Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 15

IB Argus-Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D. Friday, October 13, 1978 IIIHIII I. I I im ma. Ill II. Hill I I.

II I I HI If 4 J. IpZ QElGif I irv4 1 SOD I ''iTTV -r p-j: Wy 'lilrulillirrolMMIIMtBJMMaMllMliMilajaM-MMi k.i. s. Dave Dedrick on the 'Captain 11' set. (Argus-Leader staff photos by Frank Klock) South Dakota's Pied Piper: owner of KELO.

"If you showed 100 people pictures of Captain 11, their congressman and their senator, more of them would recognize Captain 11 than anyone else." Recalled Dedrick: "I went on as a summer fill-in. That fall, the show in Minneapolis folded. I've done more than 6,000 shows since then. That's 1,200 Mondays. "Without kids, there's no way I could do it.

And what they want to do, they do. The only time I say anything is to the mothers. The mother says, 'Johnny, sit I say, 'Mom, if Johnny sits down, I If I've got 60 kids with their hands folded, minding their manners, it would be a disaster. It's when the kid is digging around in the captain's toy chest and the camera catches him that's fun time." The number of local children's shows is dwindling around the country; of the handful One man in each century is given the power to control time. The man chosen to receive this power is carefully selected.

He must be kind. He must be fair. He must be brave. You have fulfilled these requirements, and we of the outer galaxies designate to you the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Atlas. You are Captain 11.

By MARSHALL FINE Entertainment Writer At 3:55 p.m. Monday, the man who has "the power to control time" darts into a utility storeroom to slip into the uniform that transforms him into South Dakota's most recognizable mythical hero. Only five minutes remain before the appearance of the man with "the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Atlas." From humble pho-nebooths, Clark Kent regularly became Superman. In a back stage storeroom at KELO-TV, Dave Dedrick daily dons a royal blue uniform and cap and turns into ta-ta-DAH CAPTAIN n. Dedrick laughs: "Hey, I'm lucky to have this space.

When I started this, I changed in the furnace room, because there was a nail on the wall to hang my uniform. I hung it opposite the boiler; one night the boiler exploded and covered -my uniform with pure soot." Dedrick checks the clock: 4 p.m. He strides across the studio to the lobby door, saying, "Now we'll find out who we have to work with today." Opening the door, he calls, "C'mon kids," and heads back into the studio, trailed by two dozen cheerful muppets of varying sizes. "What am I looking at? Seven minutes?" Dedrick asks the cameraman. The reply is affirmative.

Dedrick opens the show with a salute, talks to his peanut gallery, then goes down the rows, getting names and home towns. He asks one youngster, "How old are you?" The boy holds up six fingers. "I'm glad this is a TV 11 says. "If I had a radio show, we'd Be in trouble." Then it's into a Little Rascals short; Captain 11 takes time for photos will need a flashbulb; get your pictures now, then slips out to the front lobby for a cigarette. He will return for four minutes at the end of the show.

"Normally, I schedule the show so I'm live for seven minutes," he explains. "According to the amount of traffic I have, I can make room for 14-20 minutes of live time. It depends on how many kids I have. They've seen all the reruns of the Little Rascals; when there's a kid in from Ipswich, it's such a bummer if I don't get him on." Dedrick has been on the air as Captain 11 since 1955, after taking the idea from another Captain 11 in Minneapolis. In 23 years, Dedrick has become the most recognizable figure on television in the state, if not the most recognizable South Dakotan.

"Anyone under 35 in the eastern two thirds of this state knows who he is," said Joe Floyd, When KELO went on the air in 1953 with South Dakota's first television station, Dedrick was the state's first television announcer. "He had the same qualities then that make him right for this market today," Floyd recalled. "He was a bubbly, contagious, good person." "Those days were like make believe," Dedrick said. "We had no one to copy." At least not until January, 1955. That's when Dedrick went to Minneapolis to see the hit TV sensation, Captain 11, on what was then WMIN-TV (Ch.

11). "We went on March 7, 1955," Dedrick said. "I had about 15 minutes to fill live, so I would have kids write in letters and I'd read them. About the fourth day I was on, three kids wandered into the studio and were standing behind the camera, watching. So I called them on camera and talked to them.

The next day, we had 30 40 kids. I said to someone, 'I think this is the The impact of television -and of the Captain 11 persona hit home for Dedrick on a day in 1962, Captain ll's first personal appearance in Pierre. "I went out to Oahe Days, to appear in the parade. We didn't imagine the scope of the thing. Every kid for 100 miles showed up.

They tried to have me appear in the armory, which is in the center of a park. I could barely get into the park. There were more kids than I'd ever dreamed of, close to 5,000. "In the midst of all this, I bumped into Joe Foss, who was governor at the time. Joe said, 'Dave, if they could only He called me the Pied Piper.

"Just to give them something to do, I marched those kids all over Pierre. I had the police at my disposal. Those kids were mes merized. It was like they were seeing Santa Claus. Noted Evans Nord, KELO general manager, "A big part of it is that he loves it.

Ten or 15 years ago, we offered him a job on the business side. He had that choice, to be on the other end. He said he didn't want to leave the air. He wanted to be talent. "That's a terribly long time 23 years; I don't know how he does it," Nord added.

"But I think we could cut his salary in half and he'd still love to do the show. There are better words, but I guess you could say there's a lot of ham in Dave." Indeed, Dedrick echoes the sentiment: "I don't want the front office to know how much I love this job. I couldn't sfand not to do it. The kids are so important to me. I'm a friend the kids can joke with and the kids know I'm a friend.

They won't do anything to hurt me. I know how vulnerable I am. This is a live show, with a live mike. I want to be Captain 11 forever, for as long as I can communicate with the little people. At the end of each day, I kind of smile to myself and think, 'Well, there's another day I got away Born 50 years in Marshalltown, Iowa, Dedrick moved to Sioux Falls at the age of except for two stints in the Marines, he has lived here since.

He got into broadcasting as a student at Washington High School; when classmate Jim Dunham, now general manager of KSFY-TV, left a disc jockey job at KELO radio to move to Detroit, the 15 year-old Dedrick auditioned and got the job: "I was 15. The only reason I got the job was that it was World War II and there was no one else here." He worked a 4 p.m. -midnight shift until he joined the Marines after high school graduation in 1945. He returned to Sioux Falls in 1949, en rolled at Augustana College and went back to work for KELO, only to be conscripted for action in Korea in 1951. When Dedrick came back to Sioux Falls in 1952, the KELO radio staff was full; he worked part time as promotion director and merchan dise director for the station, managing the affil iated Starlite Drive-in Theater in the summers.

that do live shows with children, Dedrick's is the only one he knows of that does not require advance reservations or tickets. Whoever shows up at 4 goes on with Captain 11. "I've never had a show with zero kids. I did have a show where only one kid showed up. That kid got everything: bubble gum, balloons.

Whatever was loose, that kid got. "Now I'm into the second generation. I get moms who come up and say, 'I hate to make you feel old, but I was on your show when I was my son's It makes me feel great. That's a tremendous compliment. I have no delusions.

I think a 3-year-old or a 7-year-old kid hasn't changed in 20 years." In some ways, neither has Dave Dedrick. "Dave was the first announcer we had on the air on television and, in 25 years, he hasn't changed that much, other than adding about 50 pounds, which he gets kidded about," Floyd said. "He was a hit as Captain 11 from Day One and the ratings and popularity have stayed there." CAPTAIN 11 continued on page 5B i nr. 1 -S I- 1 S.2 I 1 ill C- Captain 11 suits up In a backstage storeroom; converses with a young cowboy; and meets the kids on his afternoon show. 4 -t t-.

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