Long before Cher or Beyonce, WLWT-TV had a female vocalist known throughout the reach of WLW television and radio by only her first name: Bonnie Lou.
The county, rockabilly and pop music singer performed for 30 years on WLW’s iconic Midwestern Hayride, Boone County Jamboree, Ruth Lyons’ iconic 50-50 Club and the Paul Dixon Show, the crazy weekday morning host who inspired young David Letterman.
Bonnie Lou – who also played guitar and banjo, and could yodel – was one of six inducted into the WLWT Hall of Fame Wednesday. She was enshrined along with late engineer Ron Whitacre; news photographer Mark Hauss; account executive Janet Henderson; executive assistant Sandy Powers; and news anchor Sheree Paolello.
The Hall of Fame induction luncheon included lots of stories from Cincinnati’s Golden Age of Live Television in the 1950s. ‘60s, ’70s and early '80s. I love hearing the stories about that magical bygone era when Cincinnati airwaves were filled with live entertainment programs and kiddie shows which were replaced by cheaper nationally syndicated shows, and now often by local news.
It's rare for a TV station to embrace its past, as Cincinnati’s first TV station has done annually since creating the WLWT Hall of Fame on its 75th birthday in 2023. WCPO-TV and WKRC-TV are 77 years old, and they’ve done little to celebrate their past.
At the ceremony Wednesday, Whitaker was described as the versatile engineer/audio specialist/camera operator/technical director/logistics expert (and sometimes truck driver) behind the scenes for many live shows, including Cincinnati Reds baseball, the Bob Braun Show, and hours of live broadcasts from the Ohio State Fair.
The 1949 Blanchester High School graduate started his 44-year career at Channel 5 while in college – as an elevator operator who transported Braun’s celebrity guest stars to the fifth-floor studio.
Whitaker’s daughter, Shelly Foote, said that her father returned from the Korean War with PTSD, and that being hired by WLWT-TV “literally saved his life.”
She also said her father wanted to name her Wendy Lee Whitaker – "until my mom realized what my initials would be.”
Photographer Hauss, a 41-year veteran, stared his career as a Channel 5 chauffeur for Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Red Skelton and other stars coming to the station’s live shows.
Bonnie Lou was inducted by a couple of Hall of Famers – retired reporter John London and Dixon Show veteran Colleen Sharp. (The WLWT Hall of Fame also includes Dixon, Lyons, Braun, Peter Grant, announcer Bill Myers and director-producer Dick Murgatroyd from the Golden Age.)
Sharp grew up in Economy, Ind., northwest of Richmond, watching Bonnie Lou on Paul Dixon and the 50-50 Club.
“She was the cutest thing. I wanted to be her when I grew up. And I did,” said Sharp, who sang on Johnny Gilbert’s show (yes, the Jeopardy! announcer) on sister station WLWD-TV in the 1960s. Sharp was hired away by Dixon in 1965, joining Bonnie Lou and Dixon’s sidekicks.
Bonnie Lou was born Mary Joan (pronounced “Jo-Ann”) Kath on Oct. 27, 1924, in Towanda, Ill. She came to WLW-AM in 1945 at age 20 because Crosley Broadcasting talent manager Bill McCluskey needed a “girl yodeler.” He hired her from Kansas City’s KMBC-AM where she sang as “Sally Carson.” McCluskey renamed her “Bonnie Lou.”
“She truly was one of the most entertaining, talented and authentic people in the Golden Age of Television,” Sharp said. As I wrote for WVXU when Bonnie Lou died in 2015 at age 91, she was a “very humble, gracious and approachable," like a next-door neighbor. She didn’t have a huge ego like other celebrities universally known by their first name.
Paolello, a Delhi Township native, was truly humbled by the honor. The graduate of East Central High School in St. Leon, Ind., and Northern Kentucky University, admitted she didn’t expect to spend 24 years in her hometown market. “I thought it was just a stepping stone to New York or Chicago,” she said.
Mike Dardis, her husband and co-anchor, noted that Sheree “interned at Channel 9 when Tanya O’Rourke was anchoring, and was a writer/Teleprompter operator at Channel 19 when Tricia Macke was anchoring. And now she routinely beats them in the ratings every month.”
Paolello recalled how she almost quit journalism because her NKU teachers – including Maryanne Zelenik, now my boss at Cincinnati Public Radio – were “super tough,” as she told me in May when the Hall of Fame class was announced.
“Seeing my name on a wall with Ruth Lyons, Paul Dixon, Bob Braun and Jerry Springer is surreal,” she said.
Several people praised Brand Franz, WLWT-TV president and general manager, for creating the Hall of Fame in 2023 – and continuing to add to it. “We’ve been here for 75 years, but it took this guy (Franz) to make this happen,” said reporter Brian Hamrick.
“We have bridged the gap of our past and today in a unique way,” Franz said. “The common denominator that binds us is the pride we have in this television station.”
