''Ranger Hal'' is a children's

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

program that originated in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, on WTOP-TV Channel 9 (now WUSA), a station owned by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' newspaper. It aired from 1957 to 1969 in a weekday and Saturday morning timeslot. It was hosted by Hal Shaw (1925–1999), a local television personality who created and produced the show. The title character, Ranger Hal, is a fictional

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

Ranger who was assigned to a national forest. He befriended various local animals (represented by

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s) including Oswald (or Ossie) the Rabbit, Dr. Fox, and Eager Beaver. Shaw voiced all the characters, but a staff of

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

s animated them. Some of the puppeteers went on to greater fame, including Barry Levinson and Max Robinson. After the initial success of the show on WTOP, ''The Washington Post'' replicated the concept at their

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

affiliate,

WJXT WJXT (channel 4) is an independent television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is owned by Graham Media Group alongside CW affiliate WCWJ (channel 17). Both stations share studios at 4 Broadcast Place on the south bank of th ...

Channel 4. ''The Ranger Hal Show'' ran from 1958 through 1969, starring Henry Baran (the stage name of Henry Baranek, 1927–1979). Running in a similar timeslot, it was popular with adults as well as children, and maintained good viewing numbers for nearly its entire run. When the original show ended in 1969, Hal Shaw was promoted to WTOP management. In 1977, he suffered from a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. Aneurysms in the posterior circul ...

that left him permanently disabled. In 1985, the Forest Service made him an honorary Ranger. He retired to his farm near Great Falls, Virginia, where he died from cancer in 1999.

External links

Fan site Ranger Hal, DCFan site Ranger Hal, Jacksonville
Local children's television programming in the United States 1950s American children's television series 1960s American children's television series 1957 American television series debuts 1969 American television series endings American television shows featuring puppetry {{US-child-tv-prog-stub