Engineer John: children's television comedy on WKJG

WKJG-TV, channel 33 — the run ended in 1971

The program: Fort Wayne's local television comedy begins where most American local comedy of the era did — in the children's shows, where a host in costume played to a studio audience of children and to the camera between cartoons. WKJG-TV's entry was Cartoon Express with Engineer John: John Siemer, in an engineer's guise before a painted-train backdrop, hosting a studio audience of local children. The News-Sentinel's history of Fort Wayne television preserves the program and its end — it left the air in 1971 — and preserves Siemer's own account of the act, which was relational rather than gag-built: he spoke of the work of relating to the children in the studio. The stations themselves, their sign-ons and ownership, are the Newspapers & Media record's; what belongs here is that for a generation of Fort Wayne children, the first live comedy performer they ever saw was a man in an engineer's cap on channel 33.

The hinge: One WKJG staffer ties the broadcast era to the club era in a single career. Dennis First (1943–2019) spent thirty-nine years at WKJG-TV as a producer and director, appeared on air in costume roles including Ronald McDonald, and after retiring worked for ten years on the television reality team at Snickerz Comedy Club — the stand-up room carried below. His obituary is the documentary link between the station era and the club era, and it is printed in the Snickerz entry's sources as well as here.

Sources:

1. The News-Sentinel history project, "Fort Wayne television history" (egen.fortwayne.com) — Cartoon Express with Engineer John on WKJG-TV, John Siemer, the painted-train backdrop and the studio audience of children, the program's end in 1971, and Siemer's account of relating to the children; the same history's note that Herb Shriner grew up in Fort Wayne.
2. Obituary of Dennis First (1943–2019), as published by the funeral home — thirty-nine years at WKJG-TV as producer and director, appearances as Ronald McDonald, and ten years on the television reality team at Snickerz Comedy Club after retirement.