inventive sketch-comedy hour with a troupe whose cast including
Jan Hooks Janet Vivian Hooks (April 23, 1957 – October 9, 2014) was an American actress and comedian. She was best known for her tenure on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', where she was a repertory player from 1986 to 1991. After le ...
, a young comedienne from
Decatur, Georgia Decatur () is a city and the county seat of DeKalb County, Georgia, DeKalb County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, th ...
who went on to ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' and ''
3rd Rock from the Sun ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' is an American television sitcom created by Bonnie and Terry Turner, which originally aired from January 9, 1996, to May 22, 2001, on NBC. The show is about four Extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrials who are on an e ...
''. It also featured Ted Henning,
Bonnie and Terry Turner Bonnie and Terry Turner (born August 28, 1940, and December 11, 1947) are an American husband-and-wife team of screenwriters and producers. They are best known for creating the sitcoms ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' and ''That '70s Show'', and the 199 ...
( SNL writers and co-creators of ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' and ''
That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television teen sitcom that aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from 197 ...
''). The hour-long program aired at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday evenings. Although the show ceased production five months later on June 6, 1981, reruns aired through May 28, 1983 on a late-night basis. The following week of its old timeslot was filled by a six-hour
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
program, ''
Night Tracks ''Night Tracks'' is an American music video television program that aired on TBS in late night on Fridays and Saturdays from June 3, 1983 to May 30, 1992. Created and produced by Thomas W. Lynch and Gary Biller through Night Tracks, Inc. (a pro ...
''. Ironically, later that year, Tush made a comedic appearance in a ''Night Tracks'' sales presentation video playing an investigative reporter.


CNN

Feeling he had no further work at WTBS for Tush, Turner eventually dispatched Tush to Hollywood to take over the host position on ''People Now'' from
Mike Douglas Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, borAugust 11, 1920/ref>Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North Palm Beach, FL, acce ...
in January 1983. The show was broadcast on Turner Broadcasting's
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
channel. Eventually, Tush became senior entertainment correspondent for CNN in 1993 and relocated to New York City to host '' Showbiz Today''.


Later career

Tush retired from
Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...
to pursue other interests, including writing and producing, in 2003. Tush returned to Atlanta, where he originally obtained fame. Tush made a rare public appearance September 12, 2009, at Atlanta's
Variety Playhouse The Variety Playhouse (originally known as the Euclid Theatre) is a music venue in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is located on Euclid Avenue and features a variety of music acts including rock, indie, electronic, funk, country, folk, bl ...
to introduce Darryl Rhoades & the Hahavishnu Orchestra Celebration. In 2014 Tush travelled to
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
to help launch a television station; when he returned to Atlanta in 2015, he was hired as the manager of a small multiplex movie theater in the Atlanta suburb of
Sandy Springs Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and a suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's 7th most populous city. It is the site of several corporate headquar ...
, where he continued to work after the theater changed hands and was renovated to include a full bar and restaurant.


Filmography

* '' Down to Earth'' (TV) as a news reporter * ''The Rising Son'' (TV - ''
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...
and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
'') as Pontius Pilate * ''Showbiz Today'' * ''Tush'' * ''The Legend of
Chick Chandler Fehmer Christy "Chick" Chandler (January 18, 1905 – September 30, 1988) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 130 films from 1925 through the mid-1950s. Chandler was known for his starring role as Toubo Smith in ...
''


See also

*
Jan Hooks Janet Vivian Hooks (April 23, 1957 – October 9, 2014) was an American actress and comedian. She was best known for her tenure on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', where she was a repertory player from 1986 to 1991. After le ...
* Darryl Rhoades *
Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tush, Bill 1948 births Living people Comedians from Pittsburgh Warner Bros. Discovery people CNN people Turner Broadcasting System people United States Army soldiers American male journalists American male comedians Television personalities from Atlanta 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American comedians