Jim Hawthorne (November 20, 1918 – November 6, 2007) was an American radio personality and comic actor. He was a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

who was a pioneer of "free form" radio. Hawthorne was born in

Victor, Colorado The City of Victor is a Statutory City in Teller County, Colorado, United States. Gold was discovered in Victor in the late 19th century, an omen of the future of the town. With Cripple Creek, the mining district became the second largest gol ...

, and began his career at a

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

radio station. He gained national attention for his broadcasts on Pasadena, California, station

KXLA KXLA (channel 44) is an television station licensed to Rancho Palos Verdes, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as an affiliate of the Spanish-language network LATV. The station is owned by Rancho Palos Verdes Broadcaster ...

in 1947. While in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he also worked in early television and short films. He also issued his own records such as "Turn Your Head, Sweetheart". Hawthorne moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

in the late 1960s and developed the popular ''Checkers and Pogo'' children's show, which ran from 1967 to 1982 (long after he passed the role of "Checkers" to other actors). In 1950, he created, produced and starred in the Saturday night coast-to-coast radio program, ''The Hawthorne Thing'', which was the final network radio show to originate in NBC's Hollywood Radio City. "The Hawthorne Thing" also aired worldwide on the American Forces radio network(AFRTS). At

KLAC KLAC (570 AM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by a joint venture between iHeartMedia, Inc. and the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club, KLAC serves as the Los Angeles ...

/Channel 13 in the early 1950s, he created the first late evening talk show on television, ''This Is Hawthorne''. An article in the ''LA Times'' reflecting on early TV described the show as "predecessor of NBC's Saturday Night Live." On

KNBH KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...

/Channel 4, beginning in 1952, he did a daily five-minute weather show. In 1958, Jim traveled to KYA-San Francisco and created ''Voice Your Choice'', which he brought to KDAY. In the early 1960s, while doing Instant Weather on KTTV/Channel 11, Hawthorne joined KFWB as assistant PD and morning DJ, and eventually became VP, National Program Manager for Crowell-Collier Broadcasting. While still at KFWB he joined Sherman Grinberg Productions as a writer, producer, narrator. He produced ''Jim Hawthorne's Funny World'' and ''Quicky Quiz'' television comedy shorts. In 1965, "ol Weather Eyes" moved to Honolulu to "retire" and ended up creating the ''Checkers and Pogo'' kids show for TV which ran for 11 years. He was also involved with programming KGMB -Honolulu and was creative consultant to morning legend Aku. As one of his bits, since the TV weather was so short, he would hold up cards and do a pantomime. He was elected president of the newly formed Disc Jockey Association in 1960. In 1970, Hawthorne moved back to his hometown, Denver, to help his ailing mother. He stayed for 11 years and established a very successful career at

KOA KOA (short for Kampgrounds of America) is an American franchise of privately owned campgrounds. Having more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, it is the world's largest system of privately owned campgrounds. It was founded ...

, eventually becoming GM. In the late 1980s, Hawthorne returned to Southern California. Hawthorne continued to entertain in semi-retirement. On November 6, 2007, he died of congestive heart disease at age 88 in Santa Barbara, California.

References

External links

Link to Hawthorne aircheck
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Jim American radio DJs American male film actors American novelty song performers American male television actors Radio personalities from Denver Radio personalities from Los Angeles 1918 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male actors