Monday, August 25, 2003
Hal Fryar was one of the first TV personalities to do a live telecast from the fair.
By MATT BIXENSTINE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Hal Fryar still reflects with amazement on what his infant television station accomplished 50 years ago.
WFMJ Channel 21 -- then called TV-73 -- had been in existence all of six months when, with Fryar announcing, it began live telecasts from the 1953 Canfield Fair.
"It would have been an ambitious project today," he said. "For that station to have been on air since March and be out with a full-blown remote, it was a major undertaking. In fact, I don't know how they did it."
During an era of television in which equipment was bulky, broadcasts extremely expensive and radio still prevalent, Fryar, himself, may be part of the explanation.
The 76-year-old retiree worked as an announcer at WFMJ from its first year until 1959, announcing at the Canfield Fair's live remotes several years during that span.
Becoming an announcer
Fryar said he broke into the industry because of his ability to ad-lib when many announcers, still accustomed to radio, were reading off cue cards. He developed his talent by entertaining in variety shows while at Indiana University.
"I was used to talking on my feet," he said. "I don't want to reflect bad on them [other announcers] because many of them had wonderful voices and were wonderful people. ... I was more of a personality than a formal radio announcer."
WKBN TV-27, which also signed on in 1953, and WFMJ were likely the first local stations to do live remotes from the Canfield Fair, Fryar said.
His earliest fair remotes consisted of emceeing a beauty pageant and a polka contest. Fryar said the telecasts were usually aired between 4 and 6 p.m. -- when people were off work but it was still light out, since WFMJ did not have lights for the telecast.
Witness to changes
Hank Perkins, director of photography at WFMJ from 1954 to 2002, saw his trade evolve from black-and-white to color to videotape and finally digital photography during his career, the first six years of which were spent working with Fryar.
"I remember Hal as a happy man," he said. "He would do anything you asked, and it seemed like he could do anything you asked."
Perkins said he photographed Fryar and others at the fair to process and put on the air. One year, he used a tent to display his photos at the fair.
Later, Perkins and his family also operated a "grab wagon" at the fair, selling cotton candy and candy apples to fairgoers in the early 1970s.
"The money we got from that basically put my [three] kids through college," he said.
Although he no longer takes photographs for WFMJ, Perkins still attends the fair to this day.
"To me, it hasn't changed that much," he said. "I still love to watch all the people, all the moms and dads with a whole string of kids."
Hasn't been back
For Fryar, however, his memories of the fair are less vivid. He hasn't had an opportunity to return to the fair since his announcing days at WFMJ.
Fryar, who had a variety show on WFMJ called "Hal's a Poppin," left Youngstown in 1959 to host "The Three Stooges" for 12 years in Indianapolis. He also acted in industrial films, commercials and comedy shows during this time.
He finished his career by hosting children's show for five years on PBS before retiring in 1995 to Florida, where he still emcees for churches and retirement homes. He recently moved back to his native Indianapolis with his wife, Henrietta, after the birth of their first great-grandchild.
But even more than 40 years removed from Youngstown, Fryar remains proud of his time spent with WFMJ.
"The most important thing is to congratulate the station on 50 years," he said. "And to thank the Youngstown audience for being so great to me."
mbixenstine@vindy.com